Tift’s family suing Hoag, driver

The family of a Costa Mesa woman killed in an August 2006 car accident has filed wrongful death lawsuits against Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, several doctors associated with it and the driver accused of killing her.

The family of Candace Tift, a popular 31-year-old Eastbluff Elementary School teacher, allege that Hoag Hospital and doctors Paul Corona, Jeffrey Barke, Kenneth Cheng and William Park, who are associated with it, negligently provided prescription medications to Janene Johns that ultimately led to Tift’s death.

Johns is on trial for vehicular manslaughter while under the influence for the Aug. 23, 2006 accident.

Johns is accused of being under the influence of the anti-anxiety medication Xanax, the sleep-aid Ambien and the cough-suppressant Mucinex when her 2006 Lexus went onto the West Coast Highway sidewalk and fatally struck Tift, who was on a bike.

Tift’s husband, Wade Tift, filed the lawsuit in November on behalf of him and his son, 3-year-old Owen. He claims the doctors and their practice, Newport Medical Consultants Personal Physicians, along with a Dr. Jerry Teixera, were aware of Johns’ mental instability and should not have permitted her to drive. Hoag Hospital has yet to be served with the lawsuit, hospital officials said.

The family also filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Johns in November 2006. The family is seeking unspecified damages in both cases, attorneys said.

JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at joseph.serna@latimes.com.