A lawsuit brought by the parents of a motorcyclist killed in a Nov. 20, 2012 accident with a Big Blue Bus is scheduled to go to trial on Dec. 8 at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles.
Donald and Martha O’Dell filed the lawsuit against the bus driver and the city of Santa Monica in Los Angeles Superior Court on Nov. 1, 2013, alleging wrongful death, motor vehicle negligence and dangerous condition of public property.
Their son Patrick O’Dell, 25, was riding a motorcycle south on Sunset Boulevard and approaching the intersection with Marquez Place in Pacific Palisades at 10:30 am when the accident happened, according to their lawsuit. The bus driver, Timothy Datryn Thrash, was turning left from Marquez onto Sunset.
“Patrick O’Dell was riding his motorcycle in a lawful and reasonable manner and obeying all of the rules of the road,” the lawsuit says.
Thrash was driving negligently, it claims, and the city is responsible for hiring and training him. The lawsuit also blames the accident on the intersection, calling it a “trap.”
“A substantial factor in causing the incident was the confusing, dangerous and defective condition of public property existing at the above-described site, including the pavement, signage, traffic controls (and lack thereof), turn lanes (and lack thereof), site distances, striping, bus routes, light timing, and advisory sign content and location,” says the lawsuit.
The city has denied the claims.
The O’Dells hired Conor Kelly, a personal injury attorney in San Francisco, to represent them. A phone call to Kelly wasn’t returned.
Patrick O’Dell, who attended Elon University in North Carolina, studied abroad in Germany. A letter posted online by Heidelberg University described him as a “fun loving, outgoing student who was enthusiastic about all things German.”
Media reports at the time of the accident described O’Dell as an aspiring actor and waiter at Gladstone’s.
