Gloria Campos v. Benny Whitehead Logistics, LLC

I. Factual and Procedural Background

This case arises from a bus crash that took place on Interstate 10 in Palm Springs, California on October 23, 2016. Interstate 10 was closed in both directions via a traffic break pursuant to a permit issued by Caltrans to Southern California Edison (“SCE”) to allow SCE to perform work on an overhead line. During the freeway closure, Bruce Guilford (“Guilford”), the driver of the tractor-trailer involved in this collision, fell asleep in his parked tractor-trailer. Because he was asleep, when the freeway reopened at approximately 5:15 a.m., Guilford’s parked tractor- trailer remained stopped on Interstate 10. Within approximately two minutes of the freeway reopening, a bus carrying forty-two passengers violently collided into the rear of Guilford’s stopped tractor-trailer. As a result of the crash, twelve passengers and the driver died and numerous other passengers sustained significant injuries. Following the crash, a number of the injured parties and the heirs of those who died filed civil actions seeking money damages in Los Angeles Superior Court and Riverside Superior Court. Eventually, thirty-two of those cases1 were consolidated…