LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Relatives of a young singer-songwriter killed in 2018 after her car was struck by another vehicle in the San Fernando Valley have tentatively settled their wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles, which alleged the intersection design made it hard to see an oncoming car.
On Thursday, attorneys for the family of the late Nora Rose-Hines filed court papers with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lisa R. Jaskol notifying her of a “conditional” accord with the expectation a request for dismissal will be filed by April 18. No terms were divulged and it is not immediately clear if the settlement is subject to approval by the City Council.
Rose-Hines was a singer-songwriter who could play both the piano and the guitar, according to an obituary posted in Legacy.com. She performed often at the NoHo Arts Center in North Hollywood, where she created the role of Eve Christmas in the holiday musical, “Yo Ho Ho: A Pirate’s Christmas,” according to the posting.
Rose-Hines performed for a year in Debbie Allen’s RISE theater program, according to the posting. She taught music and dance to Guatemalan children the two summers before her death and planned to return to that country in 2022, the posting stated.
In previous court papers, lawyers from the City Attorney’s Office maintained that the city was immune from liability in the case brought in August 2019. The 19-year-old Rose Hines was trying to turn left from eastbound Strathern Street onto northbound Balboa Boulevard on Nov. 28, 2018, when her car was hit on the driver’s side by the other vehicle, according to the lawsuit.
In less than a 12-month period in 2015-16, there were four left-turn collisions at the same intersection, an 832% increase in the average number of collisions per year compared to the previous eight years. Drivers are now restricted at the intersection to taking only right turns onto southbound Balboa.
The lawsuit also originally named as defendants the state of California and Tiana Brown, who was allegedly driving the other vehicle that ran into Rose-Hines’ car. However, the plaintiffs settled with Brown for $15,000 and dropped the state as a party.
Balboa curved northwest a few hundred feet north of the intersection, limiting visibility from the beginning of the curve until the end, according to the plaintiffs’ attorneys’ court papers, which also stated that Rose-Hines’ view of southbound cars was additionally compromised by a concrete wall, trees overgrown shrubbery and a telephone pole.