The surviving two relatives of a man killed in the Pico Robertson district after all three were struck while walking by a DoorDash driver want a judge to allow them to seek punitive damages against the food delivery service and the man behind the wheel of the car.
The Los Angeles Superior Court complaint was filed last Aug. 10 on behalf of the wife and son of Bing Wang, a 51-year-old Chinese national who was fatally hit while the family was walking past a Chase bank at Pico and La Cienega boulevards last June 7. The car continued on and crashed into a wall of the bank.
On Wednesday, attorneys for the plaintiffs filed court papers with Judge Steven A. Ellis asking that he allow them to file an amended complaint that would include a request for punitive damages against DoorDash and their former driver, Vladimir Tishchenko, who had obtained his driver's license less than a month before the accident, according to the plaintiffs' attorneys' court papers.
The pleadings include a link to a video reenactment of the accident and a photo of the DoorDash car after the crash into the wall.
"Simply put, Tishchenko was in a hurry to get to the restaurant to pick up the food," the plaintiffs' lawyers' pleadings state. "He was distracted by looking at the DoorDash navigation on his phone. He was incentivized to reach the restaurant as quickly as possible so he could source more delivery opportunities from DoorDash."
"DoorDash's incentives made Tishchenko "drive fast and reckless" and the company had authority over him when he was making deliveries, the plaintiffs' attorneys further state in their court papers.
Tishchenko, 36 at the time, admitted that if he was not a DoorDash driver the accident would not have happened, according to the plaintiffs' attorneys' court papers.
In addition to Wang's death, his wife, Xiaomei, then 48, suffered major injuries and had her left leg amputated. Their son, Wenxuan, then 19, suffered moderate injuries.
"After everything we know at this point in our society about the dangers associated with cell phone usage while driving, it is clear that (doing so) constitutes a willful or conscious disregard for the rights and safety of others," the family's attorneys state in their court papers.
Using a phone while driving has been found to be as dangerous as driving under the influence of alcohol, the family's attorneys further state in their pleadings. A hearing on the motion to amend the complaint and add punitive damages is scheduled March 8.
In previous court papers, the family's lawyers filed excerpts of the deposition testimony of Xu Shi, the investigating Los Angeles Police Department officer. Shi replied affirmatively when asked by plaintiffs' attorney Robert Glassman if Tishchenko acknowledged he was on the phone and made a left turn moments before the crash.
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"So he was looking at his navigation application on his phone to figure out where to go to get the food that he was picking up?" Glassman asked.
"Yes," Shi again replied, adding that he confirmed that Tishchenko was driving for DoorDash at the time by calling the company's customer service the next day. Shi said the Chinese restaurant that was Tishchenko's destination was about two blocks from the crash scene.
Four independent witnesses told Shi they saw Tishchenko speeding before he lost control and the car fishtailed, according to Shi, who further says he deduced that the driver was solely at fault because he made an unsafe left turn and was driving too fast.
In previous court papers, DoorDash attorneys cite multiple defenses, including that the plaintiffs engaged in "misrepresentation and concealment" and "wrongful or negligent conduct" and that DoorDash acted in good faith.
The Wang family members should "take nothing by way of their complaint" and the court should "enter judgment in DoorDash's favor," according to the company's attorneys' court papers.
Tishchenko was charged Jan. 29 with one count of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and two counts of reckless driving with injuries, according to the plaintiffs' attorneys' court papers.
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