Costa, Caltrans Settle with Angeles Crest Victims' Family

The California Department of Transportation and the former truck driver whose out-of-control big rig killed a man and his daughter in 2009 have reached settlements with the victims' family that total more than $3 million.

CalTrans Deputy Attorney Christopher Hiddleson said Thursday the state will pay the $2.25 million. The Poscas died when Marcos Costa's 18-wheeler careened down Angeles Crest Highway on Apr. 1, 2009, and plowed into their Ford sedan before bulldozing into the former .

Charles Nettels, Costa’s civil attorney, told the that $900,000 of Costa's $1 million insurance policy would go to the Posca family.

The remaining $100,000 will be split among the myriad plaintiffs, several of whom were or the accident's horror. 

When asked if the lack of a functioning runaway-truck ramp led to the state's decision to settle, Hiddleson said that that was a theory the Posca family was advancing.

"That truck never should've been taken out on a public highway. This is why that tragic accident occurred,'' he said.

During Thursday's status hearing in Los Angeles County Superior Court in Glendale, Nettels told Judge Laura Matz that some of the civil cases had been settled, others dismised and still some were forging on.

One of the time consuming issues, he said, has been "tracking down'' Costa, convicted in July of involuntary manslaughter. L.A. County to seven years in state prison, but with time served, it may end up being as little as three years.

With , Costa is in a legal no-man's land of representation and still needs to be deposed by some of the civil attorneys. But Nettels wasn't sure where his client was, he said in court.

During the criminal trial, Costa testified that he routinely and thoroughly inspected the brakes. Although he blamed mapping systems for traversing narrow, mountainous roads instead of taking freeways to get from Palmdale through Los Angeles, Hiddleson said those brakes were in no operating condition regardless of the grade.

"This has been a very complicated and tragic case. This family has suffered a tremendous loss. I really admire the strength and dignity they've shown throughout,'' Hiddleson said.