By City News Service & Eye On Inglewood Staff Writer
The adult children of a woman who passed away several months after sustaining severe injuries from a fall in the parking lot of an Inglewood Green Line station in 2018 have reached a settlement with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
Delores Thomas suffered paralysis from the fall on March 17, 2018, and died on June 8 of the same year, according to a complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court in March 2019 by her children, Andrea and Adrian Elam.
On Tuesday, a Metro attorney informed Torrance Superior Court Judge William Willett of the resolution of the case, though specific settlement terms were not disclosed. As a result, the judge canceled the scheduled trial set for March 3.
The complaint indicated that Thomas was walking along a sidewalk in the parking lot on Crenshaw Boulevard when the dimly lit walkway abruptly ended at an "unmarked, unexpected, and dangerous ditch." The lawsuit claimed that pedestrians were compelled to traverse the dirt area to continue on the sidewalk.
According to the complaint, Thomas did not notice the sudden drop into the dirt area, causing her to stumble and fall forward onto her head around 7:45 p.m.
Metro invoked a "design immunity" defense, asserting that, under state Government Code, a public entity is not liable for injuries resulting from the approved design of public property improvements.
Thomas was left paralyzed and ultimately entered a vegetative state before her death.
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