Woman Wins $500,000 in Suit Over Traffic Signal

The Los Angeles City Council has agreed to pay a $500,000 settlement to a 40-year-old Northridge woman who sued the city, claiming an improperly adjusted traffic signal system caused a 1986 auto accident that left her disabled.

By a unanimous vote and without discussion, the lawmakers agreed Tuesday to settle the lawsuit filed by Jane Czech, whose injuries left her with a limp and permanent brain damage.

Czech, a physical therapist, was driving north to work on May 26, 1986, when her car was broadsided at De Soto Avenue and Parthenia Street by an eastbound car driven by Samer Faik Bisharat, the suit said. A police report on the accident said that Bisharat ran a red light, causing the accident.

But in her lawsuit Czech claimed that the traffic signal had a tendency to malfunction and that the heavy traffic patterns of the area warranted city installation of a 3.5-second-long yellow signal, not the 3-second-long signal that was in use.