Last Updated on November 6, 2017 by CCAR Staff
The husband and two adult children of an Orange County woman struck and fatally injured by a hit-and-run driver while crossing a street in a cart during a round of golf with her spouse at the Royal Vista Golf Club near Diamond Bar are suing the golf course and Los Angeles County.
Lisa Park, 59, of Rancho Santa Margarita had gone back to the fourth hole of the east course at Royal Vista on May 21 to retrieve a golf club. She was traversing south across Colima Road east of Tierra Luna in a signalized crosswalk to return to the fifth hole when a westbound car collided with her cart, then ran over her after she was ejected, according to the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit filed Friday.
Park, who owned Alton Cafe & Coffee House in Irvine, died the following day, and the car’s driver was never identified or caught, the suit states.
Park’s husband, James Park, who was present during the collision, and their children, Jessica and Peter Park, are the named plaintiffs in the suit, which alleges wrongful death, negligence, negligent infliction of emotional distress and products liability.
The suit, which seeks unspecified damages, also names as defendants Eagle Golf Construction Inc., which renovated part of the golf course, and Textron Inc., which manufactured the golf cart in which Park was riding.
Representatives for the defendants could not be immediately reached.
The lawsuit alleges that despite a history of prior fatal accidents involving Royal Vista golfers crossing in the same or surrounding area, Royal Vista and Eagle Golf did not provide safer alternatives such as a bridge or tunnel.
Los Angeles County is negligent for not providing proper warnings to drivers that golfers cross Colima Road at that location and because the 45 mph speed limit is excessive given that so many carts cross there during the day, the suit alleges.
“Golfers traveling by golf cart are particularly vulnerable as their movement is restricted and they are limited in their ability to make quick evasive maneuvers,” the suit says.
Textron is liable because the golf cart did not have seat belts or other restraints that could have prevented Park’s ejection, according to the suit.
