On September 6, 2017, at approximately 11:20pm, Tracy Adams was riding her bicycle against traffic in the rightmost lane of Sepulveda Boulevard in Van Nuys, Los Angeles. She was traveling at around nine miles per hour when a sedan driven by Erik Limon turned on to Sepulveda and struck her head-on. The impact threw Adams on to Limon’s hood before she fell on to the roadway. Limon did not stop.
Approximately 85 seconds later, Jenevieve Hegedus, driving a 2011 Mitsubishi Galant in the second lane of Sepulveda Boulevard, ran over Adams’s body. An eyewitness testified that Adams was already unresponsive in the road before Hegedus's car struck her. Like Limon, Hegedus also fled the scene. Later, an investigation confirmed that biological material from Adams was found on Hegedus’s vehicle.
Adams was pronounced dead at the scene, and the coroner determined the cause of death to be multiple blunt force injuries.
Adams’ daughter, Samantha Mondrosch, and husband, Michael Golden, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Limon and Hegedus. Before trial, the plaintiffs settled with Limon for $15,000, the limit of his insurance policy, leaving Hegedus as the main defendant. The Mitsubishi driven by Hegedus was insured by State Farm through an automobile policy issued to Ali H. Farahat and Linda A. Otieno.
Hegedus failed to respond to requests for admission from the plaintiffs, leading the court to deem her admissions as true - meaning she was legally considered to have admitted negligence and responsibility for Adams’s death. Plaintiffs moved for terminating sanctions due to Hegedus's complete failure to participate in discovery.
At this point, State Farm, which insured the vehicle driven by Hegedus, intervened as a defendant. State Farm had difficulty locating Hegedus, who was believed to be living on the streets. Given that Insurance Code section 11580 allows a judgment creditor to seek recovery directly from an insurer, State Farm stepped in to protect its financial interest.
At trial, plaintiffs relied on the deemed admissions, arguing that Hegedus was negligent and caused Adams’s death. However, both Hegedus and State Farm were allowed to present evidence on causation, including expert testimony.
The plaintiffs did not present any expert witnesses to challenge this testimony, relying instead on Hegedus’s deemed admissions as proof of liability.
The jury found that Hegedus was negligent, but her negligence was not a substantial factor in causing Adams’s death. This meant that neither Hegedus nor State Farm were liable for damages.
Plaintiffs appealed, arguing that the trial court erred by allowing Hegedus to contest liability despite her deemed admissions. They contended that under California Code of Civil Procedure section 2033.410, a party’s deemed admissions are conclusive, and Hegedus should not have been permitted to present evidence refuting them.
However, the Court of Appeal ruled that any error in allowing Hegedus to contest liability was invited error by the plaintiffs. The trial court had initially ruled that Hegedus could not contest liability at all, but the plaintiffs objected because they wanted to use the deemed admissions to bolster their case. In response, the court modified its ruling—allowing Hegedus to contest causation. Since the plaintiffs effectively agreed to this compromise, they could not later claim it was erroneous.
This case underscores the complex interplay of procedural law, discovery sanctions, and strategic trial decisions. While deemed admissions can provide a powerful tool for plaintiffs, their effectiveness depends on how courts balance fairness, particularly when multiple defendants and insurers are involved.
In the end, Hegedus admitted negligence but was not found legally responsible for Adams’s death, resulting in a complete defense verdict in favor of both her and State Farm.
