Woman Files Suit Against Westerfield
Price Claims She Suffered Tooth Damage, Other Injuries
POSTED: 8:07 a.m. PDT October 9, 2002
UPDATED: 9:03 a.m. PDT October 9, 2002
SAN DIEGO -- A Carlsbad woman has filed a lawsuit against convicted child killer David Westerfield for his role in a 2001 car accident.
According to a police report, Westerfield's 1982 Porsche 911 plowed into the back of a van at a stoplight on state Route 78 in Oceanside.
After the accident, a California Highway Patrol officer conducted a field-sobriety test. The officer determined that Westerfield wasn't drunk and did not cite him for drunken driving, a CHP representative told The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Diana Price, of Carlsbad, said that she suffered tooth damage and other injuries in the accident on April 6, 2001, the newspaper reported.
Price's attorney, Leon Opolski, said that he had not yet served Westerfield the lawsuit seeking an unspecified amount in damages, the newspaper reported.
"Negotiations are being actively pursued with the defendant's insurance company and it is our belief that this case can be settled without the necessity of serving the defendant," Opolski said in a document filed on Sept. 20.
Price told the newspaper that at the time of the accident Westerfield was extremely apologetic and admitted to having a couple of rum and Cokes.
The collision destroyed the front of Westerfield's Porsche and damaged the back of Price's Plymouth Voyager, Price told the newspaper.
"He was basically found at fault for the accident," CHP spokesman Tom Kerns told the newspaper. "He was going too fast."
Westerfield is in the San Diego County Jail, awaiting sentencing for the kidnapping and killing of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam. A jury recommended that he be sentenced to death.
According to a police report, Westerfield's 1982 Porsche 911 plowed into the back of a van at a stoplight on state Route 78 in Oceanside.
After the accident, a California Highway Patrol officer conducted a field-sobriety test. The officer determined that Westerfield wasn't drunk and did not cite him for drunken driving, a CHP representative told The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Diana Price, of Carlsbad, said that she suffered tooth damage and other injuries in the accident on April 6, 2001, the newspaper reported.
Price's attorney, Leon Opolski, said that he had not yet served Westerfield the lawsuit seeking an unspecified amount in damages, the newspaper reported.
"Negotiations are being actively pursued with the defendant's insurance company and it is our belief that this case can be settled without the necessity of serving the defendant," Opolski said in a document filed on Sept. 20.
Price told the newspaper that at the time of the accident Westerfield was extremely apologetic and admitted to having a couple of rum and Cokes.
The collision destroyed the front of Westerfield's Porsche and damaged the back of Price's Plymouth Voyager, Price told the newspaper.
"He was basically found at fault for the accident," CHP spokesman Tom Kerns told the newspaper. "He was going too fast."
Westerfield is in the San Diego County Jail, awaiting sentencing for the kidnapping and killing of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam. A jury recommended that he be sentenced to death.
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