KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas Department of Transportation is suing several parties who were involved in a fatal crash on Interstate 435 in 2018.
According to the lawsuit, the state is seeking $116,831.91 for damage done to the interstate barrier during the Feb. 18, 2018, crash.
The crash happened on I-435 near State Line Road in Johnson County, Kansas. A 1-year-old and 7-year-old girl were killed.
The girls were two of four children in the van driven by Angelica Hernandez-Valentin, who was initially one of the defendants named in the lawsuit.
According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, a semi rear-ended a van that was stopped in the westbound lanes. Hernandez Valentin, the two other children and the driver of the semi were all injured in the crash.
KDOT is also seeking damages from the truck driver and the owners of the truck and trailer that he was driving.
The lawsuit originally named Brown Truck Leasing Corporation, Greenfield Logistics, Inc., William Spring and Solomon Vasquez-Rayon along with the mother.
Late Thursday, KDOT removed the family members from the lawsuit, which was filed on the second anniversary of the crash.
KDOT issued the following statement to 41 Action News:
KDOT legal action to recover highway damages after accidents is routine, but in this case KDOT will not be seeking damages from the family and will remove them from the case.
The state had claimed Hernandez-Valentin was negligent for failing to keep the minivan under control, operating without a license, failing to go a reasonable speed and not moving off the roadway when not going a reasonable speed.
The state claims Spring was negligent for failing to keep the truck under control, failing to keep a proper lookout, driving too fast for conditions and following too closely.
Kansas law states that any driver can be liable for damage to a highway that is sustained as a result of illegal operation, driving or moving of the vehicle.
The truck company and the trailer company are liable because they owned the vehicles being operated by the others, according to Kansas law. The state was also seeking to hold Vasquez-Rayon (who owned the minivan) liable before removing the family from the suit.
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