Few celebrities have crashed into fame the way Lindsay Lohan literally and figuratively did. Amid her wild celeb ride, Lilo had a car accident involving her black Mercedes-Benz SL65. While driving in West Hollywood, the starlet had a car wreck with busboy Raymundo Ortega’s van on Oct. 4, 2005. The restaurant worker alleged that the then-19-year-old had been drinking and driving when her black Mercedes-Benz convertible crashed into his van. Ortega alleges Lohan was looking over her shoulder instead of watching the road.
At the time of the car crash, authorities said it did not appear Lohan was responsible. According to the police report, the officer on the scene concluded Ortega caused the accident by making an illegal u-turn in a business district.
In the police report, the responding officer wrote “while speaking with the involved parties, I did not observe any objective signs of either alcohol or drug intoxication and determined that no further investigation regarding intoxication was warranted,” reported Access.
Following the car accident, Ortega hired a car accident attorney and sued Lohan for negligence on June 14, 2007. However, authorities allegedly had previously found Ortega at fault for the accident. Ortega was asking for at least $200,000 in damages.
According to Lohan’s car accident attorney, the California Highway Patrol determined that Ortega caused the crash by making an illegal U-turn and there was no evidence Lohan was intoxicated. However, a police report taken at the scene stated that “Ms. Lohan had not been drinking and there was no signs of intoxication at the time of the incident.”
In October 2007, Lohan filed a countersuit against Ortega, almost two years after the crash. In her four-page countersuit, Lohan claimed that Ortega and an unspecified number of defendants she will name later that all were “negligent in the ownership, operation, repairs and maintenance” of his van.
In her countersuit, filed by her car wreck attorneys, Lohan asked for more than $75,000 in damage for the repair of her car and the cost of renting other vehicles. In the suit, the California Highway Patrol report states that Lohan complained of leg and back pain and later was interviewed at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
In February 2008, Lohan settled her civil case, although details of the car accident settlement were never revealed.
Like Lindsay Lohan and Raymundo Ortega did in California, if you or someone you know has had a car accident, contact an experienced auto accident lawyer Washington DC by calling Cohen & Cohen at (202) 955-4529.
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