Wrongful-death suit filed in Aurora retention pond crash that killed mom, 9-year-old son
A wrongful-death lawsuit has been filed against three businesses and a 37-year-old Aurora man seeking damages for a June 17, 2015 crash that killed an Aurora woman and her 9-year-old son after her vehicle plunged into and sank in a retention pond.
The lawsuit, filed by family members of Maria Ramirez Garcia, 31, and her son, Ronaldo Alanis-Ramirez, argues management firms and another driver were negligent in causing the crash, which sent her 2003 GMC Envoy into a detention pond northeast of Sullivan Road and Edgelawn Drive on the city's west side.
The lawsuit argues the Prime Aurora Business Park Association, Lee and Associates Asset Management LLC and Nutrivo LLC were negligent, improperly maintained the area, and failed to inspect the area and warn Garcia of the "dangerous condition of the land, roadways, barricades, curbs and/or sidewalk and/or walkway areas adjoining and/or abutting a detention pond."
The lawsuit also names an Aurora driver as a defendant. It claims the man was turning out of a parking lot on the 1700 block of North Edgelawn, crashed into Garcia's SUV and caused it to careen 50 yards into the pond. The man was not issued any citations, according to police and Kane County court records.
The first police officer on the scene saved Garcia's 7-year-old daughter, Monserrat Alanis-Ramirez, a passenger in the SUV. She was struggling to stay afloat, and her brother and mom were trapped in the completely submerged vehicle for more than 25 minutes.
Efforts to reach the business park association, Lee and Associates and Nutrivo were unsuccessful.
A message for Garcia family lawyer Robert Adelman was not immediately returned.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and is next due in court Aug. 29.