LIHU‘E — Along with his active criminal case, the Lawa‘i driver who caused a fatal 2020 Christmas Eve car crash is facing a new lawsuit in civil court.
The suit, filed last week by the family of the crash victims, also implicates Nissan for failing to implement safety features that could have prevented the deaths.
Sandon Igne, 32, was driving a Toyota pickup truck on Kaumuali‘i Highway in Knudsen Gap (Halfway Bridge) Dec. 24, 2020, when he drove onto the shoulder, swerved back perpendicular to the road, crossed the center line and collided with an oncoming Nissan sedan.
The sedan, operated by a 19-year-old driver, contained three other passengers including 49-year-old Hanama‘ulu resident Eugenia Villanueva, and 71-year-old ‘Ele‘ele man Delfin Geronimo, both of whom died as a result of injuries sustained from the crash.
The Dec. 23, 2021 grand-jury indictment charged Igne with two counts of manslaughter and two counts of negligent homicide in the first degree for Villanueva and Geronimo’s deaths.
According to the Kaua‘i Police Department accident report, Igne had a blood-alcohol level of 0.133%, over one and a half times over the state legal limit of 0.08%.
He also tested positive for the presence of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.
Villanueva’s family filed the civil suit last week against Igne and Nissan.
The suit holds Igne liable for crossing the center line, calling his actions “negligent, grossly negligent, careless, reckless and wanton.”
The brunt of the lawsuit is focused on Nissan, however.
“Nissan Kicks failed to provide appropriate and necessary crash protection to Eugenia in her rear seating position even though she was properly seated in the rear seat and properly wearing the seat belt,” the lawsuit alleges.
Villanueva and Geronimo were both in the back seat of the car. Those seated in the front received only minor injuries.
“The front-seat positions of the subject Nissan Kicks contained additional safety features and internal components in its seat and seat-belt system, and a different geometry and overall design, than the rear-seating positions,” the suit reads.
“As a result of the design decisions by the Nissan Defendants, Eugenia’s seat and seat-belt system in the rear of the vehicle provided her with less restraint, seat containment and protection from fatal injuries.”
The suit requests damages from both Igne and Nissan.
Igne appeared in court in August on criminal charges. At the appearance, county Deputy Prosecutor Ramsey Ross reported that a plea offer had been extended to the defendant.
He was set to appear again Tuesday.
Igne’s criminal-case attorney, Mark Zenger, told The Garden Island Tuesday that a plea deal has been reached in the criminal case, and that a change-of-plea hearing has been scheduled for 11 a.m. Monday, Nov. 7.
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Guthrie Scrimgeour, reporter, can be reached at 808-647-0329 or gscrimgeour@thegardenisland.com.
