Family Files Lawsuit After Golf Course Hit-And-Run

A golf course, golf cart manufacturer and golf course renovation company are being sued following the death of a Southern California golfer. Lisa Park and her cart were struck by a driver in a hit-and-run while the golfer attempted to cross a street from one hole to the next.

Ashley Ludwig of the Rancho Santa Margarita Patch had more details on the accident and lawsuit. 

The family of a woman who died from injuries sustained in a golf cart hit and run is suing both the Diamond Bar golf course and the golf cart manufacturer, according to court documents.

Lisa Park, a 59-year-old Rancho Santa Margarita wife, mother and business woman, was playing a round of golf with her husband at the Royal Vista Golf Club in Diamond Bar. When she noticed that she’d left her golf club at the 4th hole, Lisa Park drove her cart across the street to get it, traversing south across Colima Road east of Tierra Luna.

The street had a signalized crosswalk.

After grabbing her club, she returned across the roadway toward the 5th hole when a westbound car collided with her cart, causing injuries that led to her death the following day. The driver and the car were never identified or caught according to court documents

Park left behind her husband, James, and two adult children, Jessica and Peter Park, who are now suing the Royal Vista Golf Club near Diamond Bar, and Los Angeles County, according to the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit filed Friday. The suit, which seeks unspecified damages, also names as defendants Eagle Golf Construction Inc., which renovated part of the golf course, and Textron Inc., which manufactured the golf cart in which Park was riding.

The lawsuit alleges that despite a history of prior fatal accidents involving Royal Vista golfers crossing in the same or surrounding area, Royal Vista and Eagle Golf did not provide safer alternatives such as a bridge or tunnel. Los Angeles County is negligent for not providing proper warnings to drivers that golfers cross Colima Road at that location and because the 45 mph speed limit is excessive given that so many carts cross there during the day, the suit alleges.

“Golfers traveling by golf cart are particularly vulnerable as their movement is restricted and they are limited in their ability to make quick evasive maneuvers …,” the suit says.

Textron is liable because the golf cart did not have seat belts or other restraints that could have prevented Park’s ejection, according to the suit.

[Rancho Santa Margarita Patch]

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