State Supreme Court rejects lawsuit appeal

Thursday, Nov. 6, 2003 | 9:47 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The Nevada Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a Las Vegas woman's lawsuit seeking money from a homeowner for the nearly fatal injuries she suffered when the speeding car she was riding in crashed and ended up in the home's flowerbed.

"Imposing liability on residential landowners for injuries or fatalities suffered by motorists who leave the roadway would place an undue burden on landowners, especially those living near buy roadways," the court ruled in upholding District Judge Michael Cherry's summary judgment against Paola Najgrodski.

In January 1997 Najgrodski was a passenger in the front seat of a car driven by Ross Duran that was speeding through a residential neighborhood at 75 mph. Both were 16 at the time.

Duran did not stop at the Sandalwood Drive dead-end of Endora Drive. He crashed his car through a cinder block wall at 55 mph and slammed into a flowerbed in the back yard of homeowner Joseph Volpe.

A passenger in the back seat, Jee Seo, was killed. Duran was accused of involuntary manslaughter and reckless driving and placed on probation and his driver's license revoked until he was 21 years old.

The wreck left Najgrodski in a coma for six months. She suffered brain damage and requires lifelong care, the civil suit notes.

Najgrodski sued Volpe and the Pardee Construction Company of Nevada in 2001 claiming their negligence was at least partially to blame.

The suit alleged that Volpe was negligent in building a flowerbed behind a wall located in his back yard and failing to warn her of it.

In other rulings Wednesday, the court: