Paul Walker Death Update: California Judge Dismisses Case Against Porsche
The case filed by the widow of the man who died along with actor Paul Walker in 2013 was dismissed by a California judge.
Kristine Rodas, the widow of Roger Rodas, who was driving the 2005 Porsche Carrera GT that Walker was aboard in, had earlier filed a case claiming that the several defects in the car caused the car to crash, leading to the untimely demise of her husband and the actor.
Specifically, the widow alleged in the case that she filed that the car had a poor suspension and side impact protection. She claimed that the lack of a crash cage or a fuel cell of the Porsche caused it to explode into a fireball.
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Nonetheless, earlier this week, US District Judge Philip Gutierrez junked the case for lack of evidence.
"Plaintiff has offered no competent evidence that Rodas' death occurred as a result of any wrongdoing on the part of defendant," Gutierrez wrote.
The District Judge also added that an autopsy had been conducted, and it revealed that the fatal injuries that Rodas had sustained were due to a blunt trauma and not because of the fire that followed.
Despite the dismissal of the case filed against it, Porsche is not off the hook yet. A ruling is still to be made on the separate lawsuits filed by Walker's father and daughter. However, the car maker has maintained that nothing was wrong with the design of the car that drove the two victims to their death.
Walker was on break from the filming of the blockbuster hit "The Fast and the Furious" franchise when the accident happened. He had just left a charity event for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan when the unfortunate event transpired.
Meanwhile, the investigators involved in the high profile case concluded that Rodas was driving above the speed limit—around 90 mph—when the Porsche slammed into trees and a lamp post along a street in a Los Angeles suburb, Santa Clarita. The estimate of the speed was done after some consultation with engineers of Porsche.
