San Jose, CA, October 12 – A 36-year-old man died and two other people were hurt in a multi-vehicle crash on Highway 101 in San Jose, according to the California Highway Patrol. The man had gotten out of his car after it broke down in a travel lane and was standing outside it when two other vehicles struck him and the car. Debris from the impact also flew across the freeway and struck a third vehicle.
San Jose Man Dies in Multi-Vehicle Crash on Highway 101
According to the CHP, the crash happened around 5:30 a.m. Saturday, October 10, 2026, on southbound Highway 101 just north of Tully Road. The CHP said a 36-year-old San Jose man was driving a Toyota when it broke down in the traffic lanes. He got out and was standing next to the car when a Honda and a Ford both struck him and the vehicle. The force of the collision sent debris flying into the northbound lanes, where it struck a Tesla.
The San Jose man who was driving the Toyota was pronounced dead at the scene. His name was not immediately released. The driver of the Honda, a 39-year-old Hayward man, suffered major injuries, while the driver of the Tesla, a 26-year-old Los Banos man, suffered minor injuries. The driver of the Ford, a 33-year-old San Jose man, was not hurt. All three remained at the scene after the crash.
The California Highway Patrol said all southbound lanes of Highway 101 remained closed for more than an hour after the crash, and motorists were diverted onto Tully Road during that time. The CHP also reported that none of the three surviving drivers showed signs of impairment following the collision. The CHP’s investigation into the crash remains ongoing.
Several details about the crash remain unconfirmed. The cause of the Toyota’s breakdown has not been disclosed, and the identity of the man who died has not been released. The CHP has not said whether any citations or arrests resulted from the collision, and no additional information about the crash has been made public since the agency’s initial report.
What the at-fault driver is required to carry, and why it often is not enough
Vehicle Code section 16056 sets California’s minimum liability limits, and they changed recently. For a policy issued or renewed on or after 1 January 2025, the minimum is $30,000 for injury to or death of one person, $60,000 where two or more people are hurt, and $15,000 for property damage. Policies written before that date may still carry the older minimum of $15,000, $30,000 and $5,000.
Those are floors, not typical limits, and a single hospital admission can exhaust the lower figure before any other loss is counted. Where the at-fault driver carries the minimum, the uninsured and underinsured motorist cover on the injured person’s own policy is often the part that matters most, and it is worth checking early rather than after the other insurer has made an offer.
The deadline that applies to a claim like this one
Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1 gives two years for an action for injury to, or for the death of, an individual caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another. The same two years covers an injury claim and a death claim; there is no separate, shorter period because someone died.
Who is entitled to bring a claim when someone is killed
Code of Civil Procedure section 377.60 decides who may bring a wrongful death action. The first group is the surviving spouse, domestic partner, children and the issue of deceased children, or, where there is no surviving issue, whoever would take the estate by intestate succession.
A second group may bring the action only if they were financially dependent on the person who died: a putative spouse and their children, stepchildren, parents, and the legal guardians of the person who died where the parents are deceased. Parents are in that second group, which is the part families are most often surprised by, because dependency has to be shown rather than assumed.
Talking to someone about it
Culver Legal represents people injured in collisions across California. A conversation about what happened costs nothing, and we work on a contingency fee, which means there is no fee unless we win. If we do not win, we do not pass the case costs on to you either.
Nothing on this page is legal advice about any particular case, and the facts of a reported collision often change as the investigation continues.
