Malheur County, CA, October 20 – A two-vehicle collision on Highway 26 killed one woman and left three juveniles and another driver seriously injured, according to the Oregon State Police. The crash happened Monday afternoon when a Hyundai Santa Fe heading eastbound turned into the path of a westbound Ford Expedition. The woman driving the Hyundai was pronounced dead at the scene, while the three juvenile passengers and the driver of the Ford were taken to hospitals with serious injuries.
Malheur County Highway 26 Crash Kills Vale Woman, Injures Four
The crash occurred at about 2:09 p.m. on Highway 26 near milepost 244, in Malheur County, Oregon State Police said. Investigators identified the driver killed as Autumn Jean Hansen, 41, of Vale. Police said Hansen was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash. The three juveniles injured in the collision were passengers in Hansen’s Hyundai and were flown to a regional hospital for treatment of serious injuries.
The driver of the Ford Expedition, Douglas Alan Sharp, 62, of John Day, also sustained serious injuries and was transported to a hospital, police said. Oregon State Police were assisted at the scene by Vale Fire & Ambulance, Treasure Valley Paramedics, the Malheur County Sheriff’s Office and the Oregon Department of Transportation. Highway 26 was affected for approximately four hours while crews responded to the crash and investigators worked the scene.
Investigators said witnesses reported that the Hyundai appeared to be attempting a U-turn in front of the Ford moments before the two vehicles collided. Oregon State Police have not said whether the U-turn played a role in the crash or released any additional findings. The investigation into the cause of the collision remains open, according to the agency.
Oregon State Police have not released the names, ages or hometowns of the three injured juveniles, nor additional details about their conditions. No citations or findings of fault have been announced, and the precise cause of the crash has not been confirmed. The agency said no further information was available at this time.
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.
If a public agency may be involved, the deadline is much shorter
Where a city, county, transit agency, school district or state agency is a potential defendant, Government Code section 911.2 requires a written claim to be presented to that entity within six months. The six months runs from when the claim accrues, and the claim is presented to the entity itself: a school district and a city are separate public entities with separate processes.
Two things follow that are easy to get wrong. The six months is the deadline to present the claim, not the deadline to sue, and it attaches to the public entity as a defendant rather than to the location of the crash, so a case with both a private and a public defendant is not entirely governed by it. Once the entity mails a written rejection, Government Code section 945.6 allows six months to file suit, which is shorter than the window that just closed. If no written rejection is ever sent, that period is two years from accrual.
Missing the six months is not automatically the end of it. Government Code section 911.6(b) requires the board to grant a late claim application on any of six grounds, including where the person was a minor, or was physically or mentally incapacitated, for the whole of the six months or for any part of it.
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.
