Fresno, CA, September 29 – Two men died Monday morning in a crash involving two vehicles, according to the California Highway Patrol. The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office identified the victims as Diego Garcia Tepec, 56, of Fresno, and Juan Ortega Juarez, 57. Tepec was driving and Juarez was a passenger in the vehicle that was struck. The driver of the second vehicle was taken to a hospital with injuries described as non-life-threatening.
Fresno Crash on Lincoln Avenue Leaves Two Men Dead
The collision took place around 8:00 a.m. on September 28 on Lincoln Avenue, the California Highway Patrol reported. Tepec was behind the wheel of the Nissan Sentra when a Honda Civic struck the back of his car. The impact proved fatal for both Tepec and Juarez, who was riding as a passenger in the Nissan. The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office released the men’s identities.
The driver of the Honda Civic was taken to a hospital with injuries described as non-life-threatening, according to the California Highway Patrol, which is investigating how the crash happened. The agency has not released the identity of that driver, the hospital where the person was treated, or further details about the injuries.
The cause of the crash has not been made public, and the California Highway Patrol has not said whether speed, impairment or any other factor contributed to the collision. Authorities have not said whether the Honda’s driver has been cited in connection with the crash. No further details had been released as of this 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.
