Fresno County, CA, October 23 – A Fresno man died Thursday morning in a head-on crash between a Nissan truck and a semi-truck on Highway 180 near Kerman, according to the California Highway Patrol. CHP identified the man as 45-year-old Fernando Acosta Marquez and said he died at the scene of the crash. The agency said Marquez’s truck had been on the wrong side of the road at the time of the collision.
Fresno Man Killed in Head-On Crash With Semi-Truck on Highway 180 Near Kerman
Officers with the California Highway Patrol were called to the scene shortly after 11 a.m. on October 22, where Highway 180 meets Napa Avenue in Fresno County. Investigators said Marquez had been driving the Nissan truck westbound on the highway when it crossed into the opposing lanes and struck the semi-truck.
CHP has not explained what caused the Nissan truck to cross into the oncoming lanes before the two vehicles collided. The agency’s statement on the crash so far has focused on confirming that the truck was on the wrong side of the road, without detailing why. No timeline for further findings has been given.
The California Highway Patrol has not released information about the driver of the semi-truck, including that person’s identity or whether they were injured in the collision. Beyond identifying Marquez and describing the wrong-side driving that led to the crash, CHP has not yet made additional details about the collision public.
Why evidence in a commercial vehicle case has a deadline of its own
A collision involving a commercial vehicle is not simply a larger car accident. The carrier holds records the other driver never has: electronic logging data, maintenance and inspection history, dispatch instructions and driver qualification files.
Those records are the best evidence of what happened and they do not last indefinitely. Retention periods are measured in months for some categories, so the window to preserve them can close long before the deadline to file a lawsuit does. A preservation demand sent early is the step that keeps them available.
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.
