{"id":6704,"date":"2026-08-13T04:10:49","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T04:10:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6704"},"modified":"2026-08-13T04:10:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T04:10:49","slug":"twins-who-lost-parents-in-peninsula-street-racing-crash-awarded-33-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6704","title":{"rendered":"Twins who lost parents in Peninsula street racing crash awarded $33 million"},"content":{"rendered":"
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REDWOOD CITY \u2013 A San Mateo County jury awarded $33 million to twin girls who lost their parents in a violent street racing crash nearly four years ago in Redwood City.<\/p>\n

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Cesar Morales, who was 17 years old at the time, and his parents, Arnold Morales and Susana Salto Alvarez, were found liable Tuesday after a nearly three-week wrongful death trial. The verdict came close to four years after the Nov. 4, 2022 collision that killed Gregory Ammen, 44, and Grace Spiridon, 42. Their then-7-year-old daughters survived the crash.<\/p>\n

The jury also found that Grace Spiridon had no fault in the collision \u2014 which Niall McCarthy, attorney for the twins and Maria-Liza Spiridon, the girls\u2019 aunt and adoptive mother, said was \u201cvery important to the family.\u201d The defendants had blamed her for the collision for four years, he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was incredibly painful to hear our sister blamed for a tragedy she did nothing to cause, especially knowing her daughters will one day learn those accusations were made,\u201d Maria-Liza Spiridon said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope the public record now reflects the truth \u2014 that Grace was an innocent victim,\u201d she added. \u201cOur focus remains on helping these girls heal while honoring the beautiful lives of both Grace and Greg.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cesar was sentenced to 90 days of electronic home monitoring last year after being found guilty of two counts of felony vehicular manslaughter, three counts of engaging in a speed contest resulting in great bodily injury and one count of engaging in a speed contest.\u00a0Kyle Harrison, 25, the other person involved in the street race, pleaded no contest to charges including vehicular manslaughter and was sentenced to eight years in prison. He died in custody last March.<\/p>\n

The jury found that both Cesar Morales and Harrison were negligent and that their negligence was a \u201csubstantial factor\u201d in the harm caused to the twins, according to the jury verdict form.<\/p>\n

The jury also found that Arnold Morales and Alvarez were negligent in supervising their son, meaning they should have reasonably been aware of his habits that \u201ccreated an unreasonable risk of harm to other persons,\u201d according to the jury verdict. They were not found negligent for entrusting their son with the vehicle he was driving at the time of the collision.<\/p>\n

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McCarthy said that was because Cesar Morales\u2019 name was on the car\u2019s registration, meaning the parents did not lend him a car they owned. He added that, in the case of the negligent supervision finding, the parents ignored \u201crepeated warning signs about problematic driving behavior,\u201d pointing to a speeding ticket he recieved for going 108 miles per hour on the freeway and a ticket for texting while driving on the freeway, both of which had notices mailed to the house that that the parents said they did not see.<\/p>\n

The jury awarded the twins economic damages of almost $19 million total and non-economic damages \u2014 accounting for the loss of their parents\u2019 companionship and love \u2014 of $7 million each. Of the defendants, Cesar Morales was apportioned 60% of the fault, Arnold Morales 20% of the fault, Alvarez 5% of the fault and Harrison 15% of the fault.<\/p>\n

McCarthy said that he is \u201cvery pleased with the jury\u2019s verdict\u201d and that he hopes it encourages other Bay Area parents to be proactive about their children\u2019s driving.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s our firm belief that this tragedy was not caused by one decision made by a teenage driver one night on El Camino Real,\u201d McCarthy said. \u201cIt was made by a series of decisions made by the Morales family leading up to this tragedy.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe bottom line is that if you\u2019re a parent of a teenager and you\u2019re put on notice of problematic driving, you\u2019ve got to take action to protect the community,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s not just your child who\u2019s at risk. They\u2019re placing everyone at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Philip Segal, the attorney for Arnold Morales and Alvarez, said that the jury\u2019s verdict in finding his clients negligent was a \u201ctravesty.\u201d He added that the jury \u201cdid a fair job\u201d in awarding damages to the girls.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no credible evidence that the parents knew or should have known that their son was unfit or incompentent to drive, or that this was going to happen,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was a crazy, impulsive decision by a 17-year-old, and it sends the wrong message to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

James M. Treppa, attorney for estate of Kyle Harrison, and Sherrett Walker, attorney for Cesar Morales, did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The civil case stemmed from a wrongful death lawsuit filed in 2023. It alleged Cesar and Harrison pulled up to a stoplight at El Camino Real and Howard Avenue in San Carlos and started revving their engines, while two passengers in Cesar\u2019s car urged them to race.<\/p>\n

The pair hit speeds of 80 to 100 mph on El Camino Real before Cesar\u2019s 2005 Mercedes-Benz E55 slammed into the victims\u2019 Chevrolet Bolt at Finger Avenue in Redwood City, according to the lawsuit. The Chevy was thrown 100 feet in the crash.<\/p>\n

The suit also alleged that Cesar\u2019s parents allowed their son to modify the Mercedes-Benz and knew about his \u201cdangerous proclivity for speeding and racing cars.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis case has never been about money,\u201d Margaret Petros, an advocate for the victims\u2019 family, said in a statement. \u201cIt has always been about accountability, protecting victims\u2019 rights, and ensuring these two young children have a voice. Behind every courtroom file is a family whose lives have been permanently changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A San Mateo County jury has awarded $33 million to twin girls who lost their parents in a violent street racing crash nearly four years ago in Redwood City.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6703,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nTwins who lost parents in Peninsula street racing crash awarded $33 million - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6704\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Twins who lost parents in Peninsula street racing crash awarded $33 million - 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