DANCER INJURED IN CRASH SETTLES LAWSUIT FOR $1.6 MILLION
By LINDA WIGGINS /Herald Staff Writer
An Israeli dancer injured in a Pembroke Pines car crash recently settled her lawsuit for $1.6 million. Galit Haik, 27, a member of the Shalom Dance Troupe, was on her way to a performance at Century Village when the van she was riding in turned in front of an oncoming car. Several others in the van were hurt, Haik most seriously.
"We felt so bad about it," said Toni Gleeson, director of the Pembroke Pines clubhouse where Haik was to perform. Haik had a promising career with, the Israeli folk dance troupe and was a top math and physics major at Tel Aviv University. The accident ended all that, said Diana Santa Maria, Haik's Davie attorney.
"Her life will never be the same. She was extraordinarily talented," Santa Maria said.
Haik has brain damage, memory lapses, constant ringing in her ears and depression stemming from her radical change in lifestyle after the injury, said Santa Maria, who lives in Cooper City. Haik is still with the dance troupe, but does clerical work, Santa Maria said.
Santa Maria sued the owner of the rental van Haik was traveling in, InterAmerican Car Rental in Miami. Florida law states that the owner of a vehicle is responsible for the negligence of the driver. Charles Rice, the Miami attorney repre-senting InterAmerican, called the case routine. His job was to find other insurance companies to absorb some of the loss, he said.
The insurance company for the Arie Kaduri Agency which booked the rental van paid $750,000 of the claim, Rice said. The Shalom Dance Troupe is a popular attraction around Broward. It tours the area at least once a year to entertain and foster a greater understanding of Israeli culture.
THE MIAMI HERALD
IS SPOT ON SAWGRASS SAFE IN THE RAIN?
A Pembroke Pines man died September 22 after his car skidded through standing water on a tiny stretch of the Sawgrass Expressway that state roads adminstrators have been told for years is dangerous, in the rain.
There have been at least six similar accidents at the spot since 1990. Florida state troopers have complained about pooling water. And the Florida Department of Transportation is fighting three lawsuits filed by injured drivers who say they spun out in the water.
In 1991, a mother and daughter were in their jacked-up Nissan pickup truck when they had the same kind of accident at the same spot. The truck flipped over several times, throwing clear 21 year old Shannon Sneeden, a swimsuit model. Sneeden suffered brain damage and a shattered collarbone.
But DOT engineers say they can't find any puddles, and they deny any allegations that the road is defective. They say the accidents are the fault of careless drivers, and they say that they have no control over rain soaked roads.
"They can talk until they're blue in the face," Sneeden's mother, Diana Bradley said. "But I'm sorry, I was there. I lived through it. I was the one holding on for dear life while that car was in the air. They've got a serious problem on that road. It's just too bad it took someone's life to get some attention."
Brady and Sneeden's attorney, Diana Santa Maria, of Davie, filed the first lawsuit in 1992. It is now 28 volumes thick - with pleadings and depositions that now can be stacked taller than the tallest of the accident victims.
"Maybe they thought they could paper us to death," Santa Maria said. "I've been at this for four years now. It is not going away. I'm just really, really sad it has come to this. Someone's dead now, and it was completely unecessary."
