A California judge has sided with former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer and struck down major portions of a wrongful death lawsuit that alleges Klinghoffer was on his cell phone “mere seconds before” he piloted his GMC Yukon into a crosswalk and fatally struck a man last March.
At a hearing Friday in Alhambra, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Ian C. Fusselman ruled that plaintiff Ashley Sanchez, the daughter of victim Israel Sanchez, had failed to show Klinghoffer’s actions rose to the level of “despicable and willful” conduct necessary to seek punitive damages. The judge said the daughter could try again with an amended lawsuit but would have to go beyond simply claiming Klinghoffer “was likely driving while distracted” and add new facts purportedly showing “evil motive.”
“Plaintiff’s allegation that defendant acted with ‘willful and conscious disregard’ of others, even understood in the light most favorable to plaintiff’s case, fails to rise to the level of ‘despicable and willful’ conduct,” Fusselman said in a written ruling adopted during the hearing. The judge described “despicable conduct” as conduct that is “so vile, base miserable, wretched or loathsome that it would be looked down on by ordinary decent people.”
“The facts alleged by plaintiff here clearly allege that defendant was careless, even reckless. However, recklessness is insufficient to support a punitive damages claim,” the judge ruled.
Klinghoffer and his lawyers Kendall Craver and Andrew Brettler successfully convinced the court to strike more than a dozen of the most damaging lines from the lawsuit that now moves ahead with claims for medical costs and pain and suffering. One of the deleted lines claimed Klinghoffer “was using a device mere seconds before he crashed into the decedent.” Another stricken line claimed Klinghoffer knew his distracted driving could lead to the “horrible outcome” of Israel Sanchez’s death and that he was “callous in his disregard for the rights and safety of pedestrians.”
John Kawai, a lawyer representing Ashley Sanchez, said his client planned to amend the complaint to add more allegations. “The judge’s ruling indicated that he wanted some additional detail about Klinghoffer’s mental state at the time he collided with the pedestrian in the complaint similar to what would be alleged in a criminal case in order to bolster our claim for punitive damages,” Kawai wrote in an email to Rolling Stone after the hearing. “We anticipate we will be able to allege further detail.”
Klinghoffer, 45, did not attend the hearing on Friday. Last month, he was arraigned on a misdemeanor charge of vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence and pleaded “not guilty” through his lawyer. The criminal charge was filed quietly in August, a month after Ashley Sanchez filed the lawsuit.
According to prosecutors, Klinghoffer was behind the wheel when his vehicle struck Israel Sanchez in the crosswalk on March 18, 2024 in the city of Alhambra, just east of Los Angeles. Sanchez, 47, was pronounced dead at a hospital later that day from blunt force trauma.
Ashley Sanchez alleged in her July 10 lawsuit that Klinghoffer “was likely driving while distracted” and that he “made no braking or slowing motion until after he fatally struck” her dad. A source with knowledge of the investigation told Rolling Stone that a review of the evidence in the criminal case determined “there was no phone involved.” A lawyer representing Sanchez’s family said he disagreed. Speaking after the arraignment, attorney Grayson Yoder said Klinghoffer passed in front of a business camera “seconds” before the crash and “appears to be holding a phone.”
“If they have exculpatory evidence, it’s never been presented to us,” Yoder said last month. “All I can see is what I see on the video. If he says he’s not on his phone, fine. But it’s the middle of the day, he’s coming into an intersection and there are no brake lights on his vehicle, none, not until a man is hit in the crosswalk. I’m skeptical of exculpatory evidence, and I can’t speak to the DA and their charges, but at the end of the day, in broad daylight, he had many, many opportunities for this not to have happened. There’s no other word for it besides negligence. We allege that it’s gross negligence.”
Ashley Sanchez spoke to reporters after the arraignment to say she’s heartbroken over the loss of her father. She said he was on his way to buy groceries to cook for his family and was a nurturing force in her life.
“I miss my dad,” she said. “We’re seeking justice here. I don’t know why Josh is getting just a misdemeanor. It’s not okay. My father was a very great father.”
Klingoffer’s criminal case is due back in court on Oct. 31. “This was a tragic accident,” Klinghoffer’s camp told Rolling Stone in July. “Josh immediately pulled over, stopped the vehicle, called 911, and waited until police and the ambulance arrived. He is fully cooperating with the traffic investigation.”
Klinghoffer joined the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2009, replacing his friend, guitarist John Frusciante, but was fired by the band in 2019 when Frusciante returned. He is currently on tour with Pearl Jam as a supplemental musician (he also contributed to the band’s latest album, Dark Matter) and also works with his own band, Pluralone.
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