Patricia A. Santillan v. John Pettit

Patricia A. Santillan sued John Pettit for the wrongful death of her 16-year-old daughter, Sherry Anderson, on the theory that Pettit was racing with the car in which Anderson was riding, and the race led to the car's crash and Anderson's death. The jury returned a verdict for Pettit. Santillan appeals, asserting errors in the instructions. We affirm. Anderson was riding in a car driven by Danny Huffman during the night of February 22, 1991. The car skidded past a stop sign without stopping and collided with a pickup. Anderson, Huffman, and two other passengers in the car were killed. Santillan's theory for recovery against Pettit was negligence for racing with Huffman before the collision. At trial the parties disputed whether Pettit and Huffman had been racing. In their testimony, Pettit and a passenger in his car denied racing with Huffman. Anderson's stepfather testified that Pettit admitted to him that Pettit and Huffman were drag racing when the accident happened. Pettit denied making the admission.