The Abridged version:
- A group of 36 motorcyclists and their families are suing Caltrans and its contractors over a deadly pileup near a Highway 50 construction zone in Sacramento.
- The allegations center on a crash in January 2025 that involved 13 motorcycles and a sedan that collided in an area where traffic barriers were placed and lanes shifted.
- Caltrans and lead contractor Flatiron Dragados have faced multiple injury and wrongful death lawsuits over the course of the “Fix50” project.
More legal trouble is stirring up against Caltrans over its mammoth repair project on Highway 50 in Sacramento.
The members of a motorcycle club who were involved in a deadly pileup on Highway 50 are suing Caltrans and lead contractor Flatiron Dragados, alleging wrongful death and serious injuries. The lawsuit claims that the crash was caused by “negligence” in the way that traffic barriers were set up and the lack of signage on Highway 50 during construction.
Caltrans’ “Fix50” project to repair and widen Highway 50 in Sacramento has been underway since 2021, two years past the original schedule. An Abridged investigation published last month found that rejected concrete contributed to the delays.
While Caltrans has stated that it no longer needs traffic splits for the project as of late December, work will continue on Highway 50 through the summer. Additional “aesthetic work” such as painting, lighting and landscaping will continue through this summer, according to Caltrans spokesperson Sergio Ochoa-Sanchez.
The lawsuit, filed on Dec. 29 to beat a one-year deadline, centers on a large crash that happened in January 2025 when members of a motorcycle club collided with a car near an area where traffic splits and barriers were put in to accommodate construction near the westbound Stockton Boulevard exit. One motorcyclist, Brian Kipton Shaw, was killed in the collission.
A total of 13 motorcycles were involved, plus four vehicles that were carrying supplies for the motorcycle club, according to the lawsuit. A total of 36 people are plaintiffs in the lawsuit, including members of the Vituscan Riders motorcycle club and their family members who claim they were emotionally or economically affected by the crash.
The lawsuit was filed in Sacramento County Superior Court against Caltrans and lead contractor Flatiron Dragados, as well as subcontractors Teichert Construction, Coral Construction, WSP USA Inc., Knight Construction Management and the driver of the car that collided with the motorcycles.
“We believe that Caltrans and its contactors violated Caltrans’ own safety standards with the posting of signage through construction zones,” said attorney Robert Bale, who is representing the motorcyclists.
“The musical chairs that Caltrans played out there kept people confused every day,” Bale told Abridged.
Narrow lanes and barricades surrounded crash site
On the morning of Jan. 12, 2025, the motorcycle club was driving westbound on Highway 50 when they saw “K-rails” — the short, thin concrete barriers used to separate lanes — began to narrow the highway near Stockton Boulevard.
The lawsuit alleges that for motorists, the sudden appearance of the barriers “made it appear” that they “might run straight into a K-rail barrier due to the configuration of the roadway and placement of the barriers.”
As the motorcycle club entered the stretch of highway banked by concrete walls, they saw a sedan veer into their lane, according to the lawsuit. The sedan “clipped the front right handlebar” of the lead motorcycle, then slammed on the brakes, the lawsuit states.
“Chaos reigned as lead riders plowed into the back of the sedan, and trailing riders collided with each other and/or with the concrete wall to their left or the concrete K-rails to their right,” the lawsuit states.
Kipton Shaw was killed by the crash, and other club members, including the lead motorcyclist, sustained severe injuries, according to the 37-page complaint.
Representatives from Flatiron and Teichert declined to comment on the lawsuit. Representatives from Coral Construction, WSP USA Inc. and Knight Construction Management did not respond to requests for comment.
Representatives from Caltrans also declined to comment on the collision and the lawsuit.
“Safety is the department’s top priority, with a goal of zero deaths and serious injuries on state highways,” Caltrans spokesperson Steve Nelson said in an email.
More lawsuits allege injuries due to Fix50 construction
Caltrans and lead contractor Flatiron have been the subject of multiple lawsuits over injuries and alleged wrongful deaths in the Highway 50 construction zone.
In May 2021, another motorcyclist, Ronald Fitzgerald, died after he struck a vehicle that had been abandoned on the highway near 51st Street in an area where the shoulder was closed. The car remained in the lane where Fitzgerald was driving.
Another lawsuit was filed over a collision in November 2022, when a car drove into the construction zone after lanes were diverted near Howe Avenue. Those two lawsuits appear to have settled out of court and have been dismissed by Sacramento County Superior Court judges.
An additional lawsuit was filed against Flatiron in February 2024, alleging at that roadway defects within the Fix50 site had caused injury to a driver.
Felicia Alvarez is a reporter at Abridged covering accountability. She’s called Sacramento home since 2015 and has reported on government, health care and breaking news topics for both local and national news outlets.