Woodacre crash victim’s father sues driver, county

Marin County is facing its first lawsuit stemming from a crash that killed four teenage girls last year in Woodacre.

Robert Katz, the father of crash victim Sienna Katz, alleges road conditions on San Geronimo Valley Drive contributed to his daughter’s death.

The lawsuit says large redwood trees lined the road at the curve and the crash site lacked guardrails and appropriate signage warning of the potential hazard.

“The dangerous condition created a foreseeable risk that vehicles would leave the roadway and collide with fixed objects, resulting in catastrophic injury or death,” wrote Garrett May, a lawyer for Katz.

The lawsuit also names the driver as a defendant. It accuses the driver, a 17-year-old Fairfax girl, of failing to drive at a safe speed for the road conditions, not maintaining control and not taking action to avoid leaving the road.

The girl is facing criminal charges as well. She is charged with a misdemeanor count of vehicular manslaughter and infractions of driving at an unsafe speed and violating terms of her provisional driver’s license.

After twice delaying her plea, she entered a not guilty plea Wednesday in Marin County Superior Court.

Prosecutor Cassandra Edwards filed a motion seeking personnel records on the California Highway Patrol officers involved in the investigation. Attorneys file such motions in pursuit of information that might impeach the credibility of the investigators. The District Attorney’s Office could not be reached for comment on the motion.

After the hearing Wednesday, defense attorney Charles Dresow said the CHP “released flawed and incomplete reports” at the beginning of the case.

“We will continue to thoroughly investigate the leads that we have developed independently and those that the CHP failed to follow as the case proceeds,” he said.

Judge James Chou set a hearing on the motion for March 11.

The crash happened on April 18, 2025. The defendant was driving a 2021 Volkswagen Tiguan with five friends as passengers. The passengers were 14 or 15. All the teens were students at Archie Williams High School in San Anselmo.

The vehicle went off the two-lane road, struck a redwood tree and caught fire. The crash killed Sienna Katz, Ada Kepley, Olive Koren and Josalynn Osborn. The driver and a 14-year-old passenger were hospitalized.

The surviving passenger told investigators she saw the bright headlights of an oncoming vehicle before the driver swerved right, but she could not remember the crash, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The CHP’s investigative report said officers could not locate evidence of a second vehicle.

The investigation determined that the driver made a dangerous turn near a curve. She is also accused of speeding by driving 60 to 65 mph in a posted 40 mph zone.

The driver had a provisional driver’s license at the time, according to the CHP. Her license prohibited her from transporting passengers under age 20.

The defendant had her license for five months and “likely lacked the experience to safely handle these conditions at a high speed,” the report said.

Relatives of the crash victims challenged the CHP’s conclusion. Linda Kepley, mother of 15-year-old victim Ada Kepley, said they have valid concerns and questions.

“As grieving parents and grandparents we are going to ask those questions,” she said. “We owe it to our daughters.”

Kepley added that society and the justice system also owe it to the defendant to question the investigation.

Kepley and Koren’s grandparents believe the surviving passenger made consistent statements about seeing an oncoming vehicle before the collision.

“She is just as much a victim and deserves to be trusted and believed,” said Gail Koren, Olive’s grandmother.

She alleged that investigators erroneously disposed of license plate reading camera data that could be connected to the incident.

The county has been hit with a flurry of claims stemming from the crash. If the county denies a claim, the complainant can file a lawsuit.

Marin County Counsel Brian Washington said the county has not taken action on the claims. He declined to make a statement about Katz’s lawsuit.

“I have no comment on the Katz litigation beyond noting that we are analyzing the complaint and preparing to defend the county,” Washington said Wednesday.

In December, county supervisors approved a speed limit reduction to 30 mph on San Geronimo Valley Drive between Sir Francis Drake Boulevard and Park Street.

The county also installed warning signs near the crash site to alert drivers about an oncoming curve in the road.