Dancer can sue lead driver of speeding vans

A dancer whose body and career were shattered in a February 2001 crash is entitled to seek damages from the man who led a caravan of speeding vans through Adams County on icy U.S. 395.

The Washington Court of Appeals in Spokane has overturned a ruling by an Adams County judge that the lead driver had no duty to Yong Tao, who was thrown out of the second van in the three-van convoy when it slid off the road and rolled.

Superior Court Judge Richard Miller had dismissed lead driver Heng Da Li from Yong’s lawsuit on grounds that Heng couldn’t be held responsible for what happened in vans he wasn’t driving. Both of the vans following Heng’s crashed nearly simultaneously about 20 miles south of Ritzville.

Such a ruling requires indisputable facts, but a three-judge Court of Appeals panel ruled Tuesday that there is enough evidence for a jury to conclude that Heng controlled the other drivers.

The appellate judges noted that Heng, artistic director of Asian Performing Arts Theater in Seattle, rented three 15-passenger vans to take 34 high school-age dancers from the Beijing Dance Academy to Portland after a performance in Spokane. Heng had arranged the performances.

The judges said Heng instructed the other drivers to follow him at 200-meter intervals and led them through a severe snowstorm at speeds witnesses estimated at 70 to 75 mph – too fast for conditions and faster than other traffic.

Heng’s brother, Heng Bin Li, drove the second van and had to rely on Heng because he couldn’t read road signs in English, didn’t have a map and didn’t know the route, the appellate judges noted.

Heng Bin Li, who had no experience driving on snow and ice, lost control of his van when he saw the one behind his crash. Dancers Shuli Jia, 17, and Xiang Gong, 16, died when they were thrown from the third van. Yong, 17 at the time, and two others were severely injured.

Yong’s injuries included a shattered knee and the loss of 12 teeth.