This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A Salt Lake City jury is expected to continue deliberating Wednesday in the case of a woman killed in a car accident that her family says was caused by improper snow removal.
A lawyer for the family of 40-year-old Diane Berg said during closing arguments Tuesday afternoon that state authorities allowed piled snow to form a kind of ramp that launched her car over a guardrail and off an overpass as she tried to merge onto Interstate 215 in January 2011.
State attorneys counter that Berg's driving caused the accident, which happened while crews were trying to clear the roads after a record snowstorm.
The Berg family said during the seven-day trial in 3rd District Court that the highway entrance was poorly designed. They are seeking up to $1.2 million in damages.
Berg had just merged from the 3900 South on-ramp to go north on the I-215 east belt route early on Jan. 4, 2011 when she lost control of her SUV, which left an overpass and crashed upside-down onto 3900 South.
The on-ramp makes a tight curve and straightens out as it merges with the freeway. As soon as Berg's SUV merged with freeway traffic, she over-corrected to the right and hit a concrete retaining wall, the Utah Highway Patrol said at the time of the accident.
The SUV rode up onto the top of the three-foot retaining wall and slid for about 40 feet before rolling over the wall and falling off the overpass, according to UHP officials, who said following the crash that speed was believed to have been a factor.
But the lawsuit states that "Berg found herself in a 'no escape' situation which caused her vehicle to be propelled toward and over the safety structures."