Elderly driver Mary Lau will have to explain what happened in the 2024 West Portal crash that killed a family of four in two civil lawsuits filed by relatives of the family last year, and jurors will determine monetary damages, following Lau’s sentence in criminal court last Friday.

As SFist reported last week, following Mary Fong Lau's sentencing in San Francisco Superior Court last Friday, relatives of the victims may now proceed with two civil lawsuits filed last year, as KGO reports.

During the civil cases, which were intitiated by the families in 2025, Lau will be required to take the stand and explain the circumstances leading up to the collision that killed Diego Cardoso de Oliveira, Matilde Pinto, and their two sons, Joaquin and Caue — unlike during the criminal case where Lau avoided trial.

In February, Lau changed her plea of “not guilty” to “no contest,” allowing the court to treat her as guilty, without admitting guilt, and waiving her right to a criminal trial, which enabled her to skip taking the stand.

“She will not be able to invoke her fifth amendment privilege against self-incrimination because the criminal case is over,” David Levine, Professor at the University of California College of the Law in San Francisco, told KGO. “There’s no risk that she will be charged criminally for that, so she can’t hide behind that anymore.”

Levine told KGO that Lau’s “no contest” plea in the criminal case will drag the civil cases out longer because the plaintiff’s attorneys will need to go through all of the evidence with the jury before a determination is made since Lau was never found guilty.

Following the judge's decision in the criminal case last Friday, community members and relatives of the victims said Lau’s sentence was too lenient for someone who recklessly plowed into a family of four at 70 miles per hour after veering in-and-out of oncoming traffic. As previously reported, the sentence consisted of two years of probation, 200 hours of mandatory community service, and having her license revoked for three years.

“We believe it’s a slap on the wrist for somebody who took four lives, but in the civil case, we’re going to try to hold her accountable based on civil liability, which measures to figure out what is a fair resolution,” Jim Quadra, attorney for the victims’ families, told KGO (in the above segment).

Lau has been accused of hiding wealth by transferring millions of dollars of real estate assets and cash out of her name during the criminal proceedings. Quadra told KGO his team is still investigating the total amount of funds that were moved out of her account and how to track it all down.

The jurors in the civil suits will now determine the damages based on arguments from the attorneys, but the family is currently focused on accountability.

Previously: Elderly Driver Who Killed Family of Four in 2024 West Portal Crash Avoids Jail Time

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