El Dorado Hills, CA (Sept 12, 2026) – Two women and a man were killed and a woman was hospitalized after a car crashed into a tree in El Dorado Hills on the night of September 12, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The El Dorado Hills Fire Department and CHP said crews responded to the crash around 10:30 p.m. on westbound Serrano Parkway, west of Terracina Drive.
Officials say the crash damaged the lithium-ion battery in the electric car, causing the vehicle to catch fire. The cause of the crash is currently unknown.
CHP said two women, the driver and a passenger, were pronounced dead at the scene following the fire. Another passenger, a 30-year-old man from Sacramento, was ejected from the vehicle and died at the scene.
A 28-year-old Sacramento woman was able to escape the car and was taken to an area hospital with major injuries, according to CHP.
The roadway was closed until 4:30 a.m. on September 13, and CHP is investigating.
This is a developing story. Details may change as the investigation continues.
Fatal Car Accidents and Post-Crash Vehicle Fires in California
When the people killed and hurt were passengers, fault is not theirs to carry. These cases turn on coverage, evidence, and timing.
Can passengers and their families still bring a claim when the driver also died? Yes. A passenger does not share responsibility for how a vehicle is driven. A claim generally runs against the driver’s liability coverage first, and against the driver’s estate where that coverage falls short.
What happens if one policy has to cover three deaths and a serious injury? It usually cannot. This is where underinsured motorist coverage on a passenger’s own auto policy, or on a parent’s or spouse’s policy in the same household, becomes the next layer. Families are often told no such coverage exists when it does.
Does the fire change the analysis? It can. CHP has not determined what caused the crash. When officials report that a damaged lithium-ion battery led a vehicle to burn, investigators examine how the battery pack was shielded, how fast thermal runaway spread, whether doors and restraints worked as designed, and how much time occupants had to get out. A survivor of a post-crash fire may need a burn injury attorney as well as a crash lawyer, because those damages are valued differently.
What has to be preserved right now? The vehicle. Burned cars are released to salvage yards and destroyed within weeks. The event data recorder, the battery modules, and the door and seat belt hardware all live in that wreck, and nowhere else.
A California wrongful death claim can cover:
- Funeral and burial costs
- The financial support the person would have provided the family
- The loss of their care, companionship, and guidance
- Medical costs incurred before death
California follows pure comparative fault. A recovery is reduced by a person’s own share of responsibility, never barred by it.
Wrongful death claims must generally be filed within two years of the date of death (CCP 377.60). For this crash, that deadline is September 12, 2028. Injury claims carry the same two-year window (CCP 335.1).
Contact Our California Wrongful Death Attorneys
Our Northern California wrongful death attorneys handle fatal crashes where the driver died too and the coverage picture runs across several policies. Our catastrophic injury attorneys work the cases where a survivor is facing months of treatment and no clear answer about what happened.
The burned car is the center of this case, and salvage yards do not hold wrecks for long, so a preservation demand needs to reach CHP and the insurer while the vehicle still exists.
Talking with us costs nothing, and you owe nothing unless we recover money for your family. Call (844) 764 2596 now.
