Families of four of the six people killed in the crash that occurred on September 1, 2024, at the Pedrozo intersection in Ypacaraí, have filed a civil lawsuit against the Paraguayan state and the Ministry of Public Works and Communications (MOPC). They are seeking compensation of G. 27 billion for material damages, lost earnings and nonmaterial damages, as well as legal interest from the date of the crash.
The lawsuit was filed by attorneys Harry Biedermann, Óscar Paciello Llano and Óscar Paciello Samaniego on behalf of Eulogio Ramón Estigarribia, father of Roger Iván Estigarribia, and Gilda Caballero widow of Méndez, mother of Rosana Raquel Méndez Caballero and grandmother of Jazmín Marithé and Fiorella Monserrath Cristaldo Méndez.
The crash occurred at 3:49 p.m. on Route PY-02, at kilometer 47, near the traffic-light intersection in Pedrozo. According to the version presented by the families, Roger, Rosana and their two daughters were in a gray Fiat Argo, license plate AAC0420, stopped at a red light while waiting for authorization to make a left turn.
A Scania R113 tractor-trailer, driven by Víctor Alfredo Jiménez Parra and carrying 45 head of cattle, reportedly lost its brakes while descending. The vehicle hit the stopped line of traffic, crushed the Fiat Argo against another Scania truck carrying 33,300 kilograms of soybeans, and also involved a Toyota Rush, a Toyota Vitz and a Mercedes-Benz.
Roger Estigarribia, Rosana Méndez, Jazmín Cristaldo Méndez, Fiorella Cristaldo Méndez and Hugo Alberto Cristaldo died at the scene. The bodies were trapped between the vehicles’ structures. Although the legal claims represent four of the six fatalities mentioned in the lawsuit, accounts of the crash’s dynamics record five deaths at the scene.
The plaintiffs argue that the MOPC, which is responsible for administering and regulating national highways, failed by installing and maintaining a traffic light at the bottom of a long, steep descent. “The MOPC installed and kept active a traffic-light intersection at the base of an extremely pronounced and prolonged geographic incline,” they state in the filing.
In the families’ assessment, the configuration forced light vehicles to remain stopped in an area used by heavy trucks, reducing the chances of escape in the event of a mechanical failure. The lawsuit attributes alleged strict liability to the state and asks that the compensation also cover the financial losses and emotional effects resulting from the deaths. Any liability on the part of the MOPC will still have to be examined by the courts.