Twins who were orphaned by boy racers win $33 million payout as aunt who adopted them hails 'justice'

Twin girls who were left orphaned when a teenager plowed into their family vehicle during a street race have been awarded $33 million in damages.

Madison and Olivia Ammen were just seven years old when they lost their parents Greg Ammen, 44, and Grace Spiridon, 42, in the horror crash in 2022.

A jury in San Mateo County on Tuesday found boy racer Cesar Morales, then 17, mostly liable for the high-speed collision that killed the couple in California's Redwood City, The Mercury News reports.

Their twin daughters were in the backseat of the car but survived the wreckage. They have since been adopted by their aunt, Liza Spiridon, who filed a wrongful death suit in 2023.

'When the truth prevails, it doesn't just vindicate - it heals,' she told NBC Bay Area. 'It gives grief somewhere to rest, turns silence into evidence and hands the people left behind something they can finally stand on - not closure, but clarity.'

The verdict comes a year after Morales was handed a 90-day home detention sentence after being criminally convicted of manslaughter over the crash. 

In her lawsuit, Spiridon alleged that Morales and Kyle Harrison, who was 23 at the time of the crash, pulled up to a stoplight at El Camino Real and Howard Avenue in San Carlos and started revving their engines as passengers in Morales' Mercedes-Benz E55 urged them to race.

The two drivers then hit speeds of 80 to 100mph in the moments before Morales slammed his Mercedes-Benz into the victims' Chevrolet Bolt at Finger Avenue in Redwood City, according to the suit.

The impact of the crash reportedly sent the Chevy flying 100 feet, killing the parents on impact. 

Harrison pleaded no contest to vehicular manslaughter and to racing Morales. He was then sentenced to eight years in state prison in February 2025, but was found dead in his jail cell just one month later. 

Spiridon's lawsuit also alleged that Morales's parents allowed their son to modify the Mercedes-Benz they purchased for him and knew about his 'dangerous proclivity for speeding and racing cars' in the lead up to the fatal crash.

Following a nearly three-week trial, the jury ruled that both Morales and Harrison were negligent and that their negligence was a 'substantial factor' in the harm caused to the twins.

It also determined that Morales's parents Arnold Morales and Susana Salto Alvarez, were negligent in supervising their son, meaning they should have reasonably been aware of his habits that 'created an unreasonable risk of harm to other persons,' though they were not found negligent for entrusting their son with the vehicle.

Jurors ultimately assigned 60 percent of the fault for the crash to Morales, 20 percent to his father, Arnold Morales, 15 percent to Harrison and five percent to Alvarez.

All together, they will have to pay the twins economic damages of almost $19 million, as well as non-economic damages – accounting for the loss of their parents' companionship and love – of $7 million each.

Philip Segal, the attorney representing Arnold Morales and Alvarez, slammed the jury's verdict finding his clients negligent as a 'travesty.'

'There was no credible evidence that the parents knew or should have known that their son was unfit or incompetent to drive, or that this was going to happen,' he argued. 

'It was a crazy, impulsive decision by a 17-year-old, and it sends the wrong message to the community,' the lawyer told Mercury News of the verdict.

During the weeks-long trial, jurors heard how Morales had a prior citation for driving over 100mph – though Morales's parents insisted they were unaware of the citation, according to the San Francisco Gate.

Witnesses also described how they had to pull the two young girls from the mangled vehicle.

The twins have since had to undergo extensive trauma therapy, after one of them sketched a woman's face with red splotches, recalling it was the final memory of her dying mom, covered in blood.

The two girls suffered from night terrors also after the crash, which was said would last for up to 15 minutes.

They would also avoid driving near the scene of the crash in case of triggers, but police cars, fire trucks, fires and sirens were harder to escape, the court heard.

Spiridon told NBC Bay Area the girls will sometimes bring up their parents or the crash 'when there’s a song or something that reminds them of mommy and daddy.'

She described the couple as devoted parents.

 'Their daughters were their world,' Liza recounted. 'There's nothing they would not do for them. They were involved in their classrooms volunteering, going to every single soccer game, Grace teaching the girls how to bake, Greg showing the girls woodworking, his Boy Scout side showing up.'

The couple were just five minutes from their home when Morales careened into their vehicle as he was driving up to 110mph while racing Harrison.

But the defendants tried to cast the blame on the girls' mother because she had been turning left in front of the speeding vehicles.

The jury, though, ultimately disagreed, in a move Liza's attorney Niall McCarthy said was 'very important to the family.'

'It was incredibly painful to hear our sister blamed for a tragedy she did nothing to cause, especially knowing her daughters will one day learn those accusations were made,' she said in a statement to The Mercury News.

'We hope the public record now reflects the truth - that Grace was an innocent victim,' she continued, adding her and her husband's focus now 'remains on helping the girls heal while honoring the beautiful lives of both Grace and Greg.'

The verdict comes one year after Morales was sentenced to just 90 days of home detention after being found guilty of two counts of felony vehicular manslaughter, three counts of engaging in a speed contest resulting in great bodily injury and one count of engaging in a speed contest. He was tried as a minor.

That outcome had frustrated members of the Ammen and Spiridon family.

'It felt like Grace and Greg's lives didn't matter, that their daughters' lives didn't matter,' the aunt said.

Harrison's death meanwhile was ruled an accidental overdose from the toxic effects of methadone, amitriptyline and gabapentin.

An attorney representing his estate at the civil trial told the Daily Mail Harrison's insurance carrier settled the case, 'so he was not present or his interests actually represented at the trial.

'He was essentially an empty chair for the other defendants to point the finger at to lessen their own liability,' the lawyer claimed. 

Meanwhile, Harrison's death is the subject of a separate federal lawsuit as his parents and his estate sue San Mateo County and others over his death in custody. 

The lawsuit alleges jail and medical personnel were responsible for medication-related failures that contributed to Harrison's death. 

County defendants have since challenged the suit and the case is still pending.

At the same time, Morales and his parents are pursuing separate litigation against Redwood City, San Mateo County and other government agencies over the investigation and his prosecution following the deadly crash.

The suit alleges that authorities improperly characterized the collision as street racing and violated Morales' constitutional rights.

The case has since been sent to federal court, where the defendants have filed motions seeking its dismissal.

The Daily Mail has reached out to the lawyer representing Morales at the civil trial, Sherrett Walker, and his parents' lawyer, Segal, for comment.