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Families of Wrong-Way Crash Victims Sue Driver's Employer

Kaitlyn Ferrante and Marisa Catronio were killed last November in a wrong-way crash on the Sawgrass Expressway.

The families of two young women killed in a wrong-way crash last year are suing the wrong-way driver's employer.

Attorneys for the families of Kaitlyn Ferrante and Marisa Catronio's parents have added Mobile Store Operators, LLC to a previously filed civil lawsuit.

Authorities said then 20-year-old Kayla Mendoza was going the wrong way on the Sawgrass Expressway last November when her car struck another car head-on just before 2 a.m. Ferrante and Catronio, both 21, were in the other car. Catronio was pronounced dead on the scene and Ferrante died from her injuries just days later

Authorities said Mendoza had gone out to a bar after work with her colleagues from a T-Mobile store, owned by Mobile Store Operators, before the crash.

"They were at a work party that evening, in uniform," said attorney Jamie Finizio Bascome. "The T-mobile store operator employees were there with Kayla Mendoza when she was underage and drank to the point where she was no longer able to drive a vehicle safely."

The store did not respond to phone calls made by NBC 6.

Mendoza, who called herself the "pot princess" on Twitter, tweeted "2 Drunk 2 care" just minutes before the crash, according to FHP.

Authorities said she was driving with a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit

"It's bringing justice to more people who are responsible for what happened on the day of my daughter's death and Katie Ferrante," said father Gary Catronio.

Mendoza suffered serious injuries from the crash as well. She is now in jail awaiting trial.

Both the Ferrante and Catronio families will be at the Sawgrass Expressway at Commercial Boulevard Saturday at 3:30 to hold a public informational meeting on roadside safety.

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