The company that placed a Saudi Arabian student into various homes during his studies in Portland is now being sued by the estate of a local teenager killed when the student struck her with his car and then fled the United States before trial.

Multiple missteps by the American Homestay Network contributed to the hit-and-run crash that killed Fallon Smart, 15, along Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard in August 2016, the teen’s estate alleges in an amended complaint filed Wednesday.

The lawsuit claims the company, based in Redmond, Washington, failed to monitor the driving record of the suspect, Abdulrahman Sameer Noorah, who had his license suspended nearly a year before the crash.

It also never advised the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission, which financed Noorah’s studies and living expenses in the U.S., of the potential dangers he posed as a driver, nor did it provide safety rules and training for its student clients or hosts that may have prevented such an accident, according to the complaint.

“The negligence of defendant American Homestay,” the lawsuit alleges, “was a substantial factor in causing the death of plaintiff’s decedent.”

The $15.7 million suit, first filed in Multnomah County in May 2018, also names Noorah and the city of Portland as defendants.

Contacted Thursday, Alisha Nymark, a director with American Homestay, said the company was unaware of any lawsuit.

Portland police say Noorah, a Saudi national, was driving more than twice the 25-mph speed limit when his gold Lexus illegally swerved around traffic and struck Smart. She was weeks away from beginning her sophomore year at Franklin High School.

Noorah, then 20 years old, had 17 parking violations as well as a suspended license for driving without insurance at the time of his arrest, according to court documents.

Records show he had been a student in Portland since 2014 and received an $1,850-a-month stipend from the Saudi government for living expenses.

Prosecutors charged Noorah with manslaughter, felony hit-and-run and reckless driving in the death of Smart.

After his arrest, the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles retained private defense attorneys to work on his case and cut a $100,000 check to provide him bail, according to court records and prosecutors.

Noorah attended classes at Portland Community College while under pretrial supervision.

Two weeks before his June 2017 trial, authorities say, Noorah cut an electronic tracking monitor he was required to wear as a condition of his release and disappeared.

Officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Marshals Service told The Oregonian/OregonLive last year they believe he left his Southeast Portland neighborhood in a black SUV and later used an illicit passport and private plane — likely provided by the Saudi government — to flee the country and return home.

The news organization has since found nearly two dozen cases of Saudi students escaping prosecution in Oregon and at least seven other states — Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin.

A story co-published by The Oregonian/OregonLive and ProPublica in April showed how the FBI, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other agencies have been aware of the Saudi government’s role in helping students charged with crimes in the U.S. flee the country since 2008.

According to the Smart estate’s lawsuit, American Homestay “knew, or, in the exercise of reasonable care, should have known, of the multiple instances of Saudi students fleeing prosecution in this country.”

The estate seeks $2 million for Fallon Smart’s pain and suffering; $12 million for her parents’ loss of a daughter, and $1.75 million for estimated losses to the estate.

Read the full lawsuit here. Attorneys J. Randolph Pickett, Christopher Larsen and Kimberly Weingart represent the estate.

Read The Oregonian/OregonLive’s “Fleeing Justice” series here.

-- Shane Dixon Kavanaugh; 503-294-7632

Email at skavanaugh@oregonian.com

Follow on Twitter @shanedkavanaugh

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