City Hall’s request in the judge’s hands
SM COURTHOUSE — A Superior Court judge ruled earlier this week that Bayside District Corp.must stand trial in a civil lawsuit involving more than 60 plaintiffs who were either injured or killed when an elderly man drove through a crowded Farmers’ Market nearly three years ago.
In her seven-page ruling, Judge Valerie Baker said attorneys for Bayside, a public-private partnership that advises City Hall on issues relating to downtown, failed to present enough evidence to grant a summary judgment removing their client from the lawsuit.
Baker also ruled against granting summary judgment for local mental health provider Step Up On Second, whose members volunteer at the Farmers’ Market on Arizona Avenue, helping to set up and tear down booths there. Baker made that ruling June 15.
City Hall has also filed a motion to be removed from the case. Baker is expected to rule on that request within the next few days.
Just because Baker denied requests from Bayside and Step Up does not mean City Hall should start preparing for trial. Attorneys involved in the lawsuit said City Hall’s arguments as to why it should be removed from the case are completely different than those presented by Bayside and Step Up, and therefore, the judge will have to weigh different rules of law against evidence presented in several court hearings, the latest of which took place two weeks ago.
Among the issues which Baker must consider is whether or not City Hall should be granted immunity under federal law protecting public entities from lawsuits in which the design of an intersection or other public space has been approved by a licensed city planner.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs were naturally pleased with Baker’s recent rulings, for if Bayside and Step Up were cleared in the case, victims of the catastrophic crash would only be allowed to sue City Hall, Southland Farmers Market and the driver involved in the accident, George Russell Weller. City Hall may be removed from the case, as may Southland, attorneys for the plaintiffs said, leaving only Weller, whose insurance would-n’t come close to covering what would likely be a multi-million dollar judgment.
“We felt the judge’s decision was the right decision,” said Steve Archer, an attorney representing Melissa Greenstein Conin, a former pediatric intensive care nurse from Vermont who was severely injured during the July 16, 2003 crash.
Baker found that neither Bayside nor Step Up clearly demonstrated that they were not involved in the management and operation of the Farmers’ Market, and that both of them could be held liable for negligence, having operated the Farmers’ Market under a dangerous condition that contributed to the 10 deaths and dozens of injuries that resulted from the incident.
Attorneys for both parties argued that their clients were either advisors to City Hall and had no control over the Farmers’ Market, or were simply providing limited support to operations and were not adequately trained by City Hall to deal with traffic and large crowds.
Kathleen Rawson, executive director of Bayside, said in a deposition conducted in April that no one from City Hall or from Southland Farmers Market Assn., an organization that helps cities establish and manage a farmers’ market, had ever contacted her or her staff about the operations or maintenance of the market. Rawson said it was not Bayside’s duty to oversee operations there.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs argued that even though Rawson is the executive director of Bayside, she cannot possibly know, without a shadow of a doubt, whether or not any of her employees spoke with operators of the market.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs also said Bayside’s own mission statement details how Bayside helps City Hall promote economic stability and growth in downtown “through responsible planning, management and coordination of programs, projects and services designed to benefit the community as a whole, which includes the district’s businesses, property owners, visitors and residents.”
While the Farmers’ Market is not specifically mentioned in the mission statement, attorneys argued that the Farmers’ Market is a special event that attracts and benefits local residents, customers and visitors to downtown — something for which Bayside is responsible.
Baker will allow a jury to decide. As for Step Up, Tod Lipka, the charity organization’s chief executive officer, said he was “very disappointed” by Baker’s ruling because Step Up’s involvement in the Farmers’ Market is very limited.
Clients of Step Up work at the market helping set up booths, perform maintenance and tear down the market at closing time, Lipka said.
“We did put up barriers, but we put them only in specific locations identified by the city and at the city’s instruction,” Lipka said of plastic saw horses that notified drivers of street closures. “We really have no responsibility for identifying or managing any issues relative to pedestrians or traffic control. We just simply follow instructions.”
Baker found Step Up was more than just a minor player in the operation of the market and was, in fact, partly responsible for ensuring that cars did not drive through the market.
In what attorneys for the victims described as one of the most tragic events in Santa Monica’s history, Weller, 89, apparently lost control of his car after he rear-ended a Mercedes Benz at the intersection of Fourth Street and Arizona Avenue on July 16, 2003. Weller hit the accelerator instead of the brake and traveled 995 feet through the Farmers’ Market at speeds of up to 60 mph, hurling pedestrians into the air before stopping, a California Highway Patrol report said.
The 10 people killed ranged in age from 7 months to 78 years old.
Weller has pleaded not guilty to 10 felony counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence. His criminal trial is expected to begin in September.
Archer said Bayside and Step Up can expect to have their days in court in January.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 24, 2006. Read the original PDF.