Millions of dollars are at stake as cases move forward; 914-page police report to stay sealed
SM COURTHOUSE — Two weeks after an appellate court stepped in to shake things up, the race resumed Thursday for millions of dollars in lawsuits rising out of the Farmers’ Market crash last summer.
A total of 15 attorneys packed into Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Valerie Baker’s courtroom for a morning hearing on a slate of legal fine points expected to be raised at trial. One lawyer represented City Hall, another was there for elderly driver Russell Weller, and a third stood in for the nonprofit organization that runs downtown. The other 12 lawyers represented victims of the fatal accident.
Nearly 30 civil lawsuits have been filed in the aftermath of the July 16, 2003 crash, which left 10 people dead and more than 60 injured. Lawyer’s have targeted Santa Monica City Hall and the Bayside District Corp., among other outside parties, as Weller’s assets are expected to exhaust quickly. Lawyers said two or more additional lawsuits might be filed before the statute of limitations runs out on Sept. 2.
Weller, now 87, a retired grocer who lives with his wife in a home north of Montana Avenue, will be protected from discovery in the civil lawsuits at least until early December, after a preliminary criminal trial against him is completed, Judge Baker decided Monday. She also ruled to consolidate the manifold pending investigations into City Hall’s liability, in order to simplify and expedite the court proceedings.
Judge Baker on Monday also presided over a series of motions related to aspects of the case that are expected to be raised again at trial. Included among those issues were whether victims should be allowed to pursue Weller for punitive damages and whether Weller’s crash into a Mercedes sedan on Fourth Street should be considered separately from his fatal drive through the outdoor market. If it is, lawyers are expected to argue Weller was fleeing from the scene of the earlier accident. Judge Baker reserved final judgment in those and a handful of other matters until later in the civil proceedings.
The proceedings were the first heard by Judge Baker since an appeals court intervened two weeks ago. Last month, she ordered released a 914-page police report into the crash, which civil lawyers had been waiting for months to review. Citing First Amendment considerations, she also ordered it be handed over to members of the media, but later changed her mind at the urging of prosecutors and Weller’s attorneys, who argued the report would hinder the pending preliminary criminal trial against Weller.
As a compromise, Judge Baker agreed to release the report, but with certain portions edited out, including a 42-page statement given by Weller to police immediately after the crash and a similar statement given to police by his wife. Not satisfied, lawyers in the criminal case appealed the ruling, and on Aug. 2 the California Second District Court of Appeals put a temporary stay on all proceedings in the civil lawsuits. That stay was modified Aug. 12 to allow the civil cases to go forward, but keep the report sealed.
Police and other investigators who have looked into the accident say Weller likely mistook the accelerator for the brake pedal and, when he realized his mistake, instinctively pressed on it harder.
The matter could take years to resolve. The preliminary criminal trial is expected to take two to three weeks, after which the judge will decide whether enough evidence exists to try the case before a jury. Prosecutors have charged Weller with 10 counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.
Charlie Schmitt, one of Weller’s attorneys focusing on the civil proceedings, said he doesn’t expect a resolution in the civil arena soon. Schmitt is one of five attorneys working for Weller.
“It will not move beyond this phase, which is kind of herding the cats, so to speak, until the end of the year,” he said during a court break. “I would imagine you wouldn’t see a trial date until the end of 2005.”
Even that could be up in the air, Schmitt added, pending the outcome of the criminal case.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 20, 2004. Read the original PDF.