Judge shows frustration over problematic trial
By DAVE DANFORTH Daily Press Staff Writer
A homeowner who failed to get an electrical inspection wasn’t responsible for a fire that killed his tenant’s dog and destroyed much of his life’s work, a Santa Monica jury decided Wednesday.
The decision had been predicted by the judge who heard the case, who offhandedly remarked to lawyers out of the jury’s earshot that he didn’t think jurors would be able to pinpoint the cause of the January, 1999 fire in the home of Jeffrey Ganz of Culver City.
Ganz, 41, is a graphic designer and five-time Grammy nominee whose credits include work with Bob Dylan and Aretha Franklin. He blamed landlord Clarence Taylor for the fire, saying that faulty wiring and Taylor’s failure to get an electrical inspection was the cause.
But Taylor countered that Ganz could have caused the blaze by converting a studio into an office, loading the circuits with electronic gadgets, and adding a shelf with a screw that could have shorted an electrical conduit.
But the jury never got the chance to determine the amount of damages because although the panel found Taylor negligent, it couldn’t determine the fire’s cause.
Taylor bought the home in 1972 and lived there until he rented it out in 1987. Ganz moved in 10 years later. The jury, deliberating a day and a half, didn’t believe that Taylor was negligent in failing to have the home inspected because he had no reason to suspect danger. However, jurors did find that there were obvious wiring problems in the home and Taylor knew about them.
The jury found, by a 10-2 vote, that his upkeep of the home was negligent. But the same panel then voted 11-1 that his negligence didn’t necessarily cause the fire. Such civil cases are decided by the weight of the evidence and require a vote of at least 9-3 on any issue. When the jury found it couldn’t blame Taylor for the fire, the case ended.
7B9,“We just couldn’t find a direct cause,” one juror told both lawyers after the case. “Nobody was able to say what in particular caused that fire.”
The case saw controversy when Judge Robert Letteau lectured both attorneys, R.J. Molligan for Ganz and Wendy Rossnagel for Taylor, that this was a “most contentious case” and was confused in a way that “is unfair to the jury.” Letteau’s remarks came during closing arguments and were heard by jurors. He became even hotter after jurors left the room.
“This has been a textbook trial as to how every single thing can go wrong,” he said, frustrated over the unexplained loss of eight exhibits and a controversy over how instructions to the jury should be worded. The judge also felt the jury was frustrated by the uneven pace of the trial.
“This has been a textbook trial as to how every single thing can go wrong.” — — ROBERT LETTEAU Santa Monica judge
“Jurors get fed up. One juror said to me, ‘I volunteer to work with the homeless. I can’t stand these people. I hate rich people suing other rich people.’”
During closing arguments, Molligan likened the lack of an electrical inspection to Russian roulette. Although no tenant, including Ganz, had ever complained about faulty wiring, the home was like a gun, loaded in one chamber, waiting to go off.
“Mr. Ganz was the victim of this home,” he said. “His number came up.”
But Rossnagel said Taylor had acted reasonably. Although electrical inspections seem common sense today, in 1972 there was no reason to ask for one without a reason, she noted.
One of the jurors echoed that reasoning. She said that an electrical accident had nearly occurred during the recent remodeling of her own home. However, asked if Taylor was negligent, she recalled that her father was of the same “old school” and wouldn’t have requested an inspection unless he thought he needed one.
One juror expressed frustration that the panel wasn’t able to ask questions.
“If we’d have been able to question the experts, we’d have gotten to the bottom of this,” he said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 27, 2002. Read the original PDF.