$1.5 million lawsuit in jurors’ hands
Deliberations began Thursday in a $1.5 million lawsuit over whether the City of Santa Monica should have known that one of its large trees had rotting roots due to heavy rain.
One of the city’s mature red-flowering eucalyptus trees hit Jim and Joan Holiday of West Los Angeles as they drove down Broadway in January of last year. Jim Holiday suffered a compression fracture to a vertebra in his back. Lawyers said the collision also exacerbated existing problems with his lower back and neck.
The Holidays have asked a Santa Monica jury to award them $40,413 in medical expenses, but also $332,531 for lost wages, and $1.1 million in pain and suffering damages. Lawyers said Holiday, who operated a maintenance company and worked part-time for a homeowners’ association, now lives with constant pain and will not work again.
The lawsuit comes amid a statewide debate over the eucalyptus, sometimes called “The Widow Maker,” because it often drops limbs unexpectedly. Several groups are pushing for more aggressive action by cities to remove the non-native species.
Jurors in the Holiday case must decide if the city is responsible for what the law calls a “dangerous condition of public property.” The city and plaintiffs agreed the tree’s roots were decaying but disagreed over whether or not the city should have known about it before the accident.
If jurors find the city liable for the accident, they then will determine a monetary award. The trial began last Tuesday under Superior Court Judge Linda K. Lefkowitz. An earlier trial ended last July in a hung jury.
Holiday declined comment until after the jury reaches a decision. Lawyers from both sides refused to comment on any previous settlement offers.
In his closing argument, attorney Robert Wolfe argued for Holiday that the city should have enlarged the mature eucalyptus’ tree well. Because it didn’t, Wolfe argued, the tree was “constricted” by the concrete, limiting the flow of nutrients and causing roots to decay.
“The city basically said, ‘We’re not gonna do anything. We’re gonna stick our heads in the sand,’” declared Wolfe. “Which I wish they had — they would have seen there were no roots.”
“The city basically said, ‘We’re not gonna do anything. We’re gonna stick our heads in the sand.’ Which I wish they had — they would have seen there were no roots.” — — ROBERT WOLFE Attorney
“All (the inspector) had to do was poke around the tree,” added Wolfe. “He would have found advanced decay.”
But Deputy City Attorney Norman Hirata said inspectors did all they could, short of uprooting the sidewalk to examine the tree’s roots.
Hirata further argued that excessive rainfall in January 2001 saturated the soil, and the heavy rains added more weight to a tree already weighing several tons.
“The City of Santa Monica cannot be blamed for rainfall,” said Hirata. “Rain is not public property in the City of Santa Monica.”
“No one could know that there was underground, unseen root decay,” continued Hirata. “No one could know except Mother Nature.”
Wolfe defended Holiday’s $1.1 million request for an award due to pain and suffering.
“The man is in constant pain,” Wolfe said. “They took his hobbies away from him.”
Hirata told jurors the Holidays were seeking compensation in the wrong place.
“The city is not responsible nor liable,” said Hirata.
“Mother Nature is harsh,” concluded Hirata. “But Mother Nature is kind, too. Just.08 seconds later (would have meant) a devastating result for the Holidays.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 27, 2002. Read the original PDF.