David Green by and through Conservators Michael Green and Faye Wheeler Green v. City of Eureka, Katherine Howden and Wayne Cox, et al.
Published: Apr. 8, 1995 | Result Date: Feb. 8, 1995 | Filing Date: Jan. 1, 1900 |Case number: C922292WHO – $0
Judge
Court
USDC Northern
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Thomas J. Brandi
(The Brandi Law Firm)
Defendant
Frank K. Berfield
(Dentons US LLP)
Experts
Plaintiff
Randall C. Baselt
(medical)
Joseph L. Burton
(medical)
John Biteman
(medical)
Gary T. Moran
(technical)
Defendant
Lawrence M. Elson
(technical)
Facts
On June 22, 1991, Plaintiff David Green, an 18-year-old student, was allegedly a participant in a twenty-first birthday celebration at the Eureka Inn. Defendant Eureka Police Department officers Wayne Cox and Katherine Howden were dispatched to the premises in response to a complaint concerning a loud party in one of the guest rooms. The Defendant officers entered the Inn, were advised that the disturbance was in Room 404, and made their way to the room. When the officers gained entry to the room, they allegedly encountered several underage party goers and a number of open liquor bottles. The person who had rented the room was not present. The officers arrested Mark Taylor for violation of Code Section 647(f). Officer Howden led Taylor to her patrol car, and while Officer Cox was still inside the Inn, the night manager advised him that yet another person on the premises had been a participant at the party and had physically harassed at least one female patron or employee of the Inn. This person, the Plaintiff, was reported to have made his way upstairs. Officer Howden reentered the Inn, and as she and Cox went to the second floor, they saw Green at the end of the hallway. The officers spoke to Green and discerned objective signs of intoxication, arrested him, and placed him in handcuffs. It is undisputed that Green was calm, cooperative, neatly dressed, able to walk on his own, and by several accounts, not intoxicated. All three descended in the Inn's elevator. Howden then escorted Green to the same patrol unit where Taylor was being held. When Howden got Green to the car, she conducted a pat-down search and found a bottle half full of whiskey, a bag of marijuana, and a brass pipe bearing marijuana residue. Green made several requests to be released; and Howden advised him that he would only be confined under the Code for 4 hours, until he became sober, and then he would be released without any charges. There were no eye witnesses to the next series of events; it is undisputed that Green was found approximately 130 to 150 feet from the patrol car, at the corner of seventh and J streets, with his hands handcuffed behind his back, and lying nearly face down in a pool of his own blood when the ambulance arrived to transport him to Eureka General Hospital. He was in a coma; and a toxicological screening and confirmatory test were positive for amphetamine, consistent with methamphetamine.
Settlement Discussions
Defendants contend they made no offers and Plaintiff demanded $7,500,000.
Specials in Evidence
$330,000 $7,000,000 $700,000
Injuries
Bilateral lacerations to the eyes; bruising of the left ear; complex laceration of the right eyelid requiring surgery; sunken and soft right eyeball, blood in both eyeballs; blood in the left ear canal; assorted facial bruising and loose teeth; lip laceration with imbedded asphalt requiring surgery; laceration below the chin requiring surgery; bruising above the left knee and on the right leg; large basal ganglia hemorrhage to the brain, basal skull fracture, posterior maxillary wall fracture, lateral and inferior right orbit fractures. Green spent one year in medical facilities and suffers from residual deficits including brain damage and limited use of the right leg and arm.
Other Information
This case was bifurcated and tried on liability only.
Deliberation
3.5 hours
Poll
unanimous
Length
10 days
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