Bayside Included in Market Claim

By Jorge Casuso

Jan. 13 -- The agency that runs Downtown will be added to damage claims filed against the City by a major law firm on behalf of nine victims who were injured or killed by an elderly driver at the farmers market last July.

The Bayside District Corporation was added to the claims expected to be filed on Wednesday because it may have had a hand in security decisions for the market where George Russell Weller’s runaway car killed ten and injured 63, according to an attorney for the claimants.

“Our investigation has revealed that they (the Bayside District Corporation) had a services agreement with the farmers market that included security,” said Geoff Wells, one of the two lead attorneys handling the case for Greene, Broillet, Panish & Wheeler, LLP. “If that’s true, they may be on the hook.”

Attorneys will be looking at whether Bayside officials may have rejected suggested security precautions, such as bookending the market with bollards or relocating it from Arizona Avenue to Third Street, where bollards already are in place, Wells said.

Bayside District officials declined to comment on the law firm’s move, but said they were not responsible for managing the Downtown Market, which is run by the City’s Department of Resource Management.

“Bayside has really nothing to do with managing the farmers market, although it’s Downtown,” said Kathleen Rawson, the Bayside’s executive director. “It’s a City run program, not ours.”

The Bayside, however, would have to pay for its own legal defense under the services agreement it has with the City, said City Attorney Marsha Moutrie.

“The Bayside District Corporation needs to carry insurance, and it is likely that in any lawsuit brought against both, representation (for the Bayside) would be provided by insurance counsel,” Moutrie said.

Under the services agreement, a judgment against the Bayside would be satisfied by the City, Moutrie said.

“The current services agreement provides that the City indemnifies the Bayside District Corporation for services pursuant to the agreement,” Moutrie said.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs are expected to file the claim two days before a statute of limitations kicks in on January 16, six months after the tragic accident. The City is expected to reject the claim, which is the first step toward a lawsuit.

The Government Claims for Damages will be filed on behalf of injury victims, including Benny Gong, Ilona Lettrich, Dina Richter, Holley Hankinson, Olivia Wun and Sandra Ellen Bacal.

Claims will also be filed on behalf of the Estate of Diana Gong McCarthy, the Estate of Kevin McCarthy and the Estate of Leroy Lattier, three of the ten victims killed in the accident.

One of the nation’s top plaintiff law firms, Greene, Broillet, Panish & Wheeler won the highest product liability verdict in history when six disfigured burn victims won a $4.9 billion award against General Motors in 1999 after the car they were riding burst into flames.

The Santa Monica firm recently made headlines when it won a $33 million verdict against Budget Rent-A-Car and the City of Los Angeles and its police department.