San Diego facing sidewalk, trench, pothole lawsuits after seven-figure payouts

April 15--* San Diego is facing several new injury lawsuits from bicyclists and pedestrians.

* The suits blame injuries on damaged sidewalks or bike lanes.

* They come in the wake of recent big payouts in similar lawsuits and at a time when officials are debating changes to the city's sidewalk repair policy.

After recent seven-figure payouts to pedestrians and bicyclists hurt by damaged sidewalks, San Diego is facing several similar injury lawsuits.

One suit blames protruding sidewalk in Old Town for the death of a man riding a motorized device called a Segway. Another claims an open trench in a protected bike lane in Sorrento Valley left a man a quadriplegic.

A third lawsuit says a cracked and uneven sidewalk in University Heights caused a man to suffer serious fractures and torn ligaments. A fourth says a deep pothole in a bike lane in Clairemont permanently disabled a man's nervous system.

And a fifth lawsuit says a woman was severely injured walking to a restaurant in Liberty Station along a pathway that lacked a sidewalk.

The new lawsuits, all filed in the last two months, come one year after San Diego paid nearly $5 million to a bicyclist who suffered severe head injuries after being launched several feet by a damaged sidewalk in Del Cerro.

And last month, the city paid $1 million to settle a lawsuit over injuries caused by a damaged sidewalk in University Heights, bringing the amount San Diego has paid out for such injuries to more than $11 million in the past five years.

The payouts and additional lawsuits highlight the city's lack of adequate infrastructure to accommodate a sharp surge in bicycle and pedestrian commuters, something called for in the city's landmark climate action plan.

The family of Jeff Hassett says in its wrongful death lawsuit against the city that Hassett, while riding a Segway in March 2016, struck a 3-inch to 4-inch concrete stub in the sidewalk created by the removal of a light pole on Taylor Street near Congress Street. A Segway is a two-wheeled motorized vehicle that carries one person standing upright.

The lawsuit, filed by Hassett's four siblings in February, says he suffered broken ribs, a toe injury that required amputation and damage to an internal heart defibrillator. The heart issue and an infection eventually caused his death in May 2016, the suit says.

A lawsuit filed by Sheng Du says he became a quadriplegic in December when the front tire of his bicycle struck an open trench in a bike lane on the south side of Sorrento Valley Road.

The suit says Du was flipped off his bike into a rock pile that had been created by construction workers who dug the one-foot-by-two-foot trench, leaving him paralyzed from the neck down and unable to father a child.

Du has also sued contractors responsible for the road work connected to the trench, Harris & Associates and KTA Construction, but his suit contends the city can't delegate its safety responsibilities to its contractors.

The suit, filed in March, says the road is poorly designed with inadequate bike lanes and that signs, lights or cones warning of the open trench should have been put in place.

In another lawsuit, Abebe Antallo says he suffered significant injuries when cracked and uneven sidewalk on Adams Avenue in eastern University Heights snagged his right foot and made him fall to the ground last June.

The suit says Antallo had fractures, torn ligaments and other injuries requiring permanent metal plates in his foot.

In a fourth suit, Derek Chapman says he suffered shock and permanent injury to his nervous system when he hit a deep pothole while riding his bicycle in an eastbound bike lane on Clairemont Drive near Erie Street.

The suit says the pothole, which allegedly caused Chapman to lose control of his bike and fall down, was the result of bad road design and construction. The suit also says there should have been cones or ropes warning of the pothole.

In another suit, Julia Latimer says she fell and severely injured herself while trying to visit a restaurant in Liberty Station on a pedestrian pathway because the area lacked sidewalk.

The lawsuit says the city should have anticipated such accidents based on the dangerous conditions that allegedly caused the incident, which took place near Perry Road.

A spokeswoman for City Attorney Mara Elliott, Cheryl Nolan, said by email that the city will respond to the lawsuits through the courts.

Some City Council members lobbied last year for a 90-day deadline to fix reported sidewalk damage and for a policy change eliminating the responsibility of homeowners to share the cost of fixing damaged sidewalks next to their property.

Supporters say shifting all costs to the city -- and away from homeowners -- would simplify a confusing policy and avoid the inaction that often comes when homeowners can't afford their portion of the repair bill.

City Attorney Elliott, however, issued a memo in October saying the proposed changes might actually put the city at higher risk of large injury payouts.

Elliott wrote that such a specific requirement as the 90-day deadline would make the city vulnerable to lawsuits when it's not met, with plaintiffs pointing out that the city violated its own policy.

She also criticized the proposal to relieve property owners of repair costs, saying it would be a windfall for their insurance companies at taxpayer expense. Other cities have done exactly the opposite in recent years, she wrote.

david.garrick@sduniontribune.com (619) 269-8906 Twitter:@UTDavidGarrick

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