San Diego paying out $1M in another sidewalk injury settlement
* The payout pushed the total
* The payouts have stirred debate about who should be legally responsible for damaged sidewalks and how the city should tackle a large backlog of repairs.
The string of large payouts, including a nearly
It's unclear what will cost taxpayers more: shifting legal responsibility for repairs from homeowners to the city to accelerate the work, or sticking with the status quo and continuing to occasionally pay out large settlements.
Some
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 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.
The council's Rules Committee last fall asked for an analysis of how much more the city would have owed in payouts without homeowners and their insurance companies to share the burden.
Supporters of the shift in responsibility say it has advantages beyond accelerating repairs.
They say most property owners have no idea they are responsible for the sidewalks in front of their house or condo, making it unfair to put the burden of paying for repairs on them.
Others say it makes sense for homeowners to be responsible because it's nearly impossible for city officials to be aware of every needed sidewalk repair.
Recent assessments of the city's 4,550 miles of sidewalk estimate there are about 80,000 needed repairs. In addition, 620 miles of city streets lack sidewalks.
City officials said spending significantly more money on sidewalk repairs in recent years has already reduced the backlog from
The latest payout of
According to city documents, she fractured both arms, requiring several surgeries, and she suffered a stroke that resulted in partial vision loss that has been deemed permanent.
The settlements come just over two months before a jury trial in the case was scheduled to begin on
The trip and fall occurred as the Grubbs were walking north on
The lawsuit, filed in
The suit claimed the city was at fault for not being aware of the problem and not placing warning signs or barriers to help pedestrians avoid the dangerous area.
The suit says
The couple's attorney,
It's the biggest settlement since the city paid
That settlement, the largest in city history for a case involving sidewalks, was unusually big because of Brown's medical bills, his need for future medical care and the possibility he won't be able to work again.
In December, a jury awarded
An attorney for Hedgecock said the city behaved with negligence and carelessness by not repairing a 2.5-inch concrete lip in a public sidewalk in
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