Man Paralyzed in Accident Wins $3.9-Million Award

A Gardena quadriplegic won $3.9 million from the state of California Monday because Caltrans failed to restripe a section of Pacific Coast Highway to direct motorists around a 1980 Malibu landslide.

Jurors in the court of Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Earl F. Riley awarded the damages to Thomas Condyles, 25, who was paralyzed from the neck down when the car in which he was riding struck rocks and dirt covering half the highway on the night of April 18, 1980.

“This case should teach the state to follow its own manual,” Condyles’ attorney, David R. Glickman, said. “Otherwise more people could be crippled for life.”

Glickman said Thomas Van Sky, Condyles’ friend who was driving the car, could not see the slide until it was too late, because it was not marked by flashing lights and the old lane markings led cars right into it.

The attorney said there were no warning signs and that the landslide was further obscured to drivers because it was at the end of an S curve.

Van Sky, who suffered only a broken nose, did not join in the lawsuit.

Although the Caltrans manual makes placement of flashing lights around a landslide optional, Glickman said, the manual requires Caltrans to sandblast off old striping and repaint new stripes directing traffic to detour lanes.

In the trial, he presented experts who testified that sandblasting and restriping the strip of highway would have cost only $3,000 and required 8 to 12 hours of work.

Caltrans admitted that it had not set up flashing lights, but claimed it had 300 to 500 cones marking the detour lanes and 12 barriers set up to warn motorists away from the landslide. A night watchman also was hired to make sure the cones remained in place.

But Glickman argued that the watchman was absent from his post without explanation when the accident occurred at 11:45 p.m.

Condyles, an elevator mechanic who was paralyzed when his head struck the inside of the car door, has been unable to work since the accident. Although he can operate an electric wheelchair, he requires around-the-clock attendants, who have been paid for by county funds.

State Will Appeal

Caltrans attorney Irwin R. Schulman said the state will appeal the verdict.

Glickman said because of appeals and the requirement that the Legislature appropriate any final amount, it could be two or three years before Condyles receives any money to assume payment for his own care.