County Must Release Files of Injured Boy

A state appellate court has ruled that county health officials must produce the medical records of a 16-year-old boy whose father claimed in a lawsuit that the boy became retarded after an accident at a county-run health clinic almost 15 years ago.

Curtis L. Luce claimed the county had the medical records of his son, Scott Brian Luce, covering the period in which he was treated at the health clinic. County health officials said the records were no longer available.

The ruling made public Friday by the 4th Court of Appeal in Santa Ana upheld Superior Court Judge Judith M. Ryan’s ruling last year.

Fees Ordered Paid

The appellate court also ordered the county to pay the fees of Luce’s attorney, G. Dana Hobart. The attorney also said Luce’s lawsuit against the county will be heard again soon.

Luce claimed in his lawsuit that his son, then only 17 months old, was seriously injured on Oct. 26, 1970, during a visit to the Well-Baby Clinic the county operated on the premises of the Orangethorpe United Methodist Church in Fullerton.

Two folding tables resting against the wall fell on the youngster’s head. He was hospitalized immediately, Hobart said, and shortly thereafter stopped talking. He did not speak again for five years and is now mentally retarded, the attorney said.

The county’s attorneys claimed the boy’s mental condition was not caused by the accident.

Luce did not file the lawsuit until 1980, 10 years after the accident, and the county initially claimed it no longer had the medical records. However, Hobart was able to locate them on his own. The appellate court praised the attorney for his “persistence and ingenuity” in tracking the records.

‘Sneaking Around’

“I found the documents by sneaking around,” Hobart said.

The appellate court’s ruling also precludes the county from introducing evidence attempting to link the boy’s present condition to another accident or illness when a Superior Court hears the lawsuit again.

B. Kent Warner, one of the county’s three private attorneys in the case, said he had not read the appellate court’s opinion and would not comment on the ruling.

Hobart said Luce, who now lives with his son in Diamond Bar, did not file the lawsuit until 10 years after the accident because his wife became ill and subsequently died.

“It just took him a long time to decide to file the lawsuit,” Hobart said. “His son needs to be cared for and he wants him to be secure the rest of his life.”