Diving Accident Suit Against County Dismissed

A Santa Monica Superior Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit that sought damages from Los Angeles county for a 1980 swimming accident in which a San Fernando Valley man was paralyzed from the neck down after he dived into the surf at Santa Monica Beach.

David Geffen, 27, claimed in the suit that lifeguards did not warn him, either verbally or by posting signs, that the surf was dangerous on the day of the accident. He said that had warning signs been posted, he would not have dived into the surf.

Geffen earlier received $150,000 in a negotiated settlement of claims against the city of Santa Monica and the state, attorneys said.

Larry R. Feldman, Geffen’s attorney, said he will ask the state Court of Appeal in Los Angeles to overturn the ruling made Monday by Superior Court Judge Harry Mock. Feldman said the decision was “improper” and that “it wasn’t supported by law.”

Feldman said he expects that it will take about a year for the appeal to be heard by the state court.

Attorney Peter Wucetich, who represented the county with co-counsel David Casselman, said they presented Judge Mock with a “motion for non-suit” last week, saying that Geffen had not produced sufficient evidence against the county to warrant a jury trial.

Mock studied the case over the weekend and announced Monday that he was dismissing the case against the county, Wucetich said.

Casselman said that it is Santa Monica’s responsibility, not the county’s, to post and maintain signs on the beach.

He said Geffen was in shallow water when he dived and that he was responsible for his own injuries.

Casselman said that Mock’s ruling is not expected to have any effect on the $150,000 settlement that the city of Santa Monica and the state agreed to earlier. “That’s a closed deal,” he said.