South County : Developer May Appeal Jury’s Damage Award

A developer is considering an appeal of a $510,400 verdict for failing to warn the public of the hazards at a south county construction site, a lawyer for the development firm said Monday.

A Superior Court jury last week awarded $638,000 to Lois Wineinger of Dana Point, whose 17-year-old son died when the vehicle in which he was riding crashed on the Bear Brand Ranch development near San Juan Capistrano in 1982.

The jury in the courtroom of Judge Jerrold S. Oliver found the driver, Eric Goodman, 20% at fault, and the developer, O. Hill Co. of Newport Beach, 80% at fault.

Hill’s attorney, Peter M. Callahan, said he was considering grounds for a possible appeal.

Goodman had $100,000 in insurance coverage, while Hill had much greater financial resources and represented the so-called “deep pockets” in the wrongful death case. The legal doctrine of joint and several liability, which California residents voted overwhelmingly to limit in statewide balloting last week on Proposition 51, holds that either defendant in the Wineinger case may be forced to pay the entire damage award, regardless of how the jury allocated the fault.

Lawyers clashed in the trial over how much Goodman contributed to the accident by driving onto the closed construction site and how effectively Hill had cut off public access.