San Diego

A woman whose 4-year-old daughter was killed when a limb fell from a eucalyptus tree at the San Diego Zoo’s entrance was awarded $160,000 in a wrongful death suit Friday.

Barbara Haynes, 35, of San Diego listened with no reaction as Superior Court Judge Wesley B. Buttermore read the verdicts. The jury had to decide on three issues surrounding the Aug. 29, 1983, death of Freida Renee Williams.

Jurors unanimously decided that the City of San Diego was not liable for the death of the child. However, in a 9 to 3 vote, jurors decided that the San Diego Zoological Society was responsible. And since the zoo was liable, the jury had to decide if the mother was entitled to a cash settlement.

Haynes’ attorney, Louis Estes, urged jurors to award $520,476.30 to the mother. He assured the jury that the “zoo will remain in existence” even with such an award.

“They are responsible and they should pay for their callous indifference for the safety of 3.5 million visitors,” Estes argued. “It was an accident that could have been prevented.”

Estes had presented the testimony of John Sevier, owner of Eucalyptus Tree Service, who took pictures of the tree after the accident.

“Even the most amateur tree trimmer would notice the tree needed trimming with the dead wood (present),” Sevier testified.

Haynes, her mother and her two other children were visiting the zoo when the limb fell, striking the child without warning.

The girl was taken to the hospital but never regained consciousness and died with her mother by her side. A sobbing Haynes told jurors on Tuesday that she held her daughter in her arms shortly after she died.

Thomas Dymott, attorney for the city and the zoo, said he did not agree with the verdict but it is doubtful that the zoo will appeal the decision.