Trial Ordered in 7-Year-Old Suit Over Convention Center Injury

Seven years after a man fell through a plate-glass door at the Anaheim Convention Center--and two successful court appeals later--a lawsuit over the incident has been ordered to trial.

The 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana ruled Tuesday that dismissal of Craig Evans’ personal injury lawsuit against the City of Anaheim and the builder of the Convention Center would “not be in the interest of justice.”

Hand Thrust Through Glass

In a 1979 lawsuit, Evans claimed his injuries resulted from defective design, construction and maintenance of the Convention Center. He claimed that he was injured when a mechanism designed to open a plate-glass door failed and he thrust his hand through the glass.

When Orange County Superior Court Judge Robert R. Fitzgerald dismissed the claims against the builders, lawyers appealed, winning reinstatement in 1983 after a two-year delay.

But a year later, Orange County Superior Court Judge Everett W. Dickey dismissed Evans’ claim against the center, finding that a five-year delay before trial was inexcusable.

In an opinion written by Presiding Judge John K. Trotter, the court held that the delay was justified because of the two-year appeal. Evans’ lawyers were right in waiting until the first appeal was decided before pushing the case to trial because they avoided the possibility of two separate trials on almost identical issues, the court ruled.

Power to Dismiss Suits

Judges have the authority to punish parties by dismissing their lawsuits if they have “no legally adequate excuse for a delay.” Dickey abused his discretion in dismissing the case, according to the opinion.

“While a court has broad discretion to dismiss a suit for want of prosecution, that discretion is not unfettered, and it must be exercised in conformity with the spirit of the law and in a matter promoting substantial justice,” Trotter wrote.

In his lawsuit, Evans claimed he had permanently lost feeling in one hand because of a severed nerve and that an arm and hand were permanently scarred as a result of the accident. He asked for unspecified damages.