Council Settles Van Nuys Crash Suit for $225,000

The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday voted to pay a $225,000 settlement of a lawsuit brought by a motorcyclist who the city attorney contended had a .20 blood alcohol reading--twice the legal limit for drunk driving--when he drove off a San Fernando Valley road and seriously injured himself.

In his suit against the city, Robert Nash Burdick contended that the April 30, 1981, accident on Woodley Avenue in the Sepulveda Flood Control Basin in Van Nuys was caused by the “dangerous condition” of the road, specifically missing or obscured signs warning of a curve. Burdick, 35, of Los Angeles, was left a paraplegic by the accident.

Lab Test Lost

Asst. City Atty. Thomas C. Hokinson recommended the settlement, saying the evidence the city had of the victim’s blood alcohol content--notations on an accident report and a medical chart--may be inadmissible in court. The results of a lab test, which Hokinson said he needed as proof of the victim’s blood alcohol content, could not be found by the hospital where Burdick was taken after the accident.

The city attorney contended that the city risked paying more money to the former auto-body repair worker if it fought the case in court, even if it could prove that Burdick was partly at fault.

“Photographs taken shortly after the accident showed that, on the curve where the accident occurred, there were a number of guidepost paddle markers missing, damaged or obscured by weeds,” Hokinson said in a report to the council. “As such, a jury could find the City of Los Angeles liable, even though the primary cause was the negligent conduct of the plaintiff.”

Eighteen guideposts were reinstalled by the city shortly after the accident, Hokinson said.