Assembly OKs Beach Part of Liability Reform Package

Legislation aimed at protecting coastal cities from beach accident lawsuits was approved by the Assembly on Tuesday along with two other bills that are part of a nine-measure liability reform package.

By a 61-10 vote, the Assembly returned the beach liability measure by state Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach) to the Senate for concurrence on minor amendments.

Based on a compromise reached between the California Trial Lawyers Assn. and local government officials, Bergeson’s bill would overturn a 1982 state appellate court decision that made it easier for accident victims or their heirs to pursue lawsuits against agencies that control public beaches.

The 1982 ruling, in a San Diego case, and another two years later involving a $6-million award in a Newport Beach accident, stemmed from natural underwater conditions for which the cities were not to blame.

Local officials complained that such court rulings meant government officials would be better off not improving beaches at all, so that judges and juries would be forced to conclude that the coast had been left in its natural state.

Not All Opposition Ended

Although the compromise with the lawyers’ association ended most opposition to the bill, some legislators--including two from Orange County who represent beach cities--voted against it because they wanted additional liability protections for businesses. They said that helping cities and counties alone will dilute their other reform efforts.

Among those voting no were Assemblymen Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach), Dennis L. Brown (R-Signal Hill) and Ross Johnson (R-La Habra).

“Why did I vote against it when I live in Newport Beach? Well, because I think it was a deal cut between the trial lawyers and the cities,” Ferguson said. “More important, tort reform is needed in the private sector. If you take the cities out, the pot stops boiling, and we lose the chance for reform in the private sector.”

Brown did not speak on the measure, but Johnson spoke on the floor against the entire reform package, saying it was time to stop the powerful attorneys’ lobby.

“We have mounted a major effort for over three years,” Bergeson said of the Assembly action Tuesday. “We worked very hard.”

Bergeson said she was disappointed that Ferguson, Brown and Johnson were among the bill’s opponents but added, “I’m sure that they voted their conscience.”

Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco), who personally presented Bergeson’s bill on the Assembly floor, said opposing the legislation was similar to criticizing a cancer drug because it helps only some people, some of the time.