Judge Cuts Undercover-Case Award : Calls Judgment Figure for Infiltrator of Klan a ‘Windfall’

A Superior Court judge has reduced from $531,000 to $162,400 the award for a former San Diego police undercover reservist who convinced jurors that his police superiors kept him too long on an assignment as a Ku Klux Klan infiltrator.

Judge Raul Rosado said he would be willing to grant a new trial for damages if Doug Seymour, 45, decides not to accept the lower award.

“This is the first time in 13 years (on the bench) that I’ve ever reduced a jury award. . . . but this was a windfall,” Rosado said Friday.

On May 9, Seymour won the judgment against his two main police contacts while he was a Klan infiltrator. They were Capt. Michael Tyler and Sgt. Ernest Trumper. Jurors found that the two had violated Seymour’s civil rights during his undercover operations with the Klan between 1979 and 1981.

Five other police officials, including Chief Bill Kolender, were dropped as defendants in Seymour’s lawsuit. The suit alleged that Seymour was left under cover several months after he first asked off the Klan assignment. The result, Seymour testified, was a ruined marriage and failed business.

“I told the jury it was going to be a matter of credibility (as to which side won) . . . and there’s no doubt in my mind that this case rose or fell on the credibility of witnesses,” Rosado said.

“I can live with the fact (Seymour) prevailed, but I am not satisfied (with the award) -- it’s too much.”

Seymour and his attorney, David Korrey, have until July 11 to decide whether to accept the lower award or opt for a new trial on the amount of damages.

Outside court Friday, Seymour called the lower award “a means by which, one more time, injustice is administered when an individual tries to redress the city of San Diego for its wrongdoings. They never stand up and admit anything. You have to fight and claw the whole way.”

The city is liable for payment of any award won by Seymour because it was the result of the on-duty actions of city employees. If Seymour accepts the lower award, the City Council must approve the payment, Deputy City Atty. Kenneth So said.

Korrey indicated he will probably appeal the lower award and include a request for a stay of the July 11 deadline on the choice between the lesser award and a new trial.

“We can see no basis upon which to reduce this award, and we will be exploring our alternatives. The loss of Mr. Seymour’s million-dollar-a-year business alone is enough to justify the $500,000 verdict,” he said.

“It seems the judge is disregarding the quality work the jury did, and . . . it’s hard to believe another jury would do any differently.”

Jurors said they sided with Seymour after being convinced that his lengthy Klan detail left him with drug problems he didn’t have before he started the assignment and stress-related mental problems that had him in and out of psychiatric hospitals for more than two years.

Rosado, however, said he didn’t detect any lingering emotional distress in Seymour, mentioned by jurors in awarding the former Escondido resident $206,000 for lost past and future earnings, and $325,000 for general damages.

“I look over and see a healthy young man . . . with his future ahead of him,” Rosado said. “Where’s the stress? How long will he suffer from this emotional distress?”

Korrey replied by saying, “When (Seymour) reaches the stress level, he doesn’t react the same as other people because he can’t process stress as well. This was not a runaway verdict, it was an award by a very careful jury.”

Deputy City Atty. James Chapin argued that Seymour wasn’t entitled to any damages for emotional distress because, as a reservist, he could have quit the assignment any time.

Attorney Daniel Krinsky, who represented Trumper in the monthlong trial, contended that the award was too high because the city agreed shortly after Seymour’s assignment ended to pay all his medical and psychiatric bills.

“I think $100,000 to $150,000 is in line with the injuries and hardships he was put under,” said Krinsky, who has represented several San Diego police officers with similar claims against the city.

Seymour, who now works for the Atlanta-based Center for Democratic Renewal, a national organization that monitors hate groups throughout the United States, became the top aide of former California Klan Grand Dragon Tom Metzger while on the undercover assignment.

The former reservist, who said his family is about to move to an undisclosed location because of continuing death threats, became Metzger’s security chief during Metzger’s unsuccessful 1980 campaign for the 43rd Congressional District seat.