West Covina Lobbying for Law to Limit Police Liability

Concerned about a successful malpractice lawsuit against the Police Department over a 1980 kidnap and murder investigation, West Covina officials have begun lobbying for laws to restrict police liability.

On Monday, the City Council authorized an effort to change the laws under which it lost a wrongful death lawsuit brought by Ronald Alan Tolleson, whose son was found strangled in a neighbor’s home that police had searched.

In coming months, West Covina officials will contact individual legislators, and work through the League of California Cities to push for a bill that would restrict municipal liability.

West Covina Police Chief Craig Meacham said the precedent established by the Tolleson decision and a similar case in Newport Beach put police under an unbearable burden.

Special Relationship

“Every time we undertake an ongoing investigation, we are under the very real probability we will be sued if the outcome of that investigation is not to the satisfaction of the crime victim or his family,” Meacham said. “It doesn’t mean that we don’t make an arrest . . . that we have made mistakes. It just means that they were unhappy.”

In May, a Pomona Superior Court jury ruled that West Covina police had botched the 1980 investigation of 10-year-old Ronnie Tolleson’s kidnaping, and that a “special relationship” existed between police and the elder Tolleson. During the trial, Tolleson argued that a more competent investigation might have saved his son, who may have been kept alive for days after his abduction.

Under state law, the jury had to establish the relationship before the city could be held liable. The state Supreme Court has ruled that such relationships exist when crime victims put their total trust in police, based on the actions or assurances received from officers.

Tolleson has said that at the time, he did not question the scope of the investigation and that he put complete faith in the police. In his testimony, Tolleson said he was led to believe that the FBI was actively involved in the case, when the agency was not.

Serious Flaws

He said he was told repeatedly by police that everything possible was being done to save Ronnie, and that his son would be returned safely.

After finding serious flaws with the investigation--including the lack of a full search of the neighbor’s home--jurors ruled that the relationship had been violated and awarded Tolleson $5.74 million. But on July 10, Superior Court Judge Robert A. Dukes reduced the jury’s award to $300,000, saying the jury was blinded by emotion.

While upholding the jury’s finding that the city was at fault, Dukes urged West Covina to pursue legislation that would reduce police liability while clarifying the bounds of such a relationship.

Without some relief from verdicts like this one, police might have to choose which crimes to fully investigate, said Pleasanton Police Chief Bill Eastman, president of the California Police Chiefs Assn. “We’d become like district attorneys, we’d select our cases,” Eastman said.

Until late 1987, it appeared West Covina would never face the liability issues raised by the Tolleson case. But in October, the Court of Appeal reversed a trial judge’s ruling and reinstated Tolleson’s case, saying a “special relationship” existed.

Protective Duty

Justice Campbell Lucas, writing for the two-member majority, stated that a special relationship is established when a public servant “voluntarily assumes a protective duty toward a member of the public and undertakes action on behalf of that member, thereby inducing reliance.”

Mayor Robert L. Bacon said it was “ludicrous” that the reassuring statements made by police officers during the Tolleson investigation could be construed as an attempt to instill a false sense of security.

Moreover, Bacon said, “special relationship” as commonly applied in the private sector, should not apply to police agencies. Unlike other cases in which the courts have established that such relationships are voluntary, police departments have a duty to intervene when needed, he said.

“The basic problem is that when a police officer undertakes investigating a case, normally it is not in a (situation) where a voluntary relationship has occurred,” said Bacon, a lawyer. “In every other case, it’s a voluntary relationship.”

Aside from cases in which public agencies are held liable under a special relationship, local government has been granted general immunity from such suits, even when errors have been made, Bacon said.

Chipping away at this immunity would eventually erode public safety services, he said.

Meacham was more direct: “If these rulings are allowed to stand, our officers will be equipped with a Miranda card in one hand . . . and a waiver form in the other.”