Ex-Chaplain Settles Punitive Suit for $2

A former Navy chaplain, after winning a $1.1-million award from the county in a lawsuit alleging that he had been beaten in jail, Tuesday agreed to accept $1 each as punitive damage from two deputies he accused of beating him.

Jim Butler won his unprecedented award Friday after a jury concluded that the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department has a policy of violating individuals’ rights. Butler and his two attorneys decided to settle out of court for punitive damages because they believed that Friday’s award effectively proved their point that the county Sheriff’s Department rights violations were against all residents, not just one person, said lawyer Tom Adler.

“We had accomplished what we wanted,” Adler said. “We are not interested in harming any individuals. We are more interested in being compensated for our damages and exposing the practices of the Sheriff’s Department.”

Saying he could not speak about the case on the advice of his attorney, Butler added: “This is very important to me. Sure, I feel vindicated.”

Butler, 60, had walked over to the scene of an accident in front of his Vista house in January, 1985, to offer help. But the incident resulted in Butler’s arrest for interfering with the deputies’ investigation. He was taken to jail and beaten, he testified. He also said he suffered other injuries--a heart attack and stress--because of the almost six-year-long suit against the Sheriff’s Department.

In pursuing the case through the courts, Butler had hoped to be compensated for his injuries, expose Sheriff Department policies, and help establish a citizens’ review board.

To help set up such a board, Butler offered Tuesday to reduce the jury’s verdict of $1.1 million by $320,000--the estimated cost of establishing the review board, Adler said in a statement.

“It is our hope that with this offer a meaningful review process will be established which will greatly assist in eliminating any other incidents,” Adler said in the statement.

In accepting the $1 awards, Butler also acted out of consideration for the two deputies, Robert Bishop and Bolitha Laws, Adler said. Bishop is recovering from a heart attack and Laws’ wife is scheduled for major surgery this week. Bishop is currently on sick leave from the department; Laws is on active duty.

“One dollar and a little humiliation in the newspaper? I am not as kind as Jim Butler,” said Judy Hejduk, a 43-year-old flight attendant who said she was beaten by the Sheriff’s Department on April 18, 1986. “That to me is a joke, an absolute joke unless they are relinquishing their duties as deputies. They are in a professional job to protect and serve, they are not there to teach people lessons or to brutalize residents.”

Deputy County Counsel David Florance said that the settlement was neither an admission of fault nor liability.

“It was not an admission that they acted with malice, oppression or fraud. This was just to keep them from having to come back and testify; they are not admitting they acted with malice,” Florance said.

Florance also said that he believed it was uncertain whether the jury intended Butler to be awarded punitive damages from the $1.1 million award.

“It may have well been that they had intended part of the $1.1 million amount for punitive damages,” said Florance, who added that his office would be contacting the eight-woman, four-man jury to clarify this question.

The settlement agreement does not preclude appeals and Florance said his office intended to file several.

“My initial reaction is yes we will, because I don’t see the facts that give rise to $1.1 million of compensation,” he said.

Florance added that he thought it was questionable whether evidence regarding other deputies’ use of excessive force should have been admitted during court proceedings. He said he might also appeal whether it was appropriate to use federal standards regarding punitive damages rather than state standards since the trial took place in a state court.

On Friday, jurors decided that the Sheriff’s Department maintained a policy of “violating the rights of individuals.” The $1.1 million award is believed to be the largest ever awarded in a case involving deputy brutality. Butler’s attorney Adler declined to answer how much of a legal bill his client had incurred over the years of litigation.

A spokesman for the Sheriff’s Department said it was unclear which policy or procedure the jury had found objectionable.

“We have no clues. Certainly, we have made numerous changes in five years; I’d like to think that whichever practice it was 5 years ago is no longer carried out,” said Sgt. Glenn Revell. “It’s certainly never been our policy to knowingly violate someone’s rights.”

County officials said they were alarmed by the size of the $1.1 million award granted to Butler and that it could mean sacrificing services.

“It’s an outrageous amount to pay,” said County Supervisor George Bailey. “It may point out that a wrong has happened but it doesn’t necessarily make the county government at fault. By having to pay that type of fine, it will mean that other necessary things would have performed will not be performed.”

Saying that she hoped improvements would spring from the case, Susan Golding, chairwoman of the Board of Supervisors, added that the lessons were expensive.

“I am sorry that we have such a case; I am sorrier that Mr. Butler’s rights were apparently violated,” she said. “I hope it also means that the new sheriff will review the policies and procedures to make sure that the deputies are properly trained and educated. I hope the new deputy will set a different tone for the department than has been set in the past.”

The case signaled that it was time for definite changes, said Betty Wheeler, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union in San Diego and Imperial counties.

The jury findings should trigger corrective actions, including the re-training of officers about the permissible limits of the use of force, Wheeler said. The findings also show officers that violations of rights will no longer be tolerated and prove the need for a citizens’ review board, she said. “The jury sent the message that the real problem is not with one or two individual officers, the so-called bad apple theory,” Wheeler said, “but the real problem was with the policy of the county.”