Trial Focuses on Drowning Near Lobster Traps

More than five years after the 1985 drowning of a young surfer at Carlsbad State Beach, the questions of how James Brian Brokaw died and who was at fault are before a North County Superior Court jury in Vista.

The 22-year-old Escondido youth was found drifting underwater about 75 yards off the Carlsbad beach on Oct. 4, 1985. His board and the leash that attached him to it were reportedly tangled in lobster trap buoy lines.

Karen Walter, deputy state attorney general, said no evidence exists that Brokaw died because he was caught in the lobster traps. No one saw the youth struggling to free himself, she said, and rescuers will testify that the leash, which kept Brokaw’s surfboard from being washed away in the heavy surf, was not entangled in the trap lines.

Brokaw’s parents, Charles Brokaw and Nelda Jean DeVroeg, brought the wrongful-death suit against the state to recover damages, claiming that state lifeguards should have recognized the danger that the lobster traps posed to surfers and swimmers and removed the traps.

The suit also claims that the state failed to post warning signs, that lifeguards were negligent in their duties and botched their attempt to save Brokaw.

The lobster traps and marker buoys had been placed by lobster fishermen around a reef offshore and beyond the surfing area a few days before, at the start of lobster season, both sides agreed. Extremely heavy storm surf had dislodged some of the traps and dragged them into the shallower surfing area, lifeguards testified.

Guylyn Cummins, attorney for Brokaw’s parents, told jurors in her opening arguments that the state knew that lobster traps were “death traps” for surfers. She cited a 1984 surfer drowning in Imperial Beach, where a 19-year-old died when his surfboard leash became entangled in cables that connect lobster traps with their marker buoys.

However, state lifeguards and surfers present when Brokaw died at Carlsbad State Beach testified that, although they were aware of the trap lines and of the earlier drowning, they did not consider the lobster traps a danger.

Brokaw’s plight was discovered by a former surfer who was camping out on the beach. Floyd Melson, a systems analyst, testified that he saw a surfboard bobbing in the waves offshore and wondered why it was not being washed ashore by the surf. After he looked at the board through binoculars, he spotted Brokaw’s body underwater and summoned help.

The suit first asked for damages from the state of more than $5 million, but state laws do not allow individuals to recover punitive damages from the state. However, Cummins said she intended to ask the jury to award Brokaw’s parents a substantial sum to compensate them for the loss of their son.

The case is only coming to trial now in part because the state several years ago put a moratorium on civil proceedings until it could process a backlog of criminal cases.