$2 Million Awarded to Girl Mauled by Mountain Lion : Lawsuit: Jurors find Orange County was liable for not warning public of the danger at wilderness park.

Laura Small, the 10-year-old El Toro girl who was mauled by a mountain lion five years ago at a wilderness park in Orange County, was awarded more than $2 million Friday by jurors who said the county was to blame for the attack.

“I’m glad it’s over,” said Laura, who was mobbed by reporters after the unanimous verdict was read.

Flanked by her mother and father in a hallway outside the courtroom, Laura said she did not care about the money and had no plans for the award other than using it “to go to college and (pay for) medical bills.”

But to her parents, the jury verdict meant vindication.

“We had always felt that it was the county’s responsibility to warn us (about mountain lions in the park), and I feel pleased that the jurors agreed with us,” said Sue Mattern-Small, Laura’s mother.

The county’s attorney, Barry Allen, said an appeal of the verdict was likely.

“I’m still in shock by the size of the verdict,” said Allen, as he tried to slip past reporters by using an exit behind the courtroom. The family did not specify a damage amount in their suit.

Wylie A. Aitken, the Smalls’ attorney said he felt an appeal would be a further waste of taxpayers’ money.

“I think the jury spoke out loud and clear on the issue. . . . Laura deserves this. . . . She earned this in the most miserable way you can.”

Jury foreman Dan Kent said he and his fellow jurors found it difficult to put the images of Laura’s injuries out their minds.

“There was emotion, there was no question, but we had to table that and deal with the facts,” he said.

Jurors deliberated only two days before finding that the county was liable for the attack, which occurred on March 23, 1986, in a county-run recreation area--the Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park, east of San Juan Capistrano.

On that day, Laura had been looking for tadpoles with her mother when a cougar sprang from a bush and grabbed her by the head with its powerful jaws.

A hiker saved Laura’s life by swinging a stick at the large cat until it released her. Laura was left partially paralyzed, blinded in one eye and physically and emotionally scarred.

Allen said it was the first mountain lion attack reported in Southern California in recorded history and only the second in the state.

Throughout the trial, attorneys on both sides acknowledged that Laura suffered tragic injuries, but debated whether it was the county’s fault.

Aitken contended that county officials were negligent because they knew mountain lions in Caspers Park presented a potential danger but failed to take any action except circulate internal memos and newsletters and make telephone calls.

County officials had denied any wrongdoing. As defense attorney Allen said repeatedly during the trial, “The county can’t be held responsible for the acts of a wild mountain lion.”

Aitken, however, maintained that it wasn’t the cougar’s action that was at the heart of the Small family’s lawsuit but rather the county’s failure to respond to the threat.

Southland legal experts and park administrators said the main ramification of the Orange County judgment would likely be the posting of additional warning notices in public parks and recreation areas.

“There have been a small number of cases involving wild animal attacks in national parks and state parks but the government has won almost all of the cases,” said Loyola Law School professor Arthur N. Frakt. “The only exceptions are. . . when the government knows there are dangerous animals in the area and they fail to provide some kind of reasonable warning.

“It can be by signs, it can be by some kind of pamphlet when you go into the park,” said Frakt, a specialist in parks and recreation law.

In Los Angeles County, Parks and Recreation Department officials currently post warning signs in the infrequent cases where animals pose dangers, said spokeswoman Sheila Ortega.

“Believe me, when there is a sighting of mountain lions, we’re immediately advised down here in administration,” she said. “It puts me in a position to post signs.”

The issue of how to deal with mountain lions--some of which have been lured into urban areas by an easily-attainable food supply--arose again last week when state game wardens shot and killed a cougar that had been preying on household pets in the Glendora area. Some wildlife advocates protested the killing.

In the Small case, jurors reviewed the hundreds of exhibits and testimony presented during the five-week trial before awarding Laura $2,018,638 in damages and giving $75,000 in damages to her mother for the pain and suffering she went through by witnessing the attack.

Over the course of the trial, Aitken elicited testimony from wildlife biologists, park rangers, doctors, hikers who had visited the park, and most dramatically from Laura and her family.

The strongest testimony supporting the Smalls’ case came from two of the county’s own park rangers. They testified that they were concerned about “unusual” mountain lion sightings just before the attack on Laura.

The sightings even prompted one ranger to call a wildlife biologist with the state’s Department of Fish and Game to see what should be done. The ranger testified that the state official recommended that the public be warned, that mountain lion contact with humans be discouraged and that the mountain lion be captured if possible.

Bruce E. Buchman, who was senior park ranger at the time of the Small mauling, testified that he discussed the possibility of posting warning signs with his supervisor and even scheduled a meeting with state authorities. The attack on Laura, however, occurred before either matter was acted upon.

Aitken, argued that the county created the danger in Caspers Park by, in effect, luring mountain lions into public “high-use” areas with man-made watering troughs that attracted their prey, such as deer.

Allen, however, argued unsuccessfully that county officials acted appropriately, considering what was known about the habits of mountain lions at the time of the attack.

“Nobody thought that a mountain lion would attack a human,” Allen told the jury. He added that the animals were always described as “shy and secretive” with “a healthy aversion to humans.”

But the jurors said they felt that, given the earlier sightings, action should have been taken.

“I believe that something should have been done for the safety of any visitor that came into the park and nothing was basically being done but phone calls going back and forth,” said juror Pamela Downey of Huntington Beach.

Laura’s parents attended each day of the trial even though they said it was at times “painful.” Mattern-Small occasionally had to leave the courtroom during testimony about her daughter’s ordeal, while Don Small, Laura’s father, would bury his face in his hands.

“It’s just a relief that it’s over,” Mattern-Small said.

Times staff writers Mark I. Pinsky, Bill Billiter and Paul Feldman contributed to this story.