County to Appeal Award to Girl Who Was Mauled : Courts: Attorney says $2-million judgment was based on faulty jury instructions. Action angers mother of cougar victim.

The County Board of Supervisors decided Tuesday to appeal a $2-million jury award to Laura Small, the 10-year-old El Toro girl who was mauled by a mountain lion five years ago at a county wilderness park.

Gaddi H. Vasquez, chairman of the supervisors, said the board thought there were “a number of various legal issues on which to make an appeal.” The board voted 4 to 0 to appeal, with Supervisor Roger R. Stanton abstaining.

Vasquez declined to elaborate because of the pending litigation.

The supervisors’ decision immediately drew criticism from the Small family.

“Our daughter Laura continues to be a victim, not only of the mountain lion attack, but of the county’s refusal to accept its responsibilities,” said Laura’s mother, Susan Mattern-Small.

“The supervisors decided to forget five weeks of a fair and open trial and go behind closed doors to continue covering up their mistakes,” she said of Tuesday’s closed board session. “I’m very upset.”

Barry Allen, the county’s attorney in the case, said he intends to file a notice of appeal by the end of the week. He said he will challenge the judge’s legal instructions to the jury in his appellate briefs.

“We feel that the laws that were read to the jury were incorrect, and that the jury’s verdict was incorrect,” Allen said.

As he did throughout the trial, Allen said he will argue that “the county cannot be held responsible for the acts of a wild mountain lion.”

On Aug. 23, however, an Orange County Superior Court jury ruled otherwise, deciding that the county was liable in the March 23, 1986, attack at Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park.

On that day, Laura was looking for tadpoles with her mother when a cougar sprang from a bush, grabbed her in its jaws and dragged her into the nearby brush. A hiker saved her life by swinging a stick at the mountain lion until it dropped her. Laura was blinded in one eye and partially paralyzed as a result of the attack.

Wylie A. Aitken, the Smalls’ attorney, argued that county officials acted negligently because they were aware of the dangers in the park but failed to do anything about them except to circulate internal memos and newsletters.

During the trial, two county park rangers testified that they were aware of several “unusual” mountain lion sightings, in which the cougar appeared to act aggressively. One of the rangers even testified that he discussed the possibility of posting warning signs with a supervisor after learning of a state wildlife biologist’s recommendations that such measures be taken.

But Laura was attacked before any action was taken.

Allen failed to convince the jury that the rangers’ actions were appropriate, considering what was known about mountain lions at the time of the attack. He said that the animals had always been described as shy, secretive creatures with a healthy aversion to humans. He said there had never been a mountain lion attack in Southern California before Laura was mauled.

On Tuesday, Aitken slammed the board’s decision to appeal as “a further waste of the taxpayers’ money.”

“I think they (the supervisors) are really ignoring the electorate and the jury system. They didn’t hear the evidence, the jury did, and it was a unanimous decision,” Aitken said.