Parents of Mauled Girl Assail Park Restriction : Policy: Couple, attorney contend that no-minors rule at Caspers is attempt to overturn $2-million verdict.

The parents of a young girl who won a $2-million verdict against Orange County after she was attacked by a mountain lion at a park sharply criticized county officials Tuesday for closing the park to minors.

The El Toro couple charged at a press conference that the decision to bar children from Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park is an attempt to avoid paying the award by pressuring an appellate court to overturn the jury decision.

“We’re outraged,” said Donald Small, the father of Laura Small. “Our daughter was seriously injured by (county officials’) negligence, and now they’re trying to take away the award because they resent that they were held responsible.”

Supervisors have said that the ban on minors at the park will remain in effect until an appellate court rules in the county’s favor or there is a legislative remedy.

Also at the press conference, the Smalls’ attorney, Wylie A. Aitken, called the decision by the Orange County Board of Supervisors to restrict park use an attempt to “manipulate” and “intimidate” the appeals court to overturn the jury verdict, and to push the Legislature to enact a law that would limit the county’s liability in such cases.

He labeled the board’s decision “a shameful act of cowardice” and called the supervisors “bullies” who are blackmailing the system by holding “a public park hostage.”

Last week, the County Board of Supervisors approved the closure of Caspers Park to minors, acknowledging that the action is motivated by the sizable adverse jury verdict in the mauling case. The restrictions at the park began Monday, the same day as Laura’s 11th birthday.

Michael M. Ruane, director of the county’s Environmental Management Agency, said the closure was necessary because of the “liability and the financial exposure created by the court ruling” last summer.

Thomas F. Riley, whose district includes the park, said in a statement last week that he is saddened that the liability faced by the county “has led to many Orange County families losing the use of a popular park. I hope that the courts and state Legislature will share my view.”

That stance, however, has infuriated the Smalls and their attorney, who say the county was negligent five years ago in not warning people about the threat of mountain lion attacks in the largely rural park near Cleveland National Forest.

“In order to cover up the mismanagement of the park back in 1986, the board and county officials have callously attacked a young girl, her parents, a legal system developed to protect her rights and the citizens who answer the public call as jurors,” Aitken said.

Laura, who sat next to her mother, Sue Mattern-Small, during the press conference, said nothing.

The Smalls and Aitken said that the county does not need to close the park to minors because warning signs have been posted throughout the park.

When Laura, then 5, was attacked March 23, 1986, the Smalls were not warned about the presence of any mountains lions, although park officials later testified that they had seen “unusual” behavior by the cougars and knew about several close, seemingly aggressive encounters between the lions and the public.

In August, an Orange County Superior Court jury found county officials negligent in the attack, largely because they were aware of the mountain lions and did nothing to warn the public.

Former juror Pamela Downey, who was also at the press conference Tuesday, said that had the Smalls received the warnings that went into effect after Laura’s attack, “I would gone the other way” and ruled against the Smalls.

“I feel like (the supervisors) are ignoring what 12 taxpaying jurors decided was right and should be done,” Downey said.

Ruane, the Environmental Management Agency director, said that Downey’s comments about the verdict were “no assurance” of how another jury might rule. The county is facing a potential trial in another mountain lion attack on a child in Caspers Park that occurred several months after Laura was mauled.

Although he has no intentions of challenging the park closure to minors in court, Aitken said “it’s a possibility.”