ORANGE COUNTY IN BANKRUPTCY : Smalls Will Again See County in Court : Law: Parents sued after lion mauled 5-year-old girl in Caspers Park. Part of the settlement is in county pool.

Laura Small and her family thought their ordeal with the county had ended a year ago, when they received a $1.6-million settlement stemming from a mountain lion attack that left the young girl partially paralyzed.

But last week, the Lake Forest family learned that some $90,000 of Laura’s settlement was trapped in the county’s beleaguered investment pool.

To their amazement, they found themselves heading back to court once again Friday as part of a federal class-action lawsuit trying to saving Laura’s investment and those of other minors.

“I never wanted to have anything to do with another lawsuit,” said Susan Small, Laura’s mother. “But we do need to protect her money and be cautious about it. . . . It’s such a confusing situation.”

The lawsuit, filed by attorney Wylie A. Aitken, who represented the family in the settlement, alleges that Merrill Lynch, broker Michael Stamenson and former county Treasurer-Tax Collector Robert L. Citron “were recklessly using and abusing the pooled funds of Orange County.”

Laura was 5 years old in 1986 when a cougar leaped from the bushes in the Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park and grabbed her head in its mouth. A hiker who heard the mother’s screams beat the big cat with a stick until it released the girl.

The attack, which came as Laura and her mother were searching for tadpoles, left Laura blind in her right eye. She also suffered brain damage and was partially paralyzed.

The Smalls sued the county, arguing that park officials was aware of the potential for mountain lion attacks but did nothing. When the county challenged a $2-million jury award, the 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana urged the county to settle the case. In October, 1993, more than seven years after the attack, the family reached a settlement with the county.

Susan Small said most of Laura’s settlement was put in insured annuities. A Superior Court judge gave them two options for investing the remaining $90,000. They chose the county’s investment pool.

Laura, now 13 and in the eighth grade, is doing well, her mother said. But she will require periodic medical examinations and physical therapy throughout her life. Some day she will even need a specially adapted car, her mother said.

The family always has said the settlement would ensure her future financial security.

“I really did think when we put the money in the Orange County fund it would be safe,” Small said. “It was kind of ironic even putting it in the county fund because of all the trouble we had gone through.”