Man Hurt in Fall Wins $1.6 Million in Suit Against Caltrans

A Ventura man has won a $1.6-million verdict against Caltrans for injuries suffered from a fall into a drainage ditch near Highway 1 north of Ventura, officials said Wednesday.

A Ventura County jury of five men and seven women unanimously granted the award to 42-year-old Ronald Stephen Lee, said Peter Goldenring, Lee’s Ventura attorney.

The jury initially awarded Lee $1.7 million, but reduced the verdict after finding him partially responsible for the accident because he ran out of gas on the freeway, Goldenring said.

Jurors agreed with Lee’s contention that the California Department of Transportation knew the culvert was dangerous for years and did nothing to protect the public from possible injury, Goldenring said.

The attorney said he is “outraged” that the 10-foot-deep drainage ditch still is not surrounded by a fence or covered with a grate. It is located on Highway 1 just outside the Solimar Beach housing development, Goldenring said.

“It really angers me,” he said. “It is a pretty outrageous culvert.”

Attorneys for Caltrans said they have not decided whether to appeal the verdict, handed down last week. Anthony Ruffolo, senior counsel in Caltrans’ Los Angeles legal division, said he disagrees that the state transportation agency was at fault for the accident.

“It’s not dangerous,” Ruffolo said. “He wasn’t watching where he was going, I guess.”

Ruffolo said Caltrans had no plans to cover the unprotected ditch.

Lee ran out of gas on the Ventura Freeway on Aug. 20, 1988, and was walking toward a residential community at Solimar Beach to find a telephone when he fell into the culvert, fracturing his skull and breaking bones, Goldenring said.

He still suffers from hearing loss and walks with a cane, the attorney said.

And the former oil platform worker has not worked since the accident, Goldenring said. Lee said he is pleased with the verdict, even though it took seven years to bring the case to trial.

“Twelve people looked at the facts and said, ‘Hey, this is wrong,’ ” Lee said. “I mean, they gave away their own money.”

The eight-day trial was held at the Ventura College of Law because of a backlog of civil suits awaiting trial at the county’s Hall of Justice, Goldenring said. Two other defendants settled with Lee before the case reached trial, he said.

Southern Pacific Transportation Co., which reconstructed the culvert in 1944, agreed to pay $80,000 and the Ventura County settled for $2,500, Goldenring said.

Ruffolo said Caltrans has faced many other verdicts of more than $1 million. The largest verdict against Caltrans was for $35 million, he said.

“We think it’s a little high for the injuries this guy had,” he said. “But it’s not an unusual verdict in today’s market.”