Man Hit by Falling Tree to Get $7.6 Million

The Los Angeles City Council agreed Wednesday to pay $7.6 million to a 33-year-old man who was left paralyzed after he was struck by a falling palm tree while walking his dog through a residential area in the Mid-Wilshire district.

Tony Scott, who had moved to Los Angeles six years ago to pursue his dream of becoming a dancer, suffered a broken neck and shattered spinal cord and is confined to a wheelchair. The 60-foot palm, in the 500 block of South Kingsley Avenue, had been dead for at least two years and had been marked for removal by the city.

“Due to the nature of the accident, the fact that the city had notice of the dead palm tree and the very serious injuries suffered by Mr. Scott, [the city attorney’s office] considers the proposed settlement to be in the best interests of the city of Los Angeles,” the city’s lawyer told the council in a letter.

Scott’s attorney, Randy McMurray, said the April 9, 1999, accident robbed his client not only of his ability to walk but also of his dreams.

“His whole life he wanted to be a dancer,” said McMurray. “He moved to Los Angeles from Miami and had started a recording and dancing company.”

Scott said he is living his life one day at a time.

“I’m doing OK; I have my moments,” Scott said Wednesday. “I’m trying to find the good in it, if there’s such a thing.”

Scott, who is paralyzed from the chest down, said he has no memory of the accident.

“I had just gotten a dog, and I was just walking him down the street,” Scott said. “That’s the last thing I remember. Weeks later in the hospital, I was shown pictures and they told me this story. I thought, ‘Impossible. It couldn’t be me.’ I really believed it was a dream or something.

“One day they wheeled me past this huge mirror and there I was,” he said. “That’s when it hit me. From that point on, I’ve been attacking this with all I have..”

Council members said the settlement, the fourth most costly in city history, is a stark reminder of the human tragedy that can result from the city’s failure to follow through with basic services such as trimming trees and repairing sidewalks.

“Here’s a guy who was just walking his dog and he was struck by a palm tree,” said Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas. “His life has been irreversibly altered.”

Area residents told investigators that the tree had been dead for at least two years, and perhaps as many as five, before the accident.

The Street Tree Division had contracted with an outside tree service to remove the palm and 43 others.

Although Scott said no amount of money can compensate him for what he has lost, he is relieved that the case against the city is resolved.

“Hopefully I’ll be able to afford the things I need to help me live as comfortably, happy and healthy as possible in this situation,” Scott said.