Masry Issues Borchard Road Study

Saying he is “sick and tired” of hearing officials say Borchard Road is safe, attorney and City Council candidate Ed Masry has released an engineer’s report suggesting otherwise, and he alleged that the city won’t be immune from lawsuits if an accident occurs there.

“You read that report and tell me it’s safe,” said Masry, the Westlake Village attorney made famous in the hit movie “Erin Brockovich.” “I’m concerned parents will be misled that the road is safe and will let their kids go roller-skating down it.”

While acknowledging they had not seen the report, city officials reiterated their position that the road is not dangerous. And, if sued based on the design of the road, they said they believe the city could not be held liable.

“The road is in, open to public use and the road is safe,” said Tim Giles, assistant city attorney, adding that he wondered why an engineering expert was giving a legal opinion. “Experts have different opinions, and Masry has hired an expert witness to give him an opinion that supports his theory.”

Masry said he commissioned the report, completed by Robert F. Douglas of Bellflower-based Field & Test Engineers, as part of the $661-million lawsuit against developers Miller Bros. Investments. The developers extended the road about one mile as part of its Dos Vientos subdivision in Newbury Park.

The suit claimed developers lied to the city about the safety of the project, particularly about a 100-foot section of the road that was built at a 12% grade. The city’s standard allowable slope is 5%, but the public works director can approve deviations in certain circumstances, Giles said.

Last week, the state Court of Appeal ruled that Masry and his clients had little probability of success in winning a trial. Unless Masry can successfully appeal to the California Supreme Court, it appears the case is dead.

The report says the improvements approved by the city earlier this year to make the road safer--including a traffic signal at Borchard and Dos Vientos, signs and a median--instead cluttered it with traffic-control devices that are not needed and violate state and federal standards.

“There is no one who can contradict Douglas and withstand cross-examination,” Masry said. “His credentials don’t get any better.”

Giles maintains that the improvements made the road safer and said the city’s experts have testified to that fact. Attorneys for Miller Bros. declined to comment on the matter until a Borchard Road news conference planned next week.