Costly Verdict for Simi Schools

The Simi Valley Unified School District must pay more than $2.8 million in damages to a former student who suffered severe head injuries when she was hit by a car while walking to school more than decade ago, a state appellate court ruled Tuesday.

The court found that the district created a dangerous condition when it allowed children access to Sequoia Junior High through an open gate constructed next to a busy four-lane intersection.

It was there that a motorist hit 13-year-old Jennifer Joyce in May 1989, throwing her 40 feet and causing serious head injuries and brain damage.

On Tuesday, Beverly Hills attorney Gary A. Dordick, who represents Joyce, said he hoped the ruling would end long-running litigation and result in payment to his client.

“It has been 14 years,” Dordick said. “Jennifer Joyce is badly, badly in need of some medical attention that she has not been able to get.”

Joyce sued the district and the city after the motorist settled for $50,000, the maximum amount covered by the driver’s insurance. The city and district initially won at trial, but the judgment in favor of the district was reversed on appeal.

Since then, there have been two more trials that eventually resulted in a multimillion-dollar verdict against the district. Simi Valley Unified appealed, arguing that it was immune from liability because the girl was injured off of school property.

But the 2nd District Court of Appeal, Division 6, found that although the school district did not control the crosswalk, it did control the open schoolyard gate, which encouraged children to cross at an uncontrolled, unsafe intersection.

The justices noted that Joyce’s case is similar to one decided earlier this year by the California Supreme Court.

In that case, a bus patron sued the Central Contra Costa Transit Authority after being hit by a motorist as the plaintiff crossed an intersection on the way to a bus stop. The state Supreme Court found that the transit authority was liable because it placed the bus stop in a dangerous location.

“If a [transit authority] bus stop could be reached only by jumping across an adjacent ditch, [the authority] would logically bear the same liability to a patron who fell into the ditch attempting to reach the stop,” the state Supreme Court concluded.

In the Simi Valley Unified case, the appellate court found that the district similarly failed to provide “adequate safeguards against a known dangerous condition.”

An attorney for the district did not return a call for comment. But Dordick said he expects the district to seek review from the state Supreme Court, further delaying payment to his client, now 27.

“I don’t think the Supreme Court needs to take the Joyce case after they already rendered an extensive and detailed opinion” in the transit authority case, he said. “We just hope it ends soon for Jennifer’s sake.”