Lawsuits Threaten Beach Cities’ Liquidity

Public officials say Orange County’s coastal communities may not be able to stay afloat in the wake of multimillion-dollar lawsuits by beachgoers holding government responsible for ocean accidents.

Last November, a Superior Court jury ordered the city of Newport Beach to pay $6 million to quadriplegic John Taylor, a swimmer who was paralyzed after diving into the surf and striking his head on a sand bar two years ago.

Another Orange County jury is scheduled to soon decide the sizable claim of a 17-year-old boy who also was paralyzed during a 1979 swimming incident in Newport Beach.

The day before jurors reached the Taylor verdict, saying city lifeguards erred by not posting signs that warned of shifting sand bars, a Claremont teen-ager filed a similar $10-million claim against the city.

Such claims are routinely denied by local governments, as required by state law, before court action can be initiated.

The Story Repeats

Just down the Pacific Coast Highway to the south, the story is the same.

Laguna Beach will soon be in court to face an $8-million lawsuit by a man who broke his neck after diving from a rock into shallow water.

And last month, a quadriplegic asked the city for $25 million in damages to compensate for injuries he incurred when he either “fell, jumped or dove” from a rock in Laguna Beach.

From Seal Beach to San Clemente, Orange County’s coastal communities say their futures are in jeopardy.

Laguna Beach City Manager Ken Frank said his city of 18,000 cannot pay the price of damage awards.

“It’s crazy. It’s not logical for our taxpayers to pick up the cost of injuries to people who come to our beach from everywhere,” Frank said.

“We can’t get rid of the beach. It’s already here . . . but we’re looking at the option of doing away with our lifeguard service. That might give us some protection. We just don’t know yet.”

A San Clemente jury ruled two years ago that the posting of lifeguards on public beaches altered the “natural condition” that had given the city protection from liability.

The Taylor decision further erodes the protection local governments once counted on, Frank said.

It is indicative of a costly trend in a state with plaintiff-oriented laws and courts, he said.

“I had thought beaches were natural. . . . But since this case (in San Clemente), we’ve lost our immunity. . . . I don’t know now if even doing away with lifeguards will help us,” Frank said.

The city also is considering posting signs at each of 40 public entrances to the beach in Laguna.

“But that still leaves 10 motels and hundreds of homes. We can’t make everyone go by one of those signs. So that’s obviously not the answer either for any of us.”

Newport Beach attorneys have formally advised Orange County Superior Court they will ask for a new trial in the $6-million Taylor case.

In the meantime, the city’s legal staff is trying to design a sign for the beaches.

Sign Dilemma

“It isn’t easy figuring out what to put on these signs,” said City Manager Robert Wynn.

“If we put them in English, we’ve got no protection if a Vietnamese is injured. Or a Hispanic.

“And what do we warn about? What if we don’t mention sharks, for example, and a shark bites somebody? Then we’ve got no protection.”

Placement of the signs is also a big concern.

Wynn and his colleagues agree that injuries from signs--trips, falls, cuts and sprains--probably will trigger even more lawsuits.

“We are caretakers for a public asset, the beach and the ocean,” Wynn said.

“Now we may lose our insurance altogether. At the very least, our rates will triple. The long-term impact of this could be critical.

“We feel sorry for the gentleman (Taylor). . . . But it isn’t logical that we be held responsible for a healthy, happy guy out with his girlfriend, maybe feeling macho , who runs down the beach and dives in at the surf line without being able to see the bottom.”