Modesto’s legal payouts much higher than first reported

It cost Modesto a lot more to settle lawsuits and claims filed against it for such incidents as city trees smashing into homes and parked cars and police officers crashing into other vehicles.

The city initially reported paying about $1.17 million in 2013 and 2014 to resolve lawsuits and claims. But city officials now say Modesto paid an additional $357,398 over those two years, bringing the total payouts to nearly $1.53 million.

Modesto provides the lawsuit and claim payments each quarter in response to a California Public Records Act request filed by The Modesto Bee. City officials said they recently discovered a glitch in how those requests were processed, which resulted in some payments not being reported. They say they have fixed the problem and provided information on the payments they initially overlooked.

“Transparency is important to the city,” City Attorney Adam Lindgren said. “If we find any errors in our disclosures or policies, we are not going to wait to fix them.”

The $357,398 includes payments of $175,000 to resolve three incidents involving the police. One was for $85,000 to settle a 2011 traffic accident in which a police officer pulled in front of another car; another was for $45,000 for a 2011 accident in which an officer was accused of rear-ending a car; and the last was for $45,000 to settle claims that the police damaged property and used excessive force while executing a search warrant in 2009.

The other large payment was $74,999.99 to settle a 2008 lawsuit filed by attorneys representing Debra Coito, whose 13-year-old son, Jeremy Wilson, drowned in 2007 in the Tuolumne River when he got caught in a current that carried him over Dennett Dam. The small dam was built in 1933 upstream of the Ninth Street Bridge to create a swimming hole. The state condemned the dam in 1947, but it has never been demolished.

Modesto’s payment was part of nearly $275,000 it and other governments paid to settle the lawsuit.

The attorneys representing Coito sued Modesto; Stanislaus County; Ceres; the Tuolumne River Regional Park, which is managed by Modesto, Stanislaus County and Ceres; the California Department of Fish and Wildlife; and the California Department of Water Resources.

Ceres and Stanislaus County each paid $24,999.99 to resolve the lawsuit, and the state paid $149,999.99 to resolve the allegations against Fish and Wildlife and Water Resources. Modesto Risk and Loss Control Coordinator Beverly Jensen said her city’s payment was for it and the regional park.

In all, Modesto released information on 25 lawsuits and claims that it did not initially release in response to the Public Records Act requests. Jensen said the city admitted no wrongdoing in resolving the claims and lawsuits.

Modesto also paid $13,398 to settle three other traffic accidents involving police officers and $5,634 after a fire engineer driving a fire engine rear-ended a car stopped at a red light. It paid $14,616 to resolve five incidents involving city trees damaging property, $6,668 for property damage caused by three broken water mains and $45,000 to a bicyclist who broke her leg in a 2010 crash on Paradise Road.

This story was originally published May 16, 2015 at 3:09 PM with the headline "Modesto’s legal payouts much higher than first reported."