Jim Schoettler, Times-Union staff writer
January 17, 2001 Wednesday, City Edition
Copyright 2001 The Florida Times-Union
The Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville, FL)
January 17, 2001 Wednesday, City Edition
(JACKSONVILLE, Fla.) -- The family of slain businessman Sami Safar is asking a federal judge to add a former Jacksonville police officer charged in the slaying to a list of defendants already being sued in the case.
If the judge allows the wrongful death suit to be amended as requested yesterday, former Officer Karl Waldon will join the city, SouthTrust bank and ex-Officer Aric Sinclair as defendants in a suit filed in June. No timetable has been set for a decision by the judge, identified by court officials as Magistrate Timothy J. Corrigan.
Waldon, charged with Sinclair in a 26-count indictment issued last month, is accused of depriving Safar of his civil rights when he was attacked and killed after withdrawing $50,000 from the bank on July 3, 1998. Waldon is accused of pulling Safar over on a bogus traffic stop, handcuffing him and strangling him in the back of a police car. His body was dumped in woods and the money was stolen.
The amended version enhances the city’s potential liability through its employment of Waldon. The amended complaint states that police officials should have known that Waldon and Sinclair were involved with others in a crime spree that stretched from 1996 to 1999, as is charged in the indictment.
The amended complaint also points a stronger finger of responsibility at SouthTrust. The bank is accused in the amended complaint of negligence by keeping Sinclair employed as a security guard despite being told by Safar that he suspected Sinclair was involved in a robbery that occurred outside the bank six weeks before the July 3, 1998 slaying.
Sinclair has since been charged in that May 15, 1998 robbery. The bank fired him after the slaying.
The lawsuit was initially filed by attorneys Jeffery Morris and Dan Smith on behalf of Safar’s wife and 3-year-old son. The initial suit accused Sinclair of providing information to unknown people who robbed and killed Safar and blames the bank and the city for employing Sinclair and not providing proper security for Safar.
The amended compliant relies heavily on information in the indictment, subsequent courtroom testimony and depositions taken of bank employees.
Although the civil action has taken a back seat to publicity in the criminal case, the cost to taxpayers and the bank could be hefty if Morris and Smith can convince a judge and jury that the entities were liable for Safar’s death, according to personal injury attorneys and other authorities.
The attorneys” task in Jacksonville will include trying to show the officers were following a Sheriff’s Office custom, policy or practice when the acts occurred or that a practice didn’t exist, such as proper discipline or supervision, that led to the action. The city’s defense: It did not condone the acts, that no such established policy or practice exists and the other issues are moot.
“This case is one that has some tough factual and legal questions,” said Steve Pajcic, one of the top personal injury attorneys in Northeast Florida. “But it also has some very egregious circumstances and a death, and that means the damages could be significant.”
Mayor John Delaney said he didn’t want to debate the merits of the suit, adding that “We’ll do whatever is right.” But, he said such cases are not clear cut.
“Just because they’re wearing a uniform doesn’t mean that everything they do the sheriff and the taxpayers are responsible for,” Delaney said.
The city vigorously defends suits believed to be frivolous, while it settles others on a case by case basis, weighing such factors as whether the loss could be greater if a jury got the case, said General Counsel Rick Mullaney, who declined to comment on the Safar suit.
Mullaney said the burden is on the plaintiff to prove the city is at fault when it comes to allegations of misconduct by police.
“When an individual officer acts in an egregious manner, they’re subjected to personal liability. The question is can the city be subjected to liability. It depends on what conduct, on behalf of the city, may have contributed to it,” Mullaney said. “The more egregious the conduct that type of conduct clearly is not a practice nor condoned by the city of Jacksonville in any shape or form.”
Officials of SouthTrust bank were unavailable to comment. Waldon’s attorney, Hank Coxe, declined to comment.
Because the Jacksonville case alleges civil rights implications, potential damages are unlimited. Other civil actions or threats of such action against public entities nationwide have been costly in cases of police misconduct.
In a recent Los Angeles police scandal, for example, the City Council, fearing liability under state law, has set aside $125 million for pre-trial settlements with people deprived of their rights by being attacked by police or being falsely imprisoned.
The West Coast case has involved an anti-gang squad accused of shooting, robbing, beating and planting evidence on dozens of innocent people. So far, $26 million has been paid out to settle 35 suits, said Paul Paquette, a deputy city attorney handling the Rampart suits.
While many of the West Coast cases involve false arrests, Javier Ovando, a man shot, paralyzed and then framed by police, recently settled with the city for $15 million.
Ovando"s attorney, Gregory Moreno, said the circumstances of the Jacksonville case make it a winnable suit.
“I wouldn’t mind having that case,” Moreno said. “It would take work. You’re going to get hit with there’s no liability because they’re acting on their own. The more you can show these officers were using their employment, acting under the color of the badge I think it’s a good case.”
Los Angeles City Councilman Jim Feuer, who heads the council’s budget committee, said he is reluctant to settle suits when there are questions about whether police officers acted improperly. But he said in obvious cases of abuse, there is little choice but to work a deal.
“If they did engage in wrongdoing, we have an ethical obligation to try to resolve things with the victim,” Feuer aid. “The amount of the compensation is not simply what the victim’s lawyer says it should be. It’s the result of very serious negotiation. You have to protect the taxpayer dollars.”
In Jacksonville, more than $1 million has been paid out in the last 10 years to settle lawsuits involving misconduct by police such as false arrests and excessive use of force, while pending cases could cost the city about $2 million, according to city records. The largest settlement -- $250,000 -- involved the 1991 death of David Michael Sharp, who had a heart attack after being arrested and hog-tied by police.
Jacksonville’s City Council has yet to explore the local police scandal and its potential impact.
Councilwoman Gwen Chandler-Thompson, vice chairwoman of the council’s Public Health and Safety Committee, said she is concerned about the liability issue and discussed it with the committee’s chairwoman, Suzanne Jenkins. Chandler-Thompson said Jenkins told her the matter is not a priority of the committee at this time.
Jenkins praised Sheriff Nat Glover’s handling of the criminal investigation and said she’s been given no reason to worry about the potential liability to the city. She said she intends to leave the matter in Glover’s hands unless there’s a public outcry for the council to launch its own investigation into the police department.
“I don’t have anything on my radar screen,” Jenkins said. “He [Glover] has his own way of taking care of business over there, and I think he’s doing that.”