CVN screenshot of plaintiff attorney Brett Schreiber delivering his closing argument
San Diego, CA - A California state court jury failed to return a verdict on Wednesday in a wrongful death lawsuit blaming the City of San Diego for a fatal car-on-pedestrian collision, and the full trial was recorded gavel-to-gavel by Courtroom View Network.
The San Diego County jury hung 8-4 according to attorney Brett Schreiber of Singleton Schreiber, who represented the plaintiffs in the case, following six days of deliberations in a trial that began with opening statements on April 4.
Schreiber represents the family of Jorge Lopez and Jaime Leonen, deceased, who sued the City of San Diego following an accident in 2015 across from a local hospital. The lawsuit claims the City created a dangerous condition by allowing parking across the street from the hospital without providing a marked walkway, however the City argued the crossing was safe, and that Lopez and Leonen were looking at a cell phone while crossing the street and failed to take reasonable care to look out for oncoming traffic.
The full trial, including all witness testimony, is available with a no-contract monthly or annual subscription to CVN’s online video library, along with hundreds of other civil trials from throughout the United States featuring many of the country’s top trial attorneys.
Schreiber told CVN after the trial concluded the outcome bodes well for his clients.
“We had eight people who strongly believed the City of San Diego breached the public trust by creating a dangerous condition of public property,” he said. “Round one goes to the plaintiffs. The City enters round two pretty bloodied.”
He said his clients were clearly disappointed since “like most sane people they don’t want to have a second trial in their lives” but expressed confidence in the outcome of a potential retrial.
“We told the jury in closing argument, that ‘safety of our community is the highest law.’ Our jurors believed that,” Schreiber said. “We don’t believe the city will be so lucky the second time.”
A spokesperson for the San Diego City Attorney’s office, which represented the defendant, declined to comment on ongoing litigation.
CVN screenshot of defense attorney Kelly McGeehan delivering her closing argument
The case is captioned Lopez v. City of San Diego, case number 37-2016-00027281-CU-PA-CTL in San Diego County Superior Court.
E-mail David Siegel at dsiegel@cvn.com
