Ongoing coverage of the investigation into the assault at Dodger Stadium
Dodgers Settle Suit with Man Who Suffered Broken Neck During Game
Wednesday, Jun 8, 2011 | Updated 5:22 PM PDT
A wide angle view of the Los Angeles Dodgers Stadium.
The Dodgers and a fan who sued the team over a broken neck suffered when drunken man fell on him from an upper deck have settled their lawsuit, an attorney for the injured man told a judge Tuesday.
The announcement came as Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Alan S. Rosenfield was scheduled to hear arguments by the Dodgers, asking that the lawsuit by Stephen Suarez be dismissed. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
The lawsuit, filed in September 2009, stemmed from an Oct. 12, 2008, League Championship Series game between the Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies. Suarez and a brother were sitting in the field box section, and the allegedly drunken fan, Pete La Rosa, was above him in the loge section, the suit stated.
Suarez and his brother, Alex Suarez, alleged negligence, premises liability and negligent infliction of emotional distress. In their latest court papers, attorneys for the brothers referred to the March 31 beating of San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow outside Dodger Stadium and alleged security there also was deficient when their client was hurt.
They maintained the Stow incident was "further support for (Suarez's) position that the Dodgers acted negligently and breached their duty of care by failing to secure Dodger Stadium and remove the severely intoxicated La Rosa ..."
La Rosa "was severely inebriated and showed signs of intoxication throughout the game -- a result of a marijuana cigarette, 10 beers and six shots of tequila prior to and during the game," the suit stated.
A Phillies fan, La Rosa "repeatedly yelled, swore and taunted the Dodger fans in the loge box section throughout the game," the complaint states. In return, several Dodger fans taunted him, shouted obscenities and threw peanut shells at him, the suit stated.
After the game, La Rosa walked to the railing at the bottom of the loge level, then "stepped over the short railing, turned toward the loge box level, waved his baseball cap in the air, lost his balance and fell ... to the field box level," according to the suit.
La Rosa struck Stephen Suarez, breaking his fourth and sixth vertebrae, the suit stated. His brother suffered emotional distress from witnessing his brother being hurt, according to the complaint. The three were among the 56,800 fans present.
Attorneys for the siblings maintained security personnel at Dodger Stadium should have prevented La Rosa from climbing over the railing and ejected him. They say he was a danger to himself and other fans. However, in their court papers attorneys for the Dodgers said the mishap was unforeseeable and like nothing that had happened there previously.
Although witnesses interviewed by team officials agreed La Rosa was drunk and cheering loudly, they considered his actions "innocent, good- natured, fun, entertaining and normal" for a playoff game at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers' court papers stated.
Thus, the Suarez brothers' attorneys are wrong to maintain Dodger security officials had an obligation to throw La Rosa out of the stadium, according to the team's court papers.
In a sworn declaration submitted on behalf of the Dodgers, engineer Charles E. Turnbow stated that the rail La Rosa stepped over meets building code standards set by the city of Los Angeles.
The Dodgers won the game, 7-2, but lost the series to the Phillies, four games to one.
