Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Lawyers to defend county in jail case

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Thursday, September 28, 2000

Lawyers to defend county in jail case
Private firms hired to represent county and sheriff in Bobby Stuart suit
By Jason Ma
Caller-Times
Nueces County and the sheriff will have private law firms on their side as preliminary work on a wrongful death lawsuit is set to begin.
   Pre-trial conferences will begin next month in the lawsuit that claims Nueces County Jail personnel were responsible for the death of Bobby Stuart after he was beaten, sprayed with pepper spray and confined to a restraining chair.
   He died on Aug. 19, 1999, after being arrested on suspicion of public intoxication and criminal mischief.
   Stuart's survivors are asking for an unspecified amount in damages.
   The county and Sheriff Larry Olivarez were named as separate defendants in the case.
   Olivarez has declined to comment about the pending litigation.
   In August the county had to defend itself in a similar lawsuit that ended in a $1.1-million settlement for Andrew Sokolinski's family.
   Sokolinski died in the jailin 1997.
   At the time of Sokolinski's death, the county had no liability coverage to pay for the settlement. But by the time Stuart died in jail, the county had acquired such coverage, which allows the hiring of a private law firm in the event of a lawsuit.
   The county's liability insurance carrier, Coregis, hired the Corpus Christi firms of Hornblower, Manning and Ward to represent the county and Barker, Leon, Francher and Matthys for the sheriff.
   The decisions were made shortly after Stuart's survivors filed the lawsuit in August.
   Private firms aren't subject to the same kind of public pressure for the release of information as when the county tries a case itself, officials said.
   Walter Bryan, chief of litigation for the county attorney's office, said private firms don't have to handle requests to release information publicly.
   "We get so many requests for public information that we have to stop and address that," he said. "If you're in the private sector, it doesn't distract you from trying the case."
   County Attorney Laura Garza Jimenez said having a private firm handle the case is a slight advantage, because it frees her from some of the constraints that go along with serving in an elected office.
   "The public wants to know about the case, but you can't explain your strategy," she said.
   "You can't give away your hand."
   Private firms, she said, do not necessarily feel that kind of pressure.
   Lawyers from Hornblower, Manning and Ward wouldn't comment.
   Lawyers from Barker, Leon, Francher and Matthys could not be reached for comment.
   Bryan added that a private firm's involvement does not fundamentally change the way the case is treated.
   "They're lawyers, we're lawyers," he said. "They'll go about trying the case the same way we would be handling it."


Staff writer Jason Ma can be reached at 886-3778 or by e-mail at maj@caller.com

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