This is the type of lawsuit that leads me to want to
pull my remaining hairs out of my head.
This case stems from the actions of La Shonda Crozier
Richards who pushed her two children off the balcony of the downtown Civil
Court Building and then jumped to her death on December 20th of last year.
The lawsuit is being brought by the husband, Davon
Lamont Richards, who claims that the county was negligent in that it did not
put up a barricade that would have prevented his wife from pushing her children
and following them herself.
Mr. Richards has decided that the correct approach to
this situation is to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the county.
Does Mr. Richards think that Mrs. Richards could not
have found another high building from which to do what she did? This is one case where the venue that Mrs.
Richards chose to do what she did is not at fault. Had she not done so from the top of the Civil Courts Building,
Mrs. Richards would have found another tall building.
This is the kind of case that gives some personal
injury lawyers a bad name, and causes non-lawyers to shake their collective
heads when looking at our judicial system.
How can Mr. Richards claim that a barricade would have prevented his
wife’s actions? It wasn’t the
building’s fault! It wasn’t the fact
that there is no barricade! La Shonda
Richards was ready to die and unfortunately took their children with her.
If someone wants to slit their wrists, and the first
knife doesn’t work, it won’t take him long to find a second knife. Similarly, if an individual can’t get to one
freeway overpass, there are plenty of
freeway overpasses from which to jump. If a person walks in front of a car and
it stops in time, the individual can find another car to walk in front of.
The point here is that to sue the County of Los
Angeles in this case is a pitiful attempt to go after a deep pocket when there
is no one else to sue. Unfortunately,
there is always a lawyer who will take a case like this. While I do not agree with the British system
in which the loser pays the winner’s fees and expenses, cases like this are
enough to get me to reconsider.