Monday, Sept. 22, 2003 | 11:05 a.m.
A Metro Police panel agreed this morning to pay $110,000 to a Las Vegas woman who suffered permanent brain damage after being hit by a police car as the officer drove through a stop sign on his way to a burglary call three years ago.
Sara Warpness, 34, and her husband, Chris, 27, were married a week before the crash that left her with the mental capacity of a 13-year-old.
Victor Lee Miller, the Warpnesses' attorney, said this could have been a million-dollar case, but because of a Nevada law that caps damages at $50,000 in civil cases against state employees, he feels fortunate that he managed to wrangle $110,000 for his clients.
"It's just sad and the result is sad," Miller said. "She's just in the class of people who are unjustly treated by the state of Nevada."
Sheriff Bill Young told Metro's fiscal affairs panel this morning that the injuries were significant, and "we were very clearly at fault in this accident."
The couple married Aug. 12, 2000, and were on their way home from having drinks to celebrate their first weekend of marriage when the crash occurred.
Officer Robert Allen Garris had heard a call come over his radio about 1 a.m. regarding a possible burglary at an appliance store and turned on his lights and siren.
The store wasn't in the area Garris covers; a different officer was assigned to the call and Garris headed to the scene to see if the officer needed backup, Miller said.
He headed down Edmond Street in southwest Las Vegas and went through a stop sign at Reno Avenue just as the Warpnesses were passing through the intersection about 25 mph, headed to their apartment at Lindell Road and Reno Avenue, three blocks away.
"The east and west streets have big rain gutters on each side to control the runoff, and (the police car) hit the rain gutter," Miller said. "The crown of the road made (Garris) go airborne."
The front wheels of Garris' Crown Victoria police cruiser came down on the hood of the Warpness' Ford Escort and sent it into a spin. Delerious, Sara Warpness got out of the car and walked about 20 feet before collapsing, Chris Warpness said.
"Her brain just shut down," he said.
Chris Warpness was partially ejected and he suffered burns on his back from the pavement.
Metro investigated the crash -- Miller said it should have been investigated by the Nevada Highway Patrol to avoid a conflict of interest -- and determined Garris was going between 51 and 60 mph, but Miller said he believes the officer had to have been going faster than that.
According to policy, a police officer "rolling code," responding to a call with lights and sirens, is permitted to roll through stop signs and red lights, but the intersection must be clear.
The Warpnesses filed a civil suit in state district court against Garris and Metro last year. To get around the $50,000 cap, Miller added a federal claim to the suit, alleging that Garris violated Sara Warpness' civil rights when he struck the car.
"If you can find some way to get some federal law involved, you can at least argue to exceed the cap," Miller said.
But a state district court judge ruled her civil rights were not violated. Miller took the case to U.S. District Court, which upheld the lower court's decision and dismissed the case.
Miller then turned to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has a mandatory settlement process.
Along with attorneys for Metro, he sat down with mediators "to see if we could come to a settlement before it got any further, he said.
"Both sides were looking at the probabilities of winning and losing, and we went back and forth with figures until we came to a figure everyone could live with."
Attorneys for Metro first offered $50,000 to settle. Miller's "dream" settlement was $400,000, but he said "our feeling was if we could get them over $100,000, we would accept that rather than risking (losing) on appeal."
Thomas D. Dillard Jr., Metro's attorney of record for this case, could not be reached for comment.
Miller has handled a similar case in which a victim suffered severe head trauma in a crash in which a regular citizen -- not state employee -- was at fault, and settled it for $750,000.
Because the crash involved a state worker, the Warpnesses were not eligible for punitive damages or even compensation for lost wages. The $110,000 settlement, minus Miller's fee, is all they received.
Miller noted that the court did award Chris Warpness $50,000 for loss of consortium from his wife.
But their settlements do not even begin to make up for the Warpnesses' loss, Chris Warpness said. It has taken a major toll on the couple, and every day is a challenge, he said.
Sara Warpness wasn't expected to survive. She suffered a severe head injury and spent three days on life support, then about a year in a rehabilitation, re-learning speech and basic life skills.
She is able to function normally now, Chris Warpness said, but she is not the same person.
He said he has been asked if he thinks he'll get out of the marriage, but he said: "I'm trying to be a stronger guy. I'm in love with her, and I married her for a reason. She might not be the same exact person she was, but I've stuck by her side."
Sara Warpness is not able to work because she is prone to seizures. She had been a pit supervisor at The Mirage at the time of the crash, Chris Warpness said. He works at Home Depot, and the family is struggling, he said.
Her medical expenses, most of which are not covered by insurance, have reached almost $120,000.
After doctors said Sara Warpness could not conceive as a result of her injuries, she gave birth to a boy in September 2001, just over a year after the crash.
They live in an apartment near the Las Vegas Beltway and Tropicana Avenue; Miller said they could have been living in a middle class house had the crash not happened.
Miller said the Warpnesses cannot file a lawsuit against Garris as an individual because he was on duty at the time.
Garris is "very sorry for what he did and he's very remorseful," Miller said. "As part of the settlement, my clients let him know they have no lasting hard feelings and they forgive him."
Chris Warpness said he'd like to shake Garris' hand and say, "Look, it's over with. ... You made a mistake, but everybody makes mistakes. Maybe not this big, but everyone does."
The state law limiting the amount of damages a plaintiff can be awarded in a tort claim involving state employees has been on the books since 1965.
Las Vegas attorney Dean Hardy, past president of the Nevada Trial Lawyers Association, said the lawyers have tried repeatedly without success to get the Nevada Legislature to raise the $50,000 cap.
"The problem is that the cow counties say they have no money," Hardy said. "The limit is really ridiculous."
Chis Warpness called the cap "a joke."
"I don't understand it," he said. "Instead of correcting (the state employees), they're correcting the people."
Miller called the law "terribly unjust to people who happen to be hurt by a state employee," and said is not hopeful that the law will be changed anytime soon, due to the current state fiscal crisis.
In fact, the opposite is happening: The cap was extended last year to trauma unit doctors who are sued for medical malpractice.
That provision, which covers government-run trauma centers, was part of a new medical malpractice law that was adopted by the state Legislature in special session.
In Southern Nevada, that provision applied only to University Medical Center, which has Clark County's only trauma unit.
Earlier this year, the cap came into play when Zelda Williams, wife of Assemblyman Wendell Williams, D-Las Vegas, filed a civil suit against the Community College of Southern Nevada after a former college administrator made a racially offensive reference to her.
Zelda Williams collected $49,000 to settle the suit involving Mike Meyer, a top-ranking administrator who eventually resigned.
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