Suit against state ward settled for $300 at hearing
By Raul Hernandez
VenturaCountyStar.com
A corrections officer and a teenage ward at the Ventura County Youth Correctional Facility near Camarillo agreed Monday to settle a Small Claims Court case the officer filed because the ward spat on her two years
ago.
In the settlement, Patricia Diane Hills, 18, agreed to pay $300 to corrections officer Deborah McCollum. In 2005, when Hills was 16, taking prescribed drugs for post-traumatic stress disorder and under suicide watch, she spat on the corrections officer at the juvenile detention facility. This year, after hills turned 18, McCollum sued her for “intentional infliction of emotional distress.” The corrections officer had asked for $5,000 in damages and was awarded $2,500 in Small Claims Court.
A hearing was held Monday to determine whether a judge would grant Hills a new trial. The teen told the court she was locked up and unable to be present in Small Claims Court. The settlement came during a recess on Monday. McCollum declined to comment after the hearing. McCollum’s lawyer, Julie Cobalt of San Diego, said in an interview that the case sends a message that such conduct will not be tolerated. “She voluntarily and deliberately spit in the plaintiff’s eye,” said Cobalt.
‘Going to pursue claims’
The case marked the first time that the California Staff Assault Task Force, which helps correctional employees
sue prisoners, was involved in a lawsuit against a juvenile inmate, officials said. The task force helped
McCollum prepare her case against Hills.
Task force officials said they plan to help sue other wards who assault or make false allegations against officers. “The California Assault Task Force is certainly going to pursue claims in which battery occurs which is outside the scope of employment,” Cobalt said.
The organization has 9,000 members, and since its creation in 2003, its members have been awarded more
than $10.5 million in civil judgments against inmates, one official said. Hills, convicted of robbery, was put in the youth corrections facility in 2004. She is scheduled for release in
2009.
“Expect some kind of redress”
Cobalt said the case “is about taking responsibility for your actions. Clearly there are some concerns about
(Hills’) mental state. The reality is that she engaged in this act.”
Hills has maintained that she got a year tacked onto her sentence as a result of the spitting incident and had to
pay $100 as restitution. “The fact that she was punished in the criminal arm is fine, but that is separate and distinct from any civil claim,”
said Cobalt.
The settlement came after Superior Court Judge Frederick Bysshe indicated he was leaning toward tossing out
the verdict handed down by Small Claims Judge Pro Tem Richard Heller, who awarded the $2,500 to McCollum
in March.
Bysshe said he would allow another trial because punitive damages could not be awarded in a Small Claims
Court case unless there was evidence that Hills’ “financial condition was found to be sufficient” for punitive
damages.
Bysshe was prepared to retry the case or postpone it to another day. The judge also said he would allow
McCollum to amend her Small Claims Court petition to include compensation, or actual, damages.
“Totally vindicated”
In August, Hills’ lawyer, Philip Dunn, filed a motion to vacate Heller’s decision. Court Commissioner Mark
Borrell denied the request, saying hills made no effort to be transported to Small Claims Court. Dunn said in an interview that he offered to settle the case a couple months ago for $300 and McCollum
rejected the offer. “We felt that was the value of the case from the very beginning,” said Dunn. “We feel totally vindicated by what
occurred here in court today.”
Hills wrote letter to the court stating that she makes $60 a month working as an animal groomer at the youth
facility and couldn’t afford to pay the $2,500 judgment. Dunn said he finds it hard to believe that corrections officers who are involved in rehabilitating troubled wards
would sue them. “This is an example of someone who’d be orphaned when she is let out of the youth authority with absolutely
nothing because whatever she had has been taken from her by the very people who are charged with trying to
rehabilitate her,” Dunn said.
