Jury Rejects Parents’ Eletrocution Suit

An Orange County Superior Court jury ruled Wednesday that Anaheim was not responsible for the 1981 death of David Mendoza because its employees could not have known a power line was down when they re-energized it, electrocuting the 16-year-old.

Manuel and Obdulia Mendoza had been seeking $1.2 million as compensation for the death of their son and for the trauma suffered by Manuel, who witnessed the death. The power line that killed David was knocked down during a storm. Employees at an electrical substation turned the electricity on while trying to determine why a circuit breaker had been tripped.

Employees of Anaheim’s city-owned utility “don’t have anything to tell them a line is down,” juror Kris Ibrahim said after the verdict was read.

Obdulia Mendoza said she was “very disappointed” in the verdict.”

“I think people misunderstood,” she said.

The Mendozas’ attorneys said they were told by jury foreman Jerry B. Bradshaw that the jury was on the verge of granting them victory Wednesday morning after six hours of deliberations. But then they asked the judge for clarification of what they were to decide concerning whether Mendoza’s death was foreseeable.

Superior Court Judge Richard W. Luesebrink ordered the jury to decide whether the employees at the Anaheim Utilities Co.’s Lewis substation who re-energized the line could have foreseen the consequences their actions would have at the scene.

Fifteen minutes later, the jury returned a verdict for Anaheim.

One of the Mendozas’ attorney, Roland Rubalcava, said that the judge gave the jury the wrong instructions on that issue and that he will file for a new trial within 20 days.

“I’m a little disappointed because it’s going to take a little longer,” said another of Mendozas’ attorneys, Stanton T. Mathews, “but the way the verdict came in, I think we’re going to get another shot.”

anuel Mendoza said in an interview that his son had “tried to be helpful” on a stormy October night in 1981 by rushing from his home at 952 S. McCloud St. to extinguish a brush fire that had been started by a downed power line. According to the father, the line was dead when his son arrived.

But as David bent over to put out the fire, employees at the Lewis substation of Anaheim’s Municipal Utilities Department re-energized the line in a bid to determine why the circuit breaker had snapped. The surge of electricity whipped the wire at David as he tried to flee, Manual Mendoza said.

The Mendozas’ attorneys had accused the city of negligence because its employees had recharged the line three separate times without properly investigating. Defense attorney Nancy E. Zeltzer said it is city policy to re-energize a line if a circuit breaker is tripped to see if it will conduct electricity. If it will, the line remains charged.

Because the line had fallen into wet grass, electricity could be conducted and the circuit tested positive, Zeltzer told the jury in her closing arguments Tuesday.

On that night, 50 circuits breakers were tripped, and there was no way each one could be checked before power was returned to the lines, she said, so utilities employees had followed proper procedures and had not been negligent.