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For Immediate Release
November 3, 2006
November 3, 2006
Contact: O’Reilly & Danko
(650) 358-5901
(650) 358-5901
City of Livermore forces
disabled widow to pay $41,000
San Mateo, CA—A wife who was crippled in the
accident that killed her husband is being required to pay the City of Livermore more
than $41,000 in costs. She recovered little after her $11,000,000 verdict because
the City grossly underinsured the sham entity, Wings for Charity, Inc., that operated
the Livermore Air Show.
Ellen Dixon, who lives in Brentwood, would be bankrupted by this vicious demand. Mrs. Dixon, in contrast, did not take costs from the pilot, who was uninsured, because it would have bankrupted him.
“In forty years of trial practice I have never seen a City so cruel as to ask for money from a victim of their own negligence,” says Ellen Dixon’s attorney, Terry O’Reilly of the San Mateo firm of O’Reilly & Danko.
A trial court in Hayward found the City liable for negligence on September 10, 1995 and awarded $11, 000,000. Later, an appellate court applied an interpretation of law that was entirely new and crushed her verdict. The sham entity only had $1,000,000 in coverage, a scandalously low sum for an air show.
O’Reilly comments, “These days we see bizarre decisions from the appellate courts, pressing an ultra-conservative agenda, but no-one takes advantage of these. Not until the City of Livermore saw a chance to torment Ellen Dixon.”
On September 10, 1995, David and Ellen Dixon attended a Wings for Charity Inc., air show at the Livermore Municipal Airport and paid $20 a piece to take a five minute sightseeing tour in an Enstrom F28C helicopter. The helicopter ran out of fuel and crashed in a cow pasture. David Dixon was killed and Ellen Dixon was seriously injured.
Mrs. Dixon, her son Joseph Dock, and her husband’s son, David Dixon, Jr., sued the pilot Rob Crist, Tri-Valley Helicopters, Wings for Charity Inc., the City of Livermore, and others. Crist and Tri-Valley were found to be negligent in a jury trial and were ordered to pay the plaintiffs $11 million. The jury deadlocked on the issue of the negligence of the city and Wings for Charity, Inc. After the trial all the defendants settled except the City of Livermore. The plaintiffs agreed to a re-trial before the judge. The judge ordered the city to pay Mrs. Dixon $6.1 million, determining that Wings for Charity, Inc., was negligent in overseeing the show and Livermore was vicariously liable.
Associate Justice Maria Rivera wrote the appellate court opinion with Presiding Justice Laurence Kay and Associate Justice Timothy Reardon concurring. Rivera’s opinion declares that there is no “substantial evidence” that the plaintiffs’ injuries were caused by Wings--despite the fact that the pilot Rob Crist only had three hours of experience flying that particular type of helicopter. If Wings was not responsible, then the city could not be vicariously liable.
Ellen Dixon, who lives in Brentwood, would be bankrupted by this vicious demand. Mrs. Dixon, in contrast, did not take costs from the pilot, who was uninsured, because it would have bankrupted him.
“In forty years of trial practice I have never seen a City so cruel as to ask for money from a victim of their own negligence,” says Ellen Dixon’s attorney, Terry O’Reilly of the San Mateo firm of O’Reilly & Danko.
A trial court in Hayward found the City liable for negligence on September 10, 1995 and awarded $11, 000,000. Later, an appellate court applied an interpretation of law that was entirely new and crushed her verdict. The sham entity only had $1,000,000 in coverage, a scandalously low sum for an air show.
O’Reilly comments, “These days we see bizarre decisions from the appellate courts, pressing an ultra-conservative agenda, but no-one takes advantage of these. Not until the City of Livermore saw a chance to torment Ellen Dixon.”
On September 10, 1995, David and Ellen Dixon attended a Wings for Charity Inc., air show at the Livermore Municipal Airport and paid $20 a piece to take a five minute sightseeing tour in an Enstrom F28C helicopter. The helicopter ran out of fuel and crashed in a cow pasture. David Dixon was killed and Ellen Dixon was seriously injured.
Mrs. Dixon, her son Joseph Dock, and her husband’s son, David Dixon, Jr., sued the pilot Rob Crist, Tri-Valley Helicopters, Wings for Charity Inc., the City of Livermore, and others. Crist and Tri-Valley were found to be negligent in a jury trial and were ordered to pay the plaintiffs $11 million. The jury deadlocked on the issue of the negligence of the city and Wings for Charity, Inc. After the trial all the defendants settled except the City of Livermore. The plaintiffs agreed to a re-trial before the judge. The judge ordered the city to pay Mrs. Dixon $6.1 million, determining that Wings for Charity, Inc., was negligent in overseeing the show and Livermore was vicariously liable.
Associate Justice Maria Rivera wrote the appellate court opinion with Presiding Justice Laurence Kay and Associate Justice Timothy Reardon concurring. Rivera’s opinion declares that there is no “substantial evidence” that the plaintiffs’ injuries were caused by Wings--despite the fact that the pilot Rob Crist only had three hours of experience flying that particular type of helicopter. If Wings was not responsible, then the city could not be vicariously liable.