(Published Thursday, February 15, 2007 11:36:49 AM CST)
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
By Kevin Murphy Special to the Gazette
MADISON-A federal jury this week awarded a Beaver Dam couple $25,000 after finding that an Evansville police officer unlawfully disclosed the woman's address to an ex-husband who had been harassing her.
But the attorney for the Evansville police officer was prepared for much worse, confirming that he had offered the couple $400,000 last week in an attempt to settle the suit before trial.
"We're pleased with the result, considering what they were asking," said Mark Hazelbaker, the attorney who represented the city, officer Christopher Jones and the city's insurer, Community Insurance.
The $25,000 jury award will be paid by the city's insurance carrier minus a deductible paid by the city. The size of the deductible was not clear this morning.
Attorneys for Mary Mezera and her husband, David Deicher, initially sought $5 million for the alleged violation of the Driver's Privacy Protection Act. The demand was lowered to $2.2 million in mediation Friday. The case went to trial Monday after the couple rejected Hazelbaker's settlement offer.
Jurors needed only an hour to find that Mezera was "injured" by Jones telling Mezera's ex-husband, Jimmy Reinars, Mezera's address in Beaver Dam.
Mezera had moved to Beaver Dam without telling Reinars to escape his "campaign of harassment," her attorney said. In February 2006, Reinars called Evansville police, asking for help locating Mezera, saying he had papers for her, Hazelbaker said.
Jones looked up Mezera's address in motor vehicle records then checked Reinars background on a state courts Web site. Jones found Reinars' and Mezera's divorce case listed on the Web site but apparently didn't see that there was a restraining order against Reinars.
"(Jones) should have looked and seen the restraining order … He made a mistake but thought he was helping (Reinars) find (Mezera) to serve legal papers, which is permitted under the law," Hazelbaker told jurors on Monday.
The papers Reinars wanted to serve weren't legal documents, they were past due bills from when he and Mezera owned a mobile home in the town of Union, said Hazelbaker.
After getting the address, Reinars sent Mezera a note by taxicab saying he knew where she lived.
Reinars had been abusive during their marriage and separation and had threatened Mezera with a gun. Reinars once told Evansville Police Lt. Art Phillips that he would burn down Mezera's house, according to the suit.
Jones was reprimanded by Police Chief Scott McElroy and has been "devastated" by mistakenly disclosing Reinars address, said Hazelbaker.
Hazelbaker said Drivers Privacy Protection Act cases are uncommon, and the law doesn't cap the damages people can receive if they successfully sue.
"That's why we made the offer we did," Hazelbaker said.
Mezera's attorneys, Richard Burnham and Betty Eberle of Madison, can seek attorney fees in addition to the $25,000 jury award, which Hazelbaker said could be in the "hundreds of thousands of dollars."
Mezera's and Deicher's attorney, Richard Burnham, said today that the $400,000 pre-trial offer "looked pretty good in hindsight" and called the jury's award peculiar after finding that Jones had recklessly and willfully disregarded the law.
"That's the standard for punitive damages and punitive damages are supposed to punish someone, but you tell me how that award serves as any kind of punishment," he said.
Burnham said he is entitled to have the defendants pay his fees and costs in the case which he estimated to be between $100,000 and $200,000 because of the number of medical experts he interviewed for the case.
