Monday, February 8, 1999
UCLA loses legal battle over Erath’s documents
LAWSUIT: Jury orders $125,000 for lost work, also emotional
distress
By Lawrence Ferchaw
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
After nearly two days of deliberations, jurors awarded Edward
Erath, the man who lent more than 10 years of his work to UCLA,
$125,000 for loss of income and infliction of emotional
distress.
Jurors were given the case Wednesday afternoon and reached their
verdict on Friday at about 2:30 p.m., awarding $50,000 for the loss
of documents and $75,000 for emotional distress.
"I was satisfied that John Q. Public recognized the value of
what we’ve done, and the potential for what we might do," Erath
said of the jury’s decision.
In 1983, Erath lent his documents, which were studies on how to
improve the efficiency of government agencies, to the university’s
graduate school of business to establish a research project.
University lawyers said the dean of the school was storing the
papers as a favor.
When Erath returned to the university in 1994 to retrieve his
documents, they were missing.
During the one-week trial, Erath’s lawyers argued that the value
of the documents was $700,000, while the university’s witnesses
said the documents were essentially worthless.
"They couldn’t decide what the value of the documents were,"
said Penny Wheat, Erath’s attorney, on why the jury took so long to
come to a verdict.
The university had agreed that it was negligent in losing the
documents, leaving jurors to decide if the loss caused harm to
Erath, and if so, how much.
UCLA’s lawyer, Joe Hilberman, did not object to the amount
awarded for the loss of the documents, but said he objected to the
award for emotional distress.
"My sense is that the valuation of the lost documents at $50,000
is within a reasonable range," Hilberman said. "I don’t believe the
plaintiff was entitled to be compensated for emotional
distress."
That issue boiled down to a legal argument which UCLA lost. The
judge ruled against the university, saying that a special
relationship existed between the university and Erath, allowing the
jury to award the $75,000 for emotional distress.
Hilberman will meet with representatives of the university and
the UC Office of General Counsel to determine whether UCLA will
appeal the ruling.
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