MARK BRABYN
SAN DIEGO ---- A
Superior Court jury began deliberating Thursday to decide whether trespassers
on a piece of land in Encinitas beat up the property's owner in an altercation
nearly three years ago.
Mark Brabyn, 39,
and his wife, Loretta Chavez-Brabyn, 38, are seeking an unspecified amount of
money from Frog's Club One in Encinitas, members of a "boot camp"
class from the club, and a man who trespassed on their property while walking
his dog.
All are being
sued because of their alleged roles in a fight with the Brabyns on Sept. 21,
1998.
Joseph Dicks, the
Brabyns' attorney, told jurors the incident was rooted in community resentment
of the Brabyns for buying a 3.7-acre utility easement that joggers, dog-walkers
and school children once used frequently and erecting a fence on it to prevent
widespread access.
The Brabyns have
said they fenced the parcel, which adjoins Flora Vista School between Garden
View Road and Wandering Way, to avoid liability issues.
"The
defendants all said they were mad the property was bought in the first
place," Dicks said during his closing argument Thursday.
Patrick Gibbs, an
attorney for an Encinitas couple involved in the altercation, told jurors the
Brabyns are irrational and have problems with everyone, and that his clients
acted only to defend themselves and help a dog-walker Mark Brabyn was holding
down.
"It's clear
they haven't proved a darn thing," Gibbs told jurors. "The only thing
they've proved is they are completely irrational people."
Gibbs told jurors
that John Gartner was walking his dog as he had hundreds of times before across
the property when Mark Brabyn made a citizen's arrest and forced him to the
ground.
Gibbs' clients,
Lee Ramage, 38, and Tami Ramage, 36, of Encinitas, heard Gartner scream for
help and went onto the Brabyns' property to aid him, Gibbs said.
Marvin Strauss,
Gartner's attorney, said that while the Brabyns contend his client was drunk
and refused to leave their property after being told to do so several times,
Gartner actually was innocently walking his dog when Mark Brabyn attacked him.
Dicks told jurors
that Gartner and the Ramages lied about what happened and that they should
believe the Brabyns' 12-year-old daughter, Jacqueline. She said Hassan McClary,
the leader of the Frog's gym class, held her father's arms behind his back as
Lee Ramage struck Mark Brabyn in the face multiple times, Dicks said.
Gibbs said that
allegation is not true.
Suzanne Martin,
who represents Frog's and McClary, said the only evidence of Mark Brabyn's
injuries was one picture that showed only one cut near where his glasses rest
on his face.
"Where's the
black eye?" Martin asked. "Where's the bloody nose? Where's the split
lip?"
The Brabyns said
outside court that Mark Brabyn suffered two cuts beneath his eyes and that his
face was swollen after the altercation.
Dicks also said
that if the Ramages and McClary were simply coming to Gartner's aid, they would
not have fled the scene after the Brabyn's daughter said police were on their
way.
The attorneys for
the Ramages, McClary and Gartner admitted in court that their clients had
trespassed on private property.
Staff Writer
Californian North County Times
18 May 2001
http://www.nctimes.com/news/2001/20010518/63113.html
SAN DIEGO ---- A
Superior Court jury ruled Friday that members of an Encinitas fitness class and
another Encinitas man who trespassed on a controversial piece of property three
years ago were negligent and intentionally caused emotional distress to the
property owners when a fight ensued, attorneys in the case said.
Jurors also concluded
that one of the members of the Frog's Club One "boot camp" class, Lee
Ramage, 38, of Encinitas, committed battery on property owner Mark Brabyn, 39,
during the Sept. 21, 1998, altercation.
Brabyn, his wife,
Loretta Chavez-Brabyn, 38, and their 12-year-old daughter were awarded a total
of $14,000 in damages.
"We got
everything we wanted," Chavez-Brabyn said Friday. "It wasn't about
the money. We didn't ask for money."
Attorney Patrick
Gibbs, who represented Ramage and his wife, Tami Ramage, called Friday's
verdict a "miscarriage of justice." The Ramages are considering
whether to file a motion asking Judge John S. Meyer to enter a different
judgment notwithstanding the jury's verdict or for a new trial. They also may
appeal, Gibbs said.
"I didn't
think there was any way they would come back with any award of money,"
Gibbs said. "My clients were innocent people who tried to help
someone."
The Brabyns
alleged that John Gartner of Encinitas was drunk when he trespassed on their
property while walking his dog and refused to leave after they told him to do
so several times. After Gartner's refusals, Brabyn held him on the ground while
waiting for police to come, the Brabyns alleged.
Chavez-Brabyn
said Friday that after her daughter yelled that she had called police, the
Ramages and Hassan McClary, the personal trainer leading the "boot
camp" class, jumped their fence and came onto their property.
The Brabyns
alleged McClary held Brabyn's arms behind his back while Lee Ramage struck him
in the face multiple times.
Gibbs told jurors
that his clients came to Gartner's aid after hearing Gartner scream for help.
Lee Ramage struck Brabyn once as he saw Brabyn raise his hand during the
altercation, Gibbs told the jury.
Suzanne Martin,
who represented McClary and Frog's, told jurors that her client did not hold
Brabyn's arms as the Brabyns alleged.
Martin said
Friday that jurors only ordered her client to pay $300 in damages.
"Frog's was
completely vindicated," Martin said. "They found that his (McClary's)
actions were not oppressive, were not malicious, were not a battery, and that
he did not inflict emotional distress."
Martin said
jurors she spoke to indicated they did not believe all of the Brabyns'
testimony about what happened.
Chavez-Brabyn
said some jurors told her they would have awarded much more money in damages if
the Brabyns had asked for it. During his closing argument, Joseph Dicks, the
Brabyns' attorney, did not request a specific dollar amount from the jury.
"We're
obviously disappointed the amounts weren't higher, but we had a very bright
jury," Dicks said Friday afternoon. "We have a hard-working jury.
We're very pleased they held these people to answer for what they did."
Dicks said he
likely will file a motion asking Meyer to order the defendants in the lawsuit
to pay the costs he incurred in bringing the case, which are roughly equal to
what the jury awarded the Brabyns.
Dicks told jurors
that the altercation was rooted in community resentment toward the Brabyns
because they bought a 3.7-acre utility easement that joggers, dog-walkers and
schoolchildren had used frequently and erected a fence on it. All of the
defendants in the lawsuit were mad about the Brabyns buying the parcel, Dicks
said.
Area residents
angered by the fence initiated a flier campaign in 1998 that led to 200 people
attending a City Council meeting, asking the city to resolve the dispute over
what they saw as their rights to the property as well.
Chavez-Brabyn said Friday that she and her husband did not want the entire parcel but were told they could not subdivide it. After buying the entire property, the Brabyns tried to donate some of it to the city, but withdrew their offer after a City Council meeting filled with heated comments from residents.
19 May 2001
http://www.nctimes.com/news/2001/20010519/65007.html
VISTA ---- A
Vista Superior Court judge began Tuesday hearing the trial of a lawsuit the
city of Encinitas filed against a couple in connection with grading work they
did last year without obtaining a permit.
During an opening
statement before Judge Michael Anello, the city's attorney, Randal Morrison,
said the case has been "highly charged with attitude and hostility"
and that the city took the case to a judge instead of conducting its own
administrative proceeding to avoid allegations that Encinitas was persecuting
Mark and Loretta Brabyn.
The Brabyns
gained notoriety in Encinitas after they bought a 3.7-acre utility easement
adjacent to their home in 1998. They erected a fence on the parcel that angered
neighbors and prompted 200 residents to ask the City Council to intervene.
Joggers, dog-walkers and schoolchildren had used the easement frequently.
In May, a
Superior Court jury ruled in a different lawsuit that members of a fitness
class and another Encinitas man who trespassed on the parcel inflicted
emotional distress on the Brabyns when a fight ensued.
On Tuesday, the
Brabyns' attorney, Peter Salmon, told the judge that neighbors began
complaining to the city about the Brabyns after they bought the easement in
1998.
Salmon said
Tuesday that the land on which the Brabyns' home sits has had drainage problems
since they bought it in 1991, with mudflows that damaged a deck, and uprooted
retaining walls and an in-ground Jacuzzi.
Salmon said the
Brabyns used a Bobcat tractor to try to correct problems at their home.
"The work
done by the Brabyns was necessary to take care of an emergency situation on
their property to protect their home," Salmon said.
Morrison told
Anello in his opening statement that if the city allowed the Brabyns to do the
work they did without a permit, many more "scofflaws" will grade land
without permits.
"The City
Council has considered this matter carefully and has concluded the city cannot
stand the precedent that its laws will be flagrantly violated," Morrison
said.
The first witness
to testify, former city engineer Alan Archibald, said Tuesday that Loretta
Brabyn called him in February 2000 and said that they had an emergency, with
water coming down the hill to their home.
But while some
minor damage needed to be corrected, an emergency did not exist, Archibald
testified.
Archibald said he
told the Brabyns that they needed a grading permit.
Attorneys said
they expect to finish presenting evidence to Anello by the end of today.
31 October 2001
http://www.nctimes.net/news/2001/20011031/83651.html
Prepared by Bob Dalrymple, PO Box 122, Dapto, NSW Australia 2350
eMail: bob@relativelyyours.com