Home video surveillance shows the start of a confrontation between Monica Raab and Ocean City Patrolman Jesse Scott Ruch outside Raab's home on West Atlantic Boulevard in May 2010.
Ocean City's insurer has now paid $274,331 to lawyers defending the city in a lawsuit related to a small garden trailer parked illegally on an Ocean City side street.
With a settlement conference scheduled for Nov. 25 and a trial potentially to follow, the costs of the case could still increase exponentially.
The ongoing lawsuit hinges on two accounts of what ensued after an Ocean City police officer started to write a ticket for the trailer in May 2010.
West Atlantic Boulevard resident Monica Raab claims in a complaint filed in 2011 that she was permanently injured by an Ocean City patrolman, Jesse Scott Ruch, who was trying to handcuff her for no reasonable cause. Police reports suggest Raab was uncooperative, hysterical and a danger to her own safety.
The case illustrates the high costs and high stakes of defending against a civil lawsuit in the court system. The city has offered settlements to end a number other high-profile lawsuits ($50,000 and $75,000 in age-discrimination suits against the Ocean City Beach Patrol, $13,131 in a suit related to use of a K-9 dog, $83,000 apiece to three men in a racial discrimination suit, for instance), and some members of the public have accused City Council of agreeing to pay out without putting up a fight.
But the Raab case shows what potentially can happen when two parties cannot agree on a settlement.
The city’s insurer has made 15 payments totaling $216,467.78 to one law firm (Barker, Scott, Gelfand and James of Linwood) to defend the city and another six payments totaling $57,863.31 to a different firm (Reynolds and Horn of Marlton) to defend the police officer as an individual, according to invoices provided by the Atlantic County Municipal Joint Insurance Fund (JIF). (Ocean City participates in the Atlantic County JIF even though it is a Cape May County town.)
Citing video captured by Raab's own home surveillance system, Ruch’s lawyer, John J. Bannan, asked U.S. District Court Judge Robert Kugler to dismiss Raab’s claims against the officer altogether.
“A videotape capturing the events in question that quite clearly contradicts the version of the story told by the plaintiff permits a court to conclude that no reasonable jury could believe the plaintiff’s discredited account,” Bannan wrote in a court document arguing for summary judgment.
Kugler granted only part of of Ruch's motion in a decision published Aug. 7, 2014 (
see full text of his opinion in PDF below). Kugler noted that the video does not show the alleged use of force or lack thereof — Ruch and Raab disappear from view on the video before he handcuffs her. Because the facts remain in dispute, a pre-trial summary judgment would be inappropriate, Kugler ruled.
Kugler granted a separate motion for summary judgment from Michael Barker, defending the city on behalf of the Atlantic County JIF. Barker asked to have eight of the 11 claims against the City of Ocean City dismissed. The plaintiff has failed, for instance, to offer evidence that the Ocean City Police Department does not properly train its officers, Barker suggested in his motion. Two other claims already had been dismissed.
Barker also has filed a motion to have the city reimbursed for its attorney fees. But the reverse could hold true if the case goes to trial and goes against Ocean City.
“In certain types of litigation, plaintiff’s attorneys collect all of their legal fees if they can convince a jury of as little as $1 in damages,” Paul J. Miola, executive director to the Atlantic County JIF, said earlier this year. “That leads to outrageous situations where a jury awards the plaintiff $10,000 in damages and the attorney receives $250,000 in legal fees. This is on top of the legal fees the JIF has spent on defense.”
But Miola said Ocean City and the JIF have been responsible in limiting the impact of lawsuits.
“In actuality, lawsuits have a limited effect on Ocean City taxpayers, since we look at the total picture when evaluating member assessments from year to year,” he said. “That includes property, automobile, and workers compensation claims in addition to lawsuits. In fact, lawsuits comprise less than 20 percent of the dollars we set aside for funding total claims in the Joint Insurance Fund.”
Ocean City will budget $1.6 million for workman’s compensation in 2014 but only $796,872 for general liability (a budget item that includes but is not limited to lawsuit assessments). That’s up from $644,222 in 2013, $520,111 in 2012 and $449,824 in 2011.
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