The mother of a young woman who’d been stabbed to death came to see me. Her daughter tried to end a relationship with a possessive and violent man. When she said she was breaking up with him, he started calling incessantly. When she called the police, they said they couldn’t do anything unless he threatened her and suggested she get an unlisted number. When he learned her old number had been disconnected and her new one was unlisted, he came over to her apartment and cut her phone wires. When she called the police that time they said they couldn’t do anything unless she had evidence he cut the wire and suggested she take out a restraining order against him. She did and, when she caught him lurking around her apartment and threatened to call the police, he beat her up pretty badly. This time when she called the police they took pictures of her black eye, busted lip, and bruises and obtained a warrant for his arrest charging him with ABHAN, assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, a felony carrying up to twenty years.
When he was arrested and held in the County jail, his Public Defender requested a preliminary hearing before a magistrate to determine whether there was probable cause to believe he committed the offense Probable cause is a very low burden of proof which surely would have been met based on her photographs and identification of the defendant, but the police failed to show up for the hearing. The magistrate dismissed the charge and ordered the defendant released from custody. Upon his release, he went straight over to the young woman’s apartment and killed her. Her mother was devastated and outraged her daughter, who had done everything she was supposed to, had been killed. When she came to see me, I was outraged too and I filed a wrongful death action against the police under the South Carolina Tort Claims Act, SCTLA. I thought I had a slam dunk case but I had no inkling how much I didn’t know.
The police department’s lawyer filed an answer to my lawsuit that was an education in itself. It seems when the legislature waived sovereign immunity to allow the State and political subdivisions to be sued, they included all manner of exceptions to liability including liability for the failure to enforce the law and for discretionary acts by police officers. Apparently it doesn’t matter much anyway as whatever duty to act the police may have it is a duty owed to the general public, not specific individuals, and police action or inaction is never the proximate cause of injuries to the victim’s of criminal acts. But, hold on a minute, I said I was ignorant, not stupid.
I know enough to know when to ask for help and knew my former father-in-law, Morris Rosen, used to be the attorney for the City of Charleston, so I asked him about my case. He gave me some of his always sound advice by introducing me to his daughter-in-law, Susan Rosen, who turned out to be one of the best lawyers I ever worked with on a case. So good, I don’t think we ever had to try a case together because they all settled. Susan reviewed the pleadings, we discussed the case, and she agreed what had happened to our client’s daughter was indeed outrageous. She immediately eased my anxiety something I didn’t know had sunk my case.
Susan calmly explained not everything a policeman does is discretionary and she was pretty sure not showing up for a court hearing without explanation was one of them. That didn’t amount toi administrative action or inaction either because it did not involve policy choices. Susan’s knowledge of and experience got us through summary judgment and the case settled soon afterwards.
I wish I could tell we settled for what the case was worth, but damages under the SCTCA were capped at $200,000.00 and the settlement offer made was near enough to it, the mother decided to accept it. It was never about the money to her and she had little desire to wait another year and a half for trial. In addition to my half of the fee we earned, I got to know Susan Rosen who went on to build a reputation for being an excellent medical malpractice attorney. I didn’t know any more about med mal cases than SCTLA wrongful death cases, so you can safely bet I knew where to turn for help whenever I got one.
The lesson to be learned is not to let yourself become a “know-it-all” lawyer. I don’t care how smart you may think you are, remember it’s what you don’t know that will get you in the end. Don’t be afraid to ask for help and learn how to become a better lawyer than you could ever become alone.
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