[Noozhawk note: An earlier version of this story reported that a jury found Absolute Cab co-owner Joshua Klein negligent and co-owner Thomas Rhyne not negligent. The corrected version is below.]
A Santa Barbara County Superior Court jury on Wednesday found an Absolute Cab co-owner and driver negligent, but determined the actions did not contribute to the death of Simon Chavez.
Chavez, 22, was hit and killed by a driver in the southbound lanes of Highway 101 near the Ortega Street footbridge on Jan. 15, 2013.
According to the wrongful-death case filed by his family, Chavez’s friend paid a cab to take him home the night of his death, but Chavez got out near Carrillo Street when he felt sick.
He didn’t get back in the cab, and the cab driver left the area, according to the complaint.
Witnesses said Chavez was seen staggering in traffic before he was struck.
After a two-and-a-half-week trial, the jury presented its verdict to Judge Colleen Sterne, who thanked the attorneys for a “case very well presented.”
Jurors found Absolute Cab co-owner Joshua Klein not negligent but they did find negligence on the part of Thomas Rhyne, a co-owner and the cab’s driver the night of Chavez’s death. However, they did not find that negligence was a substantial factor in causing harm to Chavez.
Because negligence was determined not to be a substantial factor in causing Chavez harm, no damages were awarded.
Rob Bergsten, who represented Absolute Cab in the case, called the case “very sad and very tragic.”
Though the jury admitted some of the things the company had done were negligent, “none of them lead to his death,” he told Noozhawk Wednesday afternoon.
Bergsten said that jurors ultimately could not connect the actions of the cab company to Chavez’s death, which occurred half an hour after the cab driver let him out of the vehicle.
“It was too remote, in both location and time, for them to feel there was a causal connection,” Bergsten said.
Barry Cappello and Leila Noel were the attorneys representing Chavez’s family, which had asked for $8 million in damages.
Chavez’s mother, Ana Quintanar, and her husband, Luis, were in court Wednesday, and Cappello told reporters they are “devastated” by the verdict.
He stressed that the case was not about the money, but about justice for Chavez.
“No cab in this town should ever let the people out,” Cappello said, adding that the cab company’s own rule book stated passengers should not be let out of the vehicle before reaching their destination.
“(Chavez) stepped out of that cab and was lost forever,” Cappello said.
Cappello called the judge “extremely fair,” and noted that the jury had spent a lot of time on the verdict.
It’s unclear whether the family will choose to appeal the verdict.
After Chavez was killed, authorities arrested Lau Van Huynh, 78, of Murrieta on felony hit-and-run charges.
Huynh pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a year in the Santa Barbara County Jail and three years of probation.
The Coroner’s Office later released toxicology results that showed Chavez had a blood-alcohol concentration of .256 percent, more than three times the point at which a driver would be considered drunk.
Chavez’ family, who describe the former Santa Barbara High School baseball coach as a great big brother and die-hard Los Angeles Dodgers fan, filed the wrongful-death lawsuit against the driver’s family and Absolute Cab.
Van Huynh’s family settled the case in January 2014 for a $30,000 payout from their insurance policy.
The complaint filed in Superior Court last year describes the hours leading up to Chavez’s death, and begins by stating that Chavez met up with a group of friends at the Uptown Lounge on State Street, where he became intoxicated.
Just after midnight, the bartender called Absolute Cab, and driver Rhyne arrived to pick Chavez up at 12:30 a.m.
A friend of Chavez paid Rhyne $20 to take him to his Cota Street home, and Rhyne acknowledged that the amount would be enough for the trip.
“By doing so, Rhyne, as an agent for Absolute Cab, assumed a duty to safely transport Chavez to his final destination,” the complaint states.
Chavez asked the driver how to open the cab in the area of Carrillo and De la Vina street, indicating he would be sick, and got out of the vehicle.
The complaint said the driver observed Chavez stumble backward as he walked away, and Rhyne left the area without calling for help.
The complaint states that Chavez walked west on Carrillo Street, then turned left onto the southbound ramp, then was struck by Van Huynh on the highway.
At the time of the filing, Bergsten told Noozhawk that his client, Absolute Cab, acted appropriately, and that forcing Chavez back into the cab could have constituted false imprisonment.
— Noozhawk staff writer Lara Cooper can be reached at lcooper@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
