Attorney agrees to settle lawsuit

Before jurors were scheduled to hear arguments in the second phase of a civil trial, a local defense attorney agreed to settle out of court with a man he injured in a drunken driving accident.

A jury had already awarded Randy Rutherford, 51, of Atascadero just more than $400,000 for general damages in the case. But they also agreed by a 9-3 vote that the defendant, Anthony Lucero, 48, of Los Osos should also pay punitive damages, saying he acted with malice when he entered his car while intoxicated in January of 2000.

That would have required a second phase of the trial during which the jury would have heard about Lucero’s financial status. Instead, Lucero’s attorney, David Hunt, on Wednesday offered to settle. Under the terms of the agreement, no appeal will be possible, and the parties agreed not to release settlement conditions.

Rutherford attorney James McKiernan said the deal would make payments feasible for Lucero while satisfying his client.

“It’s been an amicable resolution,” he said.

After the settlement was made, McKiernan said, Lucero apologized to Rutherford for the accident and vowed he would not cause another accident. He has been convicted for drunken driving three times.

Lucero did not wish to comment about the case. His attorney, Hunt, could not be reached for comment Thursday evening.

Lucero, who said he was grieving over the recent death of his father, had been drinking at a San Luis Obispo bar when he entered his Mercedes. While driving on Foothill Boulevard, his car veered into the opposite lane, hitting Rutherford’s El Camino head-on. Rutherford suffered numerous injuries, including broken bones and nerve damage.

Rutherford has already had three surgeries due to the crash, McKiernan said, and will likely need at least three more.

Because he was remorseful over the death of his father, Lucero maintained that he was not in a normal state of mind the night of the crash. Hence, he argued that he did not maliciously enter his vehicle.

McKiernan said the punitive damages should send a message to the community about the dangers of drunken driving. Even prospective jurors had been impacted by intoxicated drivers, he said. Three had been dismissed because they lost immediate relatives to drunken drivers.

In the wake of filing the suit, McKiernan said he’s had negative feedback from members of the local legal community.

“There’s a number of lawyers who were hostile and still won’t talk to me.”