GOVERNMENT LIABILITY AND CODE ENFORCEMENT
DISPUTE RESOLUTION EXPERIENCE

Mr. Polsky has served as a deputy district attorney. In this role, he has been involved in assessing issues relating to "in policy" actions by police officers, and claims of excessive force, as well as civil enforcement actions. As a mediator, arbitrator or special master, Mr. Polsky has participated in the resolution of a significant number of claims against municipalities including code enforcement, excessive force, inverse condemnation, roadway design as well as employment law related issues and medical negligence at governmental hospitals.

REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENTAL LIABILITY & CODE ENFORCEMENT CASES HANDLED BY MR. POLSKY

• Police shooting case where non-lethal force device, shotgun deployed beanbags, failed to open resulting in death of unarmed assailant. (Settlement $235 k)
• Police shooting of 15-year-old group home runaway with history of criminal activity. Plaintiff was shot multiple times at close range as she sat in drivers seat of van that she had backed up into an undercover officer's vehicle. Injuries included partial paralysis. (Settlement $2.5 mm)
• Municipal code enforcement to determine if massage parlor violated certain local zoning laws
• Municipal code enforcement action to abate commercial nuisance in connection with nightclub.
• Municipal and event liability for quadriplegia sustained during Iron Man Triathlon accident. (Settlement $3.78 mm)
• Governmental liability for curve slope resulting in wrongful death in solo vehicle spinout.
• Governmental liability for roadway drainage.
• Inverse condemnation. Landslide took home and contents within one hour of first notice. Municipal flood control issue. (Settlement pre-suit for $425 k)
• Claim of improper withholding of charge-backs in multi-million dollar school refurbishment contract. Fixed price contract tendered with contractor (plaintiff) assuming the prime contractor and municipality would approve a subsequently delivered specification, which involved a product change. Municipality withheld approval mid-project and prime contractor terminated the subcontractor. Municipality withheld charge-backs approaching $5 mm on total project with about $250 k apportioned to the alarm system. (Settlement with partial release of charge-backs allocated between prime and sub contractors)
• Claims by homeowners against municipality alleging inverse condemnation and damage from vibration and noise secondary to a sewer project. Claimants were seeking damages to rebuild, repay attorney fees and punitive damages. (Settlement $197,500)
• Claims by 22 commercial properties against municipal flood control district for inverse condemnation, business interruption and vibration damage occurring over three-year storm drain project. (Partial settlement followed by arbitration of remaining issues)
• Claims by homeowner against state agency for inverse condemnation, business interruption and vibration damage occurring during highway project. Homeowner took extensive video documentation and diaries of intrusive nature of project.
• Claim against government employee benefit plan (insurer) for refusal to pay hospital charges for repair of detached retina. Plan contended that prior authorization is not a guarantee of coverage and where, as here, the charges and treatment do not meet standards set by review board, they will not be paid. Plaintiff alleged bad faith and failure to pay for treatment to a life threatening condition. (Settled with payment of benefits plus attorney fees)
• Claim against hospital, physician and county alleging negligent delivery and neonatal care, including failure to account for group B strep infection in other, resulting in a birth asphyxia and brain damage. (Settled $1.1 mm)
• Claim arising from care of plaintiff at local hospital for failure to timely treat for a diagnosed myocardial infarction. Due to insurance issues, the regional hospital transferred plaintiff to a County hospital following initial treatment for ventricular fibrillation. At the regional hospital plaintiff was treated, given a stress test, and discharged. Within 24 hours she suffered a massive infarct, encephalopathy and brain damage. (Settlement $1.6 mm)
• Claim filed by 24-year-old plaintiff against County hospital and County for care following admission for abdominal complaints. Plaintiff, an acute alcoholic, developed pancreatitis. He was admitted and began withdrawal symptoms. During withdrawal he suffered a complete cardiopulmonary arrest. Primary caregivers prior to the arrest were all interns. Resuscitation was delayed as plaintiff had been placed in a supine position, under restraints and unattended. He sustained anoxic encephalopathy and brain damage. (Settlement $1.65 mm)
• Suit against government benefits plan administrator and school district by 31-year employee arising out of failure to cover costs associated with emergency medical treatment secondary to a heart attack. As a result of the failure to pay, a claim was presented to plaintiff for $40 k in medical costs. (Settled with payment of medical bills and attorney fees)

OTHER RELATED EXPERIENCE

Mr. Polsky is a sought after negotiation skills trainer and has lectured throughout the United States. He is an adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Southern California Law School, where he teaches a course he designed on ADR and negotiation, and at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University School of Law, where he teaches courses on mediation and arbitration in the LLM program. He has resolved thousands of complex commercial and serious injury disputes and was named one of the top 20 mediators and arbitrators in California by the Daily Journal. Local bar association annual reviews consistently give Mr. Polsky high marks for fairness as an arbitrator and tenacity and commitment as a mediator.