AA's legal entities have dodged a legal bullet. For now.
But there remain knotty emerging problems regarding the issue of legal responsibility: for AA sponsors, AA members, meeting site owners and, still, AA itself.
AA dismissed as defendant in Brada wrongful death lawsuit
Parents of a Saugus woman murdered in 2011 sued Alcoholics Anonymous when they learned she met her killer through AA.
Hector and Jaroslava Mendez of Sylmar said they were seeking justice for their murdered daughter, Karla Brada, when they filed a wrongful death lawsuit. But on Tuesday they learned the list of defendants named in the lawsuit no longer includes the organization they believe could have prevented her death.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Rita J. Miller dismissed the Mendez lawsuit Tuesday against the General Service Board of Alcoholics Anonymous Inc. and Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. on Tuesday.
A San Fernando Superior Court jury found Eric Earle guilty in 2014 of murdering Brada by willfully and deliberately smothering her to death between the night of Aug. 31, 2011, and the morning of Sept. 1, 2011, inside the couples Saugus condominium. He was sentenced in 2014 to 26 years in prison.
For Bradas parents, AA was to blame for failing to prevent the murder because Brada met Earle at AA meetings.
And, while their lawsuit continues against other defendants named Earle himself and Bradas AA sponsors the two most prominent defendants representing AA headquarters were officially dismissed from the case.
The news was bittersweet for the lawyer who has struggled to hold AA accountable for the circumstances he believed led to Bradas death.
Were disappointed that they let the New York AA out of the suit, Valencia attorney John W. Noland said Wednesday.
California law isnt supportive of civil rights, he said. If this case had been heard in a different state, They (AA) might not have been released.
Lawyers representing Alcoholics Anonymous World Services Inc. announced in December 2014 they would fight the lawsuit, claiming there was no basis for it. They filed two court motions to stop it going any further a demurrer and a motion to quash.
AA lawyers argued that defendants, including AA World Services and a local couple identified by Bradas parents as their daughters personal AA sponsors, owed Brada nothing.
In November, the Los Angeles Superior Court agreed.
The tentative decision to drop the suits two most prominent names from the list of defendants was made on Nov. 20, 2015, when Judge Miller sustained the demurrer.
The tentative decision reads: The court is inclined to sustain the demurrer without leave to amend as to defendants General Service Board of Alcoholic Anonymous Inc. and Alcoholics Anonymous World Services Inc. and take motion to quash service off calendar as moot.
That decision was filed with the Superior Court of California, county of Los Angeles, on Dec. 9, 2015. On Tuesday it was signed by the judge and filed.
Its still continuing, Noland said about the lawsuit. But its a long row to hoe.
According to Bradas parents, AA World Services Inc. was a parent, subsidiary, affiliate, alter ego, partner, agent, franchisee, licensee, employee, employer, controlling franchiser, controlling licensor, principal ... who failed to prevent such acts when having the power and/or duty to do so.
Lawyers representing AA World Services disagree and argue in their court motions they breached no duty owed to Brada.
They state in their demurrer: Plaintiffs do not (and cannot) plead defendants owed a duty to Ms. Brada.
jimh@signalscv.com 661-287-5527 on Twitter @jamesarthurholt
Interesting stuff Tanin. Our laws here would not let such a suit get off the ground. It seems crazy to hold a volunteer with a specific experience, in the AA solution for alcoholism responsible for the actions of a psychopath. Even a trained professional would have had trouble reading the signs because these predators are so good at blending in. That's how they get their victims.
We had a similar event here a couple of years ago. I was at the meeting where the man confessed two murders. At the time we thought they must be historic, but his wife and a female neighbour were missing. One of the members reported the comments to the police, the man was arrested and the bodies were found under his house.
Here's the thing. We proudly state that anyone can be a member who has a desire to stop drinking. Even if they are a bit spooky as this guy was. We don't judge, nor are we qualified to do so, whether or not the person is a threat or a danger to other members.
We are supposed, via a 12 step call, to satisfy ourselves that the person we are introducing is a real alcoholic, but we don't even do that anymore. Maybe that is why these situations crop up. I have found through talking to a prospect in a 12 step call situation, it's not too diffiicult to work out whether the prospect is in need of our spiritual solution to alcoholism. The whole basis of our solution is one alcoholic identifying with another.
I remember my sponsor, and the guy who 12 stepped me, telling me that our fellowship is made up of all sorts of people who come for all sorst of reasons. Some are even alcoholics looking to get well.
