The city of Beverly Hills has filed an answer and cross-complaint in a lawsuit filed by Beverly Hills Unified School District (BHUSD) Board Member Russell Stuart.
Stuart filed his complaint in Los Angeles Superior Court on Aug. 7 for injuries he sustained while attending the Rodeo Nights, Holiday Lights event in November 2024. At that time, he was hit at the intersection of Camden Drive and Wilshire Boulevard by a car driven by carjacking suspect James Portul.
Portul drove over a curb and struck Stuart, along with several other people.
Stuart, who was purchasing a balloon for his daughter at the time he was hit, was rendered unconscious. He was taken to the hospital in an ambulance and suffered a broken arm and ribs, among other injuries.
Stuart’s complaint alleges a dangerous condition of public property. It seeks damages from the city including medical expenses, damaged and destroyed property and more.
The city filed an answer on Oct. 9 denying the allegations and setting forth several affirmative defenses. It is seeking the repayment of attorneys’ fees and costs related to the lawsuit.
The city also filed a cross-complaint against Portul, who was detained near the accident and later pleaded guilty to carjacking and hit-and-run with injury.
Alleging that Portul was “responsible, in whole or in part, for the injuries, if any, suffered by plaintiff,” the city claims that Portul should be required to pay a share of the judgment and reimburse the city for any payments it makes that exceed its share of negligence.
In response to a request for comment, the city referred the Courier to a statement provided in August in which City Attorney Laurence Weiner called Stuart’s accident “unfortunate,” but also said that the allegations in his complaint are “unreasonable” and that the city will “defend the case vigorously.”
Barry Novack, the attorney representing Stuart, told the Courier that he has served the city with discovery, and that the city requested an extension to the 30-day response period.
“We are waiting to get that discovery response back to see what their position is,” he said.
Among the documentation Novack is requesting are photographs and videotapes depicting the incident, including footage from drones and law enforcement body cameras; documents relating to the planning and organizing of the event; and evaluations and analysis of whether K-rails at the location of the collision would have prevented or minimized Stuart’s injuries.
“Once we get that discovery, it will give us two pieces of information,” Novack said. “It will let us know who are the persons most knowledgeable in terms of setting up the planning for the pedestrian safety for the event, and we will be able to see what standards they used, what was their criteria, why they had K-rails sitting around on the sidewalk doing nothing when they could have been used to protect pedestrians.”
Calling a vehicle jumping the curb a “reasonably foreseeab[le] event,” Stuart’s initial complaint alleges that K-rails and other barriers were put up near Camden Drive and Wilshire Boulevard and could have been used where the collision occurred as well.
“These barriers could have been placed in the street at that location to alert drivers that the roadway was closed to through traffic, or on the edge of the sidewalk to protect pedestrians,” the lawsuit states.
Novack also suggested that more K-rails were set up at this year’s holiday lights festival as a result of Stuart’s lawsuit.
“What we’ve been arguing is their lack of proper pedestrian barrier protection, and if you go look … at a lot of the corners, they have either K-rails set up or they have these meridian protection barriers,” he said. “So, I think this lawsuit has accomplished one positive thing so far.”
