Former Councilman’s Daughter Settles Part of Personal Injury Suit


LOS ANGELES (CNS) — A judge has approved a $250,000 settlement of part of a lawsuit filed on behalf of one of former Los Angeles City Councilmember Mitchell Englander’s two daughters, who was hurt in 2013 when a car she was riding in was driven off the second floor of a Porter Ranch parking structure.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Teresa Traber gave her nod to the accord between the now-19-year-old plaintiff and two of the four defendants named in the suit: Shepherd of the Hills Church and Valley Outreach Synagogue.

Englander’s wife, Jayne, brought the lawsuit in August 2016 on behalf of their daughter, who was 14 years old at the time. The suit also named as a defendant the driver of the vehicle and her mother. According to the defense’s settlement papers, the driver, who was 17 at the time and is now 23, admitted in a deposition to being at fault in the accident. She said she drove too fast and was trying to “have a good time,” according to the defense’s court papers.

The Englander daughter was one of four members of Valley Outreach Synagogue who were passengers in the 2007 Scion tC that was driven off the edge of the second floor of a parking structure owned by Shepherd of the Hills Church on Sept. 5, 2013. The vehicle ended up in a planter on the first level, according to the complaint.

The Englander daughter sustained a traumatic brain injury and suffered from mood swings, depression and anxiety following the accident, according to the lawsuit, which said lingering effects included difficulty concentrating, sleeping and maintaining balance.

No signs existed warning about the edge of the second floor of the incomplete structure on Rinaldi Street and there were no procedures in place to warn guests of the inherent danger, according to the suit, which alleged the defendants knew that the driver was a minor with a driver’s permit and a “poor driving history.”

Englander, 48, represented Los Angeles City Council District 12 from 2011-18. He resigned to join a sports and entertainment advisory, development and investment company.