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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1988-02-09 Info Packet of 2/2V W City of Iowa City MEMORANDUM DATE: February 2, 1988 TO: Memo for Record FROM: City Manager RE: Material Sent to Council Invitation from Iowa City Crisis Center for Open House. 1AV44 e. /3Rdwe; Ln K, FRN Copy of letter fromAJohn Hayek regarding Lisa Anne Alestri vs. City of Iowa City and Becton Dickinson and Company. _ Copy of letter from John A. Gross to Manager of Holiday Inn regarding automatic doors of the hotel. Copy of letter from Mrs. Fountain regarding snow removal and copy of reply from John Sobaski. aa/ WILL J. HAYEK (ISg S.I000) JOHN W, HAYEK C. PETER HAYEK C. JOSEPH HOLLAND JAMES C. LAREW DAVID E. BROWN RFCFIVFnr'T'n1 HAYEK, HAYEK, HAYEK & HOLLAND ATTORNEYS AT LAW B"EM" OUILOING 120% EASY WASHINGTON STREET IOWA CITY. IOWA 02240,]076 January 29, 1988 Iowa city Council Civic Center 410 East Washington Street Iowa City, Iowa 52240 Re: Lisa Anne Alestri V. City of Iowa Cit Dickinson and Company City and Becton Dear Honorable Mayor and City Council Members: I all Of the above-captionedematt a successful as against the Cit matter, This was defense in the trial copy of the y Of Iowa City, Enclosed a false arrest case favor of bothudgement showing the unanimous ease find a defendants, Jury verdict in case, Please let me know if you have any questions about this Sincerely yours, *id' EC BP DEB:mem Enclosure cc: Terrence Timmins, City Harvey Miller, Attorney Stephen Atkins, City Manager Police Chief Y E AREA CODE ]IS 337.5606 t-oq3IL 0 1- Il J IN THE IOWA DISTRICT COURT IN AND FOR JOHNSON COUNTY LISA ANNE ALESTRI, Plaintiff. - V. CITY OF IOWA CITY and BECTON DICKINSON 6 CO., Defendants. JUDGMENT The, above -captioned matter commenced trial on January 19, 1988. The plaintiff appeared with counsel, Attorneys Joseph and Tyler Johnston. Defendant City of Iowa City was represented by Police Officer Daniel Dreckman and Attorney David Brown. Becton Dickinson 6 Company was represented by Joseph Flaherty and Attorney Douglas Oelschlager. A jury was selected and evidence was presented. The matter vas submitted to the jury at 2:00 P.M. on January 27, 1988. At approximately 4:30 P.M. they reached a verdict. The Court examined the verdict forms which did not appear to be in order as to verdict form 21. The jury had signed question 12 of the Special Verdict Form in the negative. This did not appear to comport with the evidence, in that the arrest was clearly warrantless. The Court made inquiry of the jury as to their interpretation of the question. The Court was informed by the jury foreman that the jury interpreted this interrogatory as asking whether or not the arrest was without probable cause. At that time the Court advised the jury that the interrogatory should be read as asking whether the arrest was without an arrest warrant. The Court sent the jury to the jury room to continue their deliberations. At approximately 5:15 p,M., after an intervening question, the jury advised the Court that it had reached a verdict. - 1 - a w r If J The jury returned the following unanimous verdleti• A. SPECIAL VERDICT FORM 11 - (Plaintiff's claim'agdlnpt 1 City of Iowa City): _ 7 'QUESTION 11 - Was the plaintiff detained or re$LiWned `against her will? ANSWER: Yes. QUESTION 22 - Was such detention or restraint warrantless? ANSWER: Yes, there was no warrant. QUESTION 13 - Was such detention or restraint a proximate cause of plaintiff's damage? ANSWER: No. - As the jury was directed that no further questions were to be answered, the remaining two questions were unanswered on the form. The Special Verdict Form was signed as unanimous by MF, Peterson, the jury forewoman. As to Special Verdict Form 11, the Court made additional inquiry of the jury forewoman as well as the remaining jurors as to question 14. The Court made inquiry as to whether the Jury had considered probable cause for the arrest. The jury indicated that it had and that it was the unanimous verdict of the jury that if they had filled in Question .4, they would have determined that the arresting officer did have probable cause to believe that an Indictable public offense had been committed. As presented to the Court, Special Verdict Form 11 was an appropriate order and it was accepted and entered of record accordingly. D. SPECIAL VERDICT FORM 12 - (Plaintiff's claim against Defendant Becton Dickinson c Co.) •QUESTION it - Was the defendant, Becton Dickinson L Co. negligent? ANSWER: No. - As no further questions were to be answered if the answer was 'no', the jury did not answer any of the remaining questions. - 2 - A 3 dL u I A The verdict Corm 13 in appropriate order and was accepted and entered of record. The jury was released after the preceding colloquy. Both verdict Corms are in appropriate order and Cind iv favor of the respective defendants and against the plat n7tCfC;pn both theories of recovery. - UHEREFORE, judgment is entered in favor of the Defendant City of Iowa City and against Plaintiff Lisa Anne Alestri on her Claim Of False Arrest. FURTHER, judgment is entered in favor of Becton Dickinson 6 Company and against Plaintiff Lisa Anne Alestri on her claim of Negligence. FURTHER, costs are assessed against the plaintiff. Clerk to notify. ��7 PAUL J KILDURG, DISTR T JUDGE GTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT pp QSTATE OF IOWA Dole. McAed To \K�{� BY: pe,xY (NIKo iaonnol Roaponsiob Ip Mahro ON - 3 - A5 4 1EC�INNPAPhics January 29, 1988 Mr. Steve Tarara Holiday Inn 210 S. Dubuque Street Iowa City, Iowa 52240 RE: Your automatic lobby doors Dear Steve: RECEIVEDFEB 1 1988 I know that you want the Holiday Inn to be a good neighbor and participant in downtown Iowa City and are as dependent on its health as we all are. I find, however, that the signs on your automatic doors and their frequently being turned off or out of commission is causing serious problems for my customers. I realize that your lobby, because of those types of doors, suffers a significant amount of heat loss in this colder weather. During the public hearings on the design of the hotel this fact was pointed out over and over again by various experts to Dr. Johnson and the city, even to the point of recommending a design modification to allow clear passage for pedestrians through Dubuque Street, with no doors at all to impede their progress. Dr. Johnson was fully aware of the nature of this specific problem, and chose to pay the higher heat bills rather than modify the design to allow unimpeded passage of people. Everyone involved in these preliminary discussions indicated that "sure, but within two years we'll see signs on the automatic doors and they'll be turned off." Dr. Johnson assured us that this would not be the case and in fact there is an easement through the hotel granted to adjacent property owners. I feel it's essential that you make every effort to maintain the doors in good operating order and not discouraging my customers with large packages or the handicapped and their wheelchairs. Thank you, Steve. I know the heat bill for that lobby does add up on the cold and windy days, but that was a choice that Dr. Johnson chose to make. ncerely, L ohn A. Gross resident JAG:jac cc: Steve Atkins l PIAZA CENTRC ONE POST MICE Box 1846 IOWA CITY, IOWA 52244 319-354-5950 0233 RECEIVED R- IN 211988 Attention Iowa City Council Members: Since the Iowa City Council is debating the snow removal on Iowa City property, I think you need to enforce some rules, as to where the city can put the snow from the streets. I had a very bad experience with your Iowa City snow removal crew. I moved to this address Dec 3rd. The biggest snow of the winter came the first of the next week. About 9:30 on Tuesday night a city truck with a snow plow camt4orth on Delwood, lr straight across Hollywood 6 dumped all the snow in the drive way of 1828_1830 Hollywood Blvd. I am In my 170's and it was bad enough to have to shovel my driveway, the next morning „ but there was no way that frp?en Pile from the streets could ever be moved. It was as high as the mailboxes. The truck driver never even came around the half circle, so there{' was deep froaen snow clear out to the curb, going E 6 W. I know when a snowplow goes by, they put some snow In your driveway, but to come down Delwood 6 across Hollywood to dump It all, Is ridiculiousl!!!!! Espec!ai'00 when It is a home owners driveway. I know I'm not a good typist, but my writing is worse. p CITY OF IOWA CITY CNIC CENSER 410 E. WASHINGTON ST. IOWA CITY, IOWA 52240 (319) 356-5000 January 21, 1988 Mrs. Fountain 1830 Hollywood Blvd. Iowa City, Iowa 52240 RE: Claim of extra snow placed in driveway by city snow plows Dear Mrs. Fountain: The Superintendent and myself visited your residence on Thursday, January 21 in response to a call from the City Manager concerning the placement of snow from Hollywood Blvd. Viewing the conditions at that time we have drawn the following conclusions: 1. The residues of snow remaining in the neighborhood at the time of our visit indicated nothing abnormal or extra in any residential driveways at 1830 or either side of 1830. 2. The circumstance of the street widening in front of 1830 makes it more difficult for a city plow truck to leave a perfectly clear path in that area, especially with a car parked on either side of the driveways. Cars parked anywhere in the widened street area can greatly hinder efforts to make a clean pass. The best solution we have to offer to prevent the deposit of "extra" snow in the driveway is to have the car owners cooperate with snow removal crews when necessary by removing their vehicles from the curved or radius portion of the street. Any further questions or comments can be directed to The City of Iowa City Streets Division at 1200 S. Riverside Dr., phone no. 356-5180, M -F 7:00 a.m. till 3:30 p.m. Sincerely, John Sobaski ,. Assistant Superintendent of Streets cc: Steve Atkins, City Manager M a?3i4