Former MPUSD superintendent loses lawsuit against city of Monterey.

Every week or so, new lawsuits get filed in Monterey County Superior Court by people who allege they were injured in slips, trips and falls. Usually, those cases are settled. One high-profile lawsuit, filed in 2015 by the former Monterey Peninsula Unified School District superintendent for $750,000 against the city of Monterey, went to a jury trial this week.

The jury sided with the city, and Marilyn Shepherd lost her case.

Shepherd sued in 2015 after falling in a pothole on Webster Street and breaking her ankle. The injury required surgery, with medical expenses of $61,116.28 according to Shepherd’s lawsuit. Her claim for $750,000 was meant to account for pain and suffering over a prolonged period of time.

At trial, Monterey’s City Attorney Christine Davi told the jury, “Accidents happen.”

The mishap happened in broad daylight, Davi said, and if the pothole was as obvious as Shepherd claimed it had been, the whole thing could have been avoided if she’d practiced reasonable care. “Reasonable care dictates that a person would walk around an obvious pothole,” Davi said.

As Darrell Moon, Shepherd’s attorney urged the jury to side with his client, multiple jurors could be seen rolling their eyes.

Since Shepherd’s surgery, she has taken multiple vacations to destinations including Mexico, Hawaii, Alaska, Legoland and Disneyland with her grandchildren, Davi pointed out at trial, and she could also now play 18 holes of golf.

Moon, however, argued Shepherd could not fully indulge in those trips or golf games. Shepherd claims she had to frequently ice her ankle and that she now uses a golf cart because she’s unable to walk the full length of the green.

But no such pity was doled out by members of the jury, who unanimously voted on Thursday, following a three-day trial, to side with the city of Monterey.