Posted on January 12, 2017

SF Cleared In Negligence Case Brought By Kate Steinle’s Parents

Caleb Pershan, SFist, January 9, 2017

The parents of Kathryn Steinle, a woman killed by a gunshot wound near Pier 14 in San Francisco in July 2015, cannot sue the City of San Francisco for negligence, essentially because of the random nature of the event, but they can sue the federal government according to a federal judge — because the weapon that killed Steinle belonged to a ranger who allegedly left it unsecured in an unlocked car.

Liz Sullivan and Jim Steinle of Livermore filed the wrongful death lawsuit in September 2015 and lawyers for the City of San Francisco moved to dismiss the suit in August of 2016. US government officials asked Steinle’s parents to dismiss the wrongful death lawsuit in early December, as KRON 4 reported at the time. Now, US Magistrate Joseph Spero has sided with San Francisco, dismissing the parents’ claims against the city according to the Chronicle in rulings which the parents could still appeal.

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Lopez-Sanchez was deported to Mexico five times and had recently spent 46 months in federal prison for illegally re-entering the US but was given over to San Francisco on a prior marijuana charge that was dropped. He was released under then-Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi despite immigration officials’ request to hold him, citing an interpretation of San Francisco’s sanctuary city ordinance.

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The magistrate has ruled that Mirkarimi didn’t need to notify the federal government about Lopez-Sanchez, because federal officials already knew he was undocumented and in local custody.

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Steinle’s parents may still be able to prove the federal government was negligent as its employee allegedly didn’t secure the weapon in the shooting. But if Lopez-Sanchez didn’t, indeed, steal the gun, Spero indicated that it’s unclear what the decision of a California court might be on the issue of negligence.