In a town where staffers are on 24/7 duty and deals struck and relationships are forged over cocktails ... lots of cocktails, should an elected official be held financially responsible for injuries or death caused by an intoxicated employee who gets behind the wheel?
That is the very real circumstance Rep. Lois Capps (D., Calif.) is facing in a wrongful death lawsuit filed against her after one of her senior aides killed a 27-year-old woman in a tragic DUI hit and run in Santa Barbara, CA.
The Daily Mail chronicles the story of Raymond Victor Morua III based on investigative reporter Peter Lance's multi-part expose. Morua was Capp's man on the ground in her home district whenever the congresswoman was in D.C. The Iraq War veteran was hired as an intern in Capp's office in 2011 and quickly ascended to a paid job as the Democrat's district rep.
Morua attended a Christmas party on Dec. 5, 2013, at The Savoy Club in Santa Barbara. During the course of the party, Morua racked up a hefty bar tab while downing 8 cocktails and "working the room" on behalf of his boss, or so he says.
In his sworn testimony, Morua contends that Capps's official scheduler in Washington directed him to attend the party, "On or about November 27th, 2013, I was in Representative Capps' office and was told by Vianey Lopez that I was to attend a Christmas party on Dec. 5, 2013, at The Savoy, a club on State Street in Santa Barbara."
Whether Morua was directed to attend the party by Capp's office holds enormous ramifications because it opens the congresswoman, and the federal government, up for potential liability in the civil action.
On Washington D.C.'s WMAL, I interviewed Morua's defense attorney, Darryl Genis, about the details of the criminal action; Morua has pleaded guilty to a gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and fleeing the scene of the crime, a deal that spares him a second-degree murder charge.
Genis revealed that Capps has essentially thrown Morua under the bus and has denied that her former aide was attending the party on her behalf. Further, there is evidence that the congresswoman's office forged VA benefit documents in an attempt to have Morua transferred out of jail and into an alcohol treatment facility before his victim died of the tragic automobile accident.
The exposure of Rep. Capps for the wrongful death civil action for the misdeeds of her employee is noteworthy on two levels. In Washington, D.C., the alcohol flows freely and business is often conducted over a cocktail, or four. It's part of the culture. And staffers are expected to participate, schmooze and, occasionally, tie one on. It's like "Mad Men" with a lousy wardrobe budget. Will this lawsuit put an end to the never-ending happy hour that is such a critical part of Beltway business?
Additionally, for those who enjoy the irony of a Democrat hoisted on their own petard, it's Capps' own party that is funded, in large part, by the trial lawyers of America. The organization that halts any reasonable attempts at tort reform or loser pays initiatives.
We now live in a society where any litigant goes after the "deep pockets" and in this case, those pockets belong to Capps and the federal goverment.
Who is responsible for the death of Mallory Dies that night? Raymond Morua, of course. This was his crime and no one else's. But, thanks to the litigious society encouraged by Ms. Capps' (and Mr. Morua's) own party, the lawsuit will go forward and the deep pockets will be dipped into.