Dispute Over Storage Unit Leads to $35K Judgment Against Local Politico
By Carolyn Schuk
Santa Clara politico Chris Stampolis was in the media spotlight last week, but not because of his role as a super-delegate to the Democratic national convention.
It's because the gossip blog-zine TMZ got hold of a 2005 recording of a 911 call about an incident in which the 42 year-old Stampolis is alleged to have physically and verbally assaulted the manager of a Los Angeles storage unit company in a dispute over whether Stampolis, then President of the California Democratic Council, was properly authorized to open the organization's storage unit.
After the LA City Attorney's office declined to prosecute the case, the storage unit manager Veronica Robinson, filed a civil suit in 2006 against Stampolis for $171,039 in compensatory and punitive damages.
In June, an arbitrator awarded Robinson $35,000 in compensatory damages. The arbitrator wrote in his decision that while Stampolis' actions caused Robinson emotional injury, there wasn't sufficient evidence that her physical problems and subsequent firing for poor job performance were directly caused by the incident.
Two Stories About Conflict Over Opening a Storage Unit
The story starts on Sept. 11, 2005 at SafKeep Storage in Los Angeles when Stampolis – then president of the California Democratic Council (CDC) -- requested the key to the organization's storage unit. Although Stampolis paid for the unit, his assistant had rented it and neglected to authorize Stampolis to open the unit or, apparently, give him the key.
Lacking both written authorization and a key, SafKeep employees refused to open the unit, leading to a heated exchange.
Stampolis either grabbed Robinson or papers she was holding – accounts differ – and another SafKeep employee, Andre Laurent tackled Stampolis and threw him out of the building. When the police arrived after the now-famous 911 call, they arrested Stampolis – who also demanded they arrest Laurent, which they declined to do.
Robinson says that when she refused to open the unit, Stampolis began shouting at her, grabbed the contract and threw it in her face, "grabbed" her neck and refused to let go Laurent intervened. Laurent, who was outside the office when the dispute started, testified that it "looked like" Robinson was being choked.
In her suit, Robinson says that she was "extremely scared and feared not only for her safety, but also the safety of others at the time, including her very young daughter, niece and nephew."
Subsequently, Robinson's job performance deteriorated until she was finally fired, which Robinson attributes to the "distress" caused by this dispute. She left SafKeep six months after the incident and now works as an auditor for a photography studio.
She filed the lawsuit in September 2006, and at that time she was being treated for a variety of stress-related medical and psychological conditions including panic attacks, insomnia, an aversion to people, and digestive problems, according to her attorney Eric Oto. In February of this year, Stampolis, Robinson and their attorneys agreed to settle the case through Binding Arbitration session.
Following a hearing, the Los Angeles City attorney decided not to prosecute the case. While the reasons are not documented in the court documents, legal experts say that the "he said/she said" nature of the case supplied little hard evidence on which to prosecute the case. Robinson reportedly claims that Stampolis wasn't prosecuted because of his position as CDC president.
Stampolis, not surprisingly, offers a different report of the incident. He contends that he didn't 'grab' Robinson or anything she was holding, but reached for papers on the counter that he believed were his contract. A scuffle and tug-of-war ensued, during which Robinson called him names, and was suddenly "blindsided" and "found himself flying through the air."
Although SafKeep had a video surveillance camera in the office, the recording of the time in question was blank, according to Stampolis' attorney Edward, Stark.
Ruling: Actionable Conduct but Excessive Claims
In his decision, arbitrator Hon. Robert W. Thomas, found that Robinson's and other witnesses' accounts were the "more persuasive," but that Robinson's claims of physical and emotional damage were excessive.
Thomas wrote that Stampolis' conduct was "inappropriate, intentional and actionable" regardless of what version you accept. "His actions were aggressive, assaultive and threatening no matter what his actual intention was. Without physical contact, there would have been no reason for Mr. Laurent to tackle Defendant."
However, in making the award, Thomas found Robinson's claims of "emotional" injury "exceed what would be expected from an event such as the one that occurred on September 11, 2005…"
Further, instead of her firing being caused by these psychological problems, "Documents from her employers listed a number of reasons for her termination that had nothing to do with the September 11, 2005 event," Thomas wrote.
Referring to Robinson's medical problems, Thomas wrote, "…proof was insufficient to establish that her physical problems were related to the…event. She did not seek medical attention for six months and was non-compliant with doctor's recommendations."
An October hearing is slated to confirm Robinson's $35,000 award. While Stampolis can appeal it, there are limited grounds for appealing arbitration awards, according to legal experts.
Meanwhile, Robinson's attorney expresses concern that his client will be paid. "Mr. Stampolis hasn't paid and has made no indication that he's going to pay," says Robinson's attorney, Eric Oto. Stampolis' Attorney Ed Stark counters that Robinson is jumping the gun -- the award isn't final until the court confirms it in October.
Deep Roots in County Democratic Politics
A Santa Clara resident, Chris Stampolis has served on the City's Planning and Historical and Landmarks Commissions, and the Citizens' Advisory Committee, and ran unsuccessfully for Santa Clara school board. He was elected to the West Valley-Mission Community College District Board of Trustees in 2004 and is currently running for re-election.
From 2004 through 2007 Stampolis was president of the California Democratic Council, a loose federation of Democratic clubs, and has worked actively in several local campaigns.
This is not Stampolis' first brush with the law. In 2006, in a civil complaint by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, he was charged with election law violations during the closely fought 2002 Santa Clara mayoral race. The judge in the case found in Stampolis' favor – namely, that there weren't grounds to pursue the case.
Carolyn Schuk can be reached at cschuk@earthlink.net.
