City to pay Landrum's survivors

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/ontario/news/la-ivo-landrum18apr18,1,5232824.story

Claremont agrees to give $450,000 to family of 18-year-old shot to death
by police in 1999.

By David Hermann
Inland Valley Voice

April 18, 2003

CLAREMONT -- The city's insurance company will pay $450,000 to the mother and children of a man fatally shot by police
four years ago, under the terms of a tentative settlement announced Thursday.

       Attorney Marc Grossman represents the daughter of Irvin Landrum Jr., the 18-year-old motorist whose shooting by two
       Claremont police officers during a controversial traffic stop in January 1999 led to more than two years of protests at City
       Hall and civic changes including increased civilian oversight of the Police Department.

       Grossman said he and the attorney who represents Landrum's mother and son agreed to the deal during a Thursday morning
       settlement conference with attorneys representing Claremont and its insurance company, the California Joint Powers
       Insurance Authority.

"It's much-needed closure to this epic," Grossman said.

Under the terms of the agreement -- which must still be approved by the authority's claims committee at its May meeting --
each of the three plaintiffs will receive $150,000 minus 25% in attorneys fees and legal costs.

Landrum's mother, Tracy Lee, will receive the balance of her money in a lump-sum payment.

Landrum's two children, Faith Ramirez, 4, and Tyrie Robinson, 5, will receive their money subject to a payment structure that
begins immediately with $10,000 in past child support payments to each child's guardian.

A $37,000 annuity will be set up for each child that is expected to generate about $300 a month in child support beginning in
July and continuing until the children turn 18.

About $63,000 will used to purchase another annuity that will pay each child about $33,000 per year for four years beginning on their 18th
birthdays.

Mayor Pro Tem Sandy Baldonado said the settlement is fair.

"We're especially pleased that the structured settlement for the children is so creative," she said. "It will provide for their needs during their minority
and will certainly give them a real leg up on a college education if that's the route they choose."

Baldonado said a settlement was the best option for the city and Landrum's family.

"Speaking as a lawyer, I always tell my clients it's better to settle on your own terms than on someone else's," she said, adding that Landrum's
family could have been awarded more than $450,000 in a trial.

"Anytime you go before a jury or a judge, you are really rolling the dice," she said.

Baldonado said Landrum's mother and children potentially had a lot to lose in court as well.

"All of the investigations that have been done have exonerated the officers and the city," she said. "Their burden of proof would have been a pretty
strenuous lift."

Landrum was fatally wounded during the Jan. 11, 1999 traffic stop. The officers said they shot him after Landrum pulled a gun. Reviews by the Los
Angeles County Sheriff's Department and district attorney's office supported their claim.

But inconsistencies in the officers' stories and the odd history of the gun found at Landrum's side -- the weapon had last been registered to the late
chief of Ontario police -- fueled protests and suspicion about the shooting.

       Anthony Willoughby, the Beverly Hills attorney who represents Lee and Robinson, said he noticed a change in attitude on the part of the city's
       negotiators following the recent City Council election in which incumbents Karen Rosenthal and Algird Leiga were defeated by two challengers
       who criticized the city's handling of the Landrum matter.

"It was like night and day," Willoughby said, adding that the change in attitude coupled with a rapidly approaching court date helped get the deal
done.

"We had a trial date next month so it was do it now or we're going to be in trial," he said.

Willoughby said neither Lee nor Tyrie's mother, Ronee Robinson, wished to talk publicly about the settlement.

"It's over for all intents and purposes," he said. "At this point I think they would just like to have their private lives back."

The settlement could signal the end of one of the most bitter chapters in the history of Claremont -- an upscale college town that saw its reputation
for tree-lined streets, high property values and intellectual pursuits overshadowed after the shooting by a perception that it was racially intolerant.

That perception was fueled by City Manager Glenn Southard's decision to name the two white officers who shot Landrum, who was black, as
Claremont's employees of the year for 1999.

Last month, Southard withdrew the awards and acknowledged he had made a mistake.

It was an action that many in the community who had been critical of the city's handling of the Landrum case, including Butch Henderson, the senior
pastor at Claremont United Church of Christ, saw as a positive step toward closure.

On Thursday, Henderson said he believes that with the settlement of the lawsuit, it is time for Claremont to move on.

"Remuneration for the children is appropriate," he said. "The only things that might be outstanding now is how some people might feel."

Baldonado said there is no amount of money that can compensate for the loss of a father or a son, adding that the settlement does not erase the
pain and the suffering that the two police officers, who no longer work for Claremont, have endured along with the rest of the city.

       "This has been an excruciatingly traumatic experience for everybody here in Claremont. To say that this is going to fade into oblivion is naive. It's
       there and it's going to take a while for everyone to deal with it," she said. "My hope now that this is over and the awards have been rescinded is
       that we can move forward as a city, come together and concentrate on the many issues facing us that will require everyone's cooperation. I'm
       optimistic that that's going to happen."

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