Award could be larger in California

By Karen Abbott, Rocky Mountain News
November 9, 2004

The woman who has accused basketball star Kobe Bryant of rape may refile her civil claim against him in California to avoid Colorado's limit on damage awards.

"We are considering filing a separate lawsuit in the state court in Orange County," said Lin Wood of Atlanta, the attorney for Katelyn Faber, of Eagle.

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Bryant lives in Orange County, Calif.

Wood said the legal team still is doing research and hopes to make a decision by the end of November.

Faber's current civil suit against Bryant was filed in August in Colorado U.S. District Court.

Faber has accused Bryant of raping her in the summer of 2003 at an Eagle County resort hotel where she worked.

Bryant, who is married, has admitted having sex with Faber but said it was consensual.

Wood said the law allows separate lawsuits to be pursued simultaneously in both state and federal courts, but he isn't leaning toward that option.

If a California suit is filed, the existing case in Colorado will probably be dismissed, he said.

Wood called Colorado's cap on damage awards for such intangibles as pain and suffering "very severe," and unfair in the context of an intentional act of wrongdoing such as sexual assault.

Colorado law limits noneconomic damages such as pain and suffering to $366,500, which can be doubled in extreme situations.

The chance of a larger award in California is the only reason that Faber's legal team is considering the move, Wood said.

"The primary consideration here is looking at the options available to this young girl to maximize her opportunity to receive a maximum recovery for the injury done," he said.

Faber's civil suit is assigned to Colorado U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch, who became nationally known when he presided over the 1997 trials of Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols for the Oklahoma City bombing.

"We're confident that we would receive fair treatment by jurors in either jurisdiction," Wood said.

Wood said he expects Bryant to field an aggressive defense in the lawsuit, and Faber's legal team also will be aggressive.

"If we're going to be in all-out litigation, I would certainly prefer to be in a jurisdiction where my client has the opportunity to receive maximum damages," he said.

He said the civil suit was filed in Colorado initially because "there was an element of necessity from a timing standpoint."

The state criminal case against Bryant in Eagle County was soon to come to trial. Wood said Faber's legal team wanted to make it clear that she did not file the civil suit as a reaction to anything about the criminal case - including a potential guilty verdict, verdict of acquittal or other conclusion.

Bryant's lawyers could not be reached Monday.

The criminal case against Bryant was dismissed during jury selection in September when Faber decided she would not proceed as a witness for the prosecution.

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