SCHOOL LAWSUIT MOVED $10 MILLION WRONGFUL DEATH CLAIM TRANSFERRED OUT OF LANCASTER COURT.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

PALMDALE - The $10 million wrongful death lawsuit filed against the Palmdale School District by Stephan Corson's mother has been transferred to the Van Nuys courthouse from Lancaster after the family's attorney argued that Antelope Valley jurors might be tainted by pretrial publicity.

Mary Corson's attorney, Melanie Lomax, also contended that potential Antelope Valley jurors may be affected by fears that a large judgment against the school district could affect their tax bills.

``This creates a level playing field. We are not going to be dealing with Palmdale residents who may have already formed an opinion on this case or are concerned about their tax bills if we win,'' Lomax said. ``We are getting a judge and jury pool who don't have any opinion of the case one way or another. We are getting a guarantee of a fair trial.''

Stephan was the 13-year-old Juniper Intermediate School student who was killed in a fistfight with a classmate on Nov. 19, 1999. His death was ruled a homicide by the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office, which said the boy died from damage to his spinal cord caused either by a punch thrown by the classmate or from hitting the ground with his chin.

Prosecutors declined in April to file charges against the 14-year-old classmate, saying he acted in self-defense in what was termed an ``excusable homicide.''

Last Sunday was the first-year anniversary of Stephan's death. Mary Corson, her family, and her son's friends from his baseball league held a candlelight service that day at an Encino park, Lomax said.

The lawsuit was originally filed in Los Angeles but moved to Lancaster after a judge ruled the suit was improperly filed in Los Angeles and should be moved to the judicial district where the death occurred, Lomax said.

Lomax's motion requesting a transfer of the case out of Lancaster was granted last week by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Bascue, who noted that Stephan's death is well-known, Lomax said.

Lomax proposed Van Nuys Superior Court, and attorneys for the school district agreed.

Lomax argued for the change of venue on two grounds. One was the possibility that ``prejudicial'' publicity would affect the jury pool, and second, that Lancaster courts have not handled a civil jury since 1990.

``Therefore my client would be denied a right to a speedy trial. The cases that come out of Lancaster are three to five years old, and we are dealing with juvenile witnesses, seventh-graders. We are concerned that if we don't have it soon, the student witness memories will deteriorate,'' Lomax said this week.

Because of lack of room at the Lancaster courthouse that is jammed with criminal cases, all civil cases are transferred out of the Antelope Valley to courts elsewhere.

Palmdale School District's attorney, Martin Carpenter, opposed Lomax' motion, saying local court rules state that a lawsuit is to be filed within the district where the incident occurred.

``It's a true fact that Lancaster has not had a civil case tried because of lack of courtrooms and judges and because of the criminal calendar, which takes priority, but that never caused any problem with Lancaster's judiciary to handle cases up until the time of trial to where they are usually assigned out to courts down below,'' Carpenter said.

``This case has gotten publicity, but cases that receive publicity do not mean that somehow a jury pool is going to be biased or prejudiced one way or another. I give the citizens of our county who sit as members of a jury more credit than maybe Ms. Lomax does,'' Carpenter said.

Carpenter said people in Van Nuys have heard about the Corson case as much as people in the Antelope Valley.

``I'm just saying that there is a danger of lack of impartiality. There's been enormous publicity about this case in Palmdale,'' Lomax said.