Keep Damages in Perspective

Regarding Jason Hawthorne, who last January was arrested and falsely accused of perpetrating a series of brutal rapes in the Ojai Valley: You reported May 19 that Hawthorne has sought to redress his grievance by filing a $10-million claim against Ventura County.

Hawthorne’s lawyers stated their client’s life is “ruined” as a result of this false accusation, which led to Hawthorne spending two days in jail and weeks under a cloud of suspicion. The lawyer said Hawthorne would need “years of therapy” to heal the resulting emotional scars.

At $100 per hour, Hawthorne can spend one hour a day, five days a week on a therapist’s couch for the next 384 years before his $10 million is depleted. Or maybe the $10 million is sought to compensate Hawthorne for his alleged inability to hold a job. He would have to earn $200,000 per year for the next 50 years to equal $10 million.

Or maybe Hawthorne’s lawyers, who I assume work on contingency, like nice round numbers and see a juicy target in Ventura County.

I’m sure I sound cruel. I am, in fact, very sympathetic to Hawthorne’s ordeal. Just the same, it seems glaringly obvious to me that $10 million totally exceeds the bounds of rationality. Just compensation is one thing; winning the lottery due to the Sheriff’s Department’s overzealousness and honest mistakes is quite another.

I’d suggest that Hawthorne get over the notion that, at 22, his life is ruined. Then, after quietly accepting some tens of thousands of dollars for his trouble, do what our most famous jurist, Lance Ito, has repeatedly advised: Move on. With his life, I mean.

CHRIS WESTPHAL, Ojai