King’s Damage Claim Is Rejected : Beating case: Action by city clears way for lawsuit. Altadena man and his wife sought $83 million.

The Los Angeles city attorney’s office has quietly rejected an $83-million negligence claim filed by police beating victim Rodney G. King and his wife, clearing the path for them to seek damages in state court.

King had sought $56 million for medical expenses, pain and suffering--$1 million for every blow King allegedly suffered at the hands of four Los Angeles police officers--plus $25 million for “future damages.”

The claim had contended that the 26-year-old Altadena man was “assaulted and almost executed” by police officers “without justification.” The March 3 beating resulted in injuries that included “11 skull fractures, permanent brain damage, broken (bones and teeth), kidney damage, emotional and physical trauma, and loss of ability to work,” the claim added.

King’s wife, Crystal, had sought an additional $2 million in damages, citing emotional and psychological trauma and loss of sexual relations with her new husband. City Atty. James K. Hahn, through a spokesman, declined comment late Wednesday on why the city took no action on King’s claim. What is unclear is whether the city has chosen to reject the claim because it believes it stands a chance to win a lawsuit, believes it is not liable for King’s injuries, or tried unsuccessfully to settle the claim.

King’s attorney, Steven Lerman, could not be reached for comment. A source close to the case, however, said Lerman had rebuffed an overture from the city attorney’s office to discuss a possible settlement shortly after the claim was filed.

Because he was not formally notified that his claim was being rejected, King now has two years in which to file a lawsuit in state court.

King has already filed a separate civil rights suit in federal court. He could now add personal injury claims to that suit, or file a separate state suit.

The city’s action--even in a high-profile case like King’s--surprised few.

“We almost never settle at the claim level,” said city attorney’s spokesman Mike Qualls, particularly in cases involving large claims against the Police Department. The process is largely a formality, required by state law as a prerequisite to filing tort (personal injury or property damage) claims. The city generally allows the 45-day time period for action to expire, and keeps its fingers crossed that most complainants will not pursue the matter through further, expensive litigation.

The King claim was investigated by the city attorney’s police liaison section--which is made up of LAPD officers--and then was evaluated by a deputy city attorney. Hahn himself was involved in the decision to reject the claim.

An attorney who has handled many police misconduct suits said the city rejects all but “the quick, cheap settlement” in hopes the case will never reach court.

“They like to hedge their bets,” said attorney Marion Yagman, even though that means taking a chance that the city might wind up paying more in a pretrial settlement or a judgment against it.

Statistics are on the city’s side. During the 1989-90 fiscal year, for example, of 5,012 claims filed against the city, only 796 were paid, for a total of just more than $800,000.

During the same period, 1,132 lawsuits were filed and of those, 512 were settled at the pretrial stage for more than $20 million.

When a case when to trial, the city lost almost half the time--102 cases--and was ordered to pay judgments totaling nearly $10 million.

In another development Wednesday, LAPD Internal Affairs investigators have concluded that no officers solicited membership information from a militant Ku Klux Klan group.

The Police Commission had ordered the investigation after a two-page application from the Oklahoma-based White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan was mailed to some Police Department divisions this spring in the wake of the King beating. The mailers triggered the inquiry as well as a warning from Chief Daryl F. Gates that he would fire any officer joining a Ku Klux Klan group.

“Our investigation determined that no department personnel has inquired into applications for the Ku Klux Klan and, further, that no department personnel was involved in the mailing of that material,” said department spokesman Lt. Fred Nixon.

The leader of the White Knights unit, Dennis Mahon, has said that he mailed recruitment literature to several Police Department divisions and to individual officers, and had received responses.

As for Rodney King, an attorney said Wednesday that the beating victim has sold rights to his life story to a fledgling film company called Triple-7 Entertainment of Studio City, which is now peddling the project to Hollywood studios.

Attorney James Banks of Santa Ana said King sold Triple-7 a three-year option for an undisclosed amount after talks were arranged through a mutual friend of Crystal King and an employee of the production firm.

He declined to identify the people behind the firm, which has an unlisted telephone, saying he has already received frightening “crank calls” since announcing the project.

Times staff writer Ronald L. Soble contributed to this story