San Diego

A lawyer who contends she was struck by a San Diego County sheriff’s deputy while inside the downtown County Jail is entitled to have a lawsuit on the claim heard in Superior Court, not Municipal Court, a state appellate court ruled Tuesday.

The possibility of a damage recovery is far greater in Superior Court. Under state law, claims in Municipal Court are limited to $25,000, while it takes at least a $25,000 claim to pursue a case in Superior Court.

Lawyer Lucy Gilcrest Mesecher listed out-of-pocket expenses of $18,400 from the Dec. 9, 1987, incident, the 4th District Court of Appeal said. Mesecher claims that, as she left a client at a video arraignment room at the jail, a deputy who apparently did not know she was a lawyer on official business pushed her and hurt her arm.

Mesecher also offered to settle the case for $12,000, well below the $25,000 floor, Judge Gilbert Nares said for the court.

But Nares added that Mesecher also claimed substantial, though unspecified, damages for emotional distress, and that was enough for her to be heard in Superior Court.

Mesecher, who had been a lawyer with Community Defenders and the Legal Aid Society of San Diego, since has moved her law practice to Santa Barbara, Nares said. She could not be reached Tuesday for comment.