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No Charges for Sonnenschein Partner Whose Car Hit Girl Scouts
The Recorder
August 19, 2009
The San Mateo County district attorney's office will not file criminal charges against Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal partner Paul Glad over a March auto accident in Burlingame, Calif., that resulted in a mother losing a leg.
Glad told police he had taken one OxyContin pill that morning, and a urine test was positive for the painkiller. However, Deputy DA Sean Gallagher said Glad passed a field sobriety test shortly following the 3 p.m. accident, so there was insufficient evidence that Glad was impaired.
"There's no question he's at fault for the accident and he's liable for it," Gallagher said. "It's an absolutely horrific, tragic accident, but not every accident is a crime."
Glad is the managing partner of Sonnenchein's San Francisco office and one of the top insurance lawyers in the state.
A civil suit against Glad alleges he was under the influence of OxyContin when he pulled into the handicapped space of a store, started getting out of his car without putting it in park, and rammed a group of parents and girls selling Girl Scout cookies, pinning one mother against a wall. Holly Rogers, 49, lost one leg above the knee after both were broken. Her 8-year-old daughter, Caroline Schoustra, also suffered a broken leg.
Glad has taken OxyContin for a long time as part of a pain management protocol supervised by his doctors, Gallagher said. A synthetic opiate, OxyContin capsules have a time-release coating designed to deliver a steady dose over several hours.
