Clerk Hurt in Fight Wins Settlement

SANTA ANA â€”  A former supermarket clerk who was left brain-damaged after being punched by a Marine recruiter will receive as much as $5.6 million over his lifetime from the Albertson’s chain, according to a settlement reached earlier this week.

Larry Hatch, 24, was injured in an early-morning altercation in a supermarket parking lot in Anaheim in April, 1990. After finishing stocking shelves on the late shift, witnesses at a subsequent criminal trial said, Hatch joined three friends drinking beer in the back of a pickup truck.

The recruiter, Sgt. Juan Antonio Rodriguez, 32, stopped to ask if the young men were interested in the Marines. Words were exchanged, including some about the serviceman and former boxer’s haircut, and the business card Rodriguez offered was thrown back at him, witnesses testified.

Rodriguez returned with three other Marines and, after more words were exchanged, he struck Hatch twice in the face. Although doctors at first did not expect Hatch to survive, he emerged from a medically induced coma after several weeks. However, he remains partially paralyzed, with impaired speaking and hearing.

In February, 1991, Rodriguez was acquitted of assault and battery with intent to do harm.

Attorneys for Hatch then sued Rodriguez and Albertson’s in Orange County Superior Court. Albertson’s was named, according to Robert Riggs, Hatch’s attorney, because the chain did not follow its own rules prohibiting employees from drinking on its property.

On Tuesday, Hatch settled with Albertson’s and agreed to drop Rodriguez from the suit in state court. He will receive at least $2.5 million and as much as $5.6 million over his lifetime.

Hatch is “delighted,� Riggs said, “but he doesn’t appreciate everything that’s going on. . . . The kid is profoundly damaged. . . . This gives him a second chance. It’s a very sad case.�

Rodriguez is now suing Albertson’s in Superior Court. He and the Marine Corps still face a civil suit filed by Hatch in federal court.