SAN DIEGO - The City of San Diego settles a lawsuit with a surfer who was injured while trying to avoid a lifeguard watercraft.
The City Council approved the $75,000 payout Tuesday, nearly nine year years after Michael Haytasingh of Monterey sued the city, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. He claimed the lifeguard on the watercraft violated the state law at the time by going faster than five miles per hour and being less than 100 feet away from him.
The lawsuit prompted lifeguard agencies across the state to file briefs in support of San Diego Lifeguards saying the law needed clarification because sometimes lifeguards need to travel faster in order to save lives. This prompted the passage of a bill last year which made marked lifeguard vessels exempt from the speed limit.