Former San Diego Mayor Roger Hedgecock and his wife are suing the city over a 2015 fall she took on damaged sidewalk that allegedly ruptured her silicone breast implants and eventually required replacement surgery.

While the Hedgecocks aren’t seeking a specific amount, the lawsuit they filed last October says the damages they suffered “are well in excess of $25,000.”

The suit contends the city behaved with negligence and carelessness by not repairing a 2.5-inch concrete lip in a public sidewalk caused by a tree. The incident took place in Pacific Beach on Morrell Street near Grand Avenue.

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A spokesman for City Attorney Mara Elliott said Wednesday that the city expects the case to go to trial later this year. Lawyers in the case are scheduled to meet Friday to discuss potential trial dates.

Trials are unusual in sidewalk cases, which the city has typically settled out of court in recent years.

The lawsuit says Cynthia Hedgecock suffered “serious personal injuries” when she tripped over the raised portion of sidewalk, “flew forward and came crashing to the ground” on July 31, 2015.

Two weeks later, she went to a local medical clinic “with persistent chest pain and breast deformities,” and learned in September 2015 that both of her silicone implants had ruptured and that silicone had been leaking into her bloodstream, the suit says.


That November, she had both implants removed and replaced in what the suit describes as “a grueling procedure.”

She then needed weeks to recover during which she used pain medication, sleeping aides and required her husband’s constant assistance, the suit says.

The San Diego Reader first reported on the lawsuit.

Roger Hedgecock is a co-plaintiff because he suffered “the loss of support, service, love, companionship, society, affection, relations and solace from his wife.”


The suit says he had to stay at home and help his wife every day with her recovery, prompting him to seek compensation for his “own loss of income and the loss of consortium with his wife.”

Damaged city sidewalks have been a controversial topic this spring, with the city recently paying nearly $5 million to a bicyclist launched 28 feet by a raised sidewalk in Del Cerro.

The attorney in that case said city officials don’t prioritize promptly fixing dangerously damaged sidewalks.

After the City Council approved that settlement on March 7, Councilman David Alvarez renewed his previous requests for a new policy shifting the responsibility of repairing sidewalks almost entirely to the city.


Alvarez says the existing policy, which makes adjacent property owners responsible for repairs in all but a small number of circumstances, has resulted in too many damaged sidewalks and large injury payouts.

Making property owners responsible leads to inaction because they are reluctant to incur the costs and go through the complex process of hiring a contractor and obtaining city permits.

Under existing policy, the city is essentially responsible only when sidewalks are damaged by utility work, heat expansion or changes in grade.

Alvarez would shift the policy to say that the city is responsible unless it is determined that the damage was caused by the adjacent property owner or a third party.


The city has agreed to three other settlements of sidewalk cases in the last two years for $75,000, $98,000 and $235,000.

david.garrick@sduniontribune.com (619) 269-8906 Twitter:@UTDavidGarrick