Ex-mayor sues San Diego over wife’s implant rupture

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

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

The suit contends the city was negligent and careless in not repairing a 2.5inch concrete lip in a public sidewalk caused by a tree. The incident took place in Pacific Beach.

A spokesman for City Atty. Mara Elliott said Wednesday that the city expected 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 typically has settled out of court in recent years.

According to the lawsuit, 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 described as “a grueling procedure.” She then needed weeks to recover, during which she used pain medication and sleeping aids and required her husband’s constant assistance, according to the suit, which was first reported by the San Diego Reader.

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

He had to stay 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,” the suit said.

Damaged city sidewalks have been a controversial topic this spring, with San Diego paying nearly $5 million to a bicyclist launched 28 feet by a raised sidewalk.

After the council approved that settlement March 7, Councilman David Alvarez renewed his push for a new policy shifting the responsibility of repairing sidewalks almost entirely to the city. 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, Alvarez said.