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Mallory Dies family awarded $2.5 million settlement

December 30, 2014
Former staffer Raymond Morua and Rep. Lois Capps

Former staffer Raymond Morua and Rep. Lois Capps

By JOSH FRIEDMAN

The federal government has agreed to pay $2.5 million to the family of a Santa Barbara woman killed in a DUI collision caused by a former aide for Congresswoman Lois Capps. [

Morua, 32, left a Dec. 6 holiday party for the Santa Barbara Independent, struck Malory Dies, drove away and crashed into a palm tree. Morua had a blood alcohol level of .17.

Attorney Robert Stoll, who represents Matthew and Raeona Dies, said in the suit that Raymond Morua was on the job as a legislative aide to Capps at the time of the accident. In addition, Stoll says Capps was aware of Morua’s previous DUIs and hired him for a position that required driving from events that included alcohol.

The suit also claimed Capps and her staffers attempted to cover-up knowledge of Morua’s past. The suit named Capps and Morua.

The government assumed liability for Capps, but the suit againstMorua is not yet resolved. The settlement agreement, which occurred last month, states that the government doe not accept any liability for Dies’s death.

Mallory Dies

Mallory Dies

Dies family attorney Robert Stoll alleged that Morua was working for Capps in official capacity on the night of the crash. Capps denied the accusation, but Morua admitted during his sentencing hearing that he was working for Capps that night.

Stoll also said he had evidence that Capps was aware of Morua’s previous DUIs and still hired him for a position that required driving from events with alcohol.

In addition, Stoll alleged that prior to doctors removing Dies from life support, Capps’ office forged paperwork in attempt to get Morua out of jail.

Morua ultimately pleaded guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and fleeing the scene of a crime. He is currently serving a prison sentence of 20 years to life.

A large portion of the settlement money is expected to go to the family’s Vow 4 Mal Foundation that aims to prevent drinking and driving in the community.


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All the money in the world would do nothing to heal the heartache of losing a child.

$2.5 million wouldn’t begin to make me feel better…no amount of money could.


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Kevin Rice says: 01/07/2015 at 3:08 pm “Oh, but then you’d have to sign your name. Never mind.”


I am offended, because I was give the name Willie by my mother and father.

Thank you for insulting my deceased parents!

Incidently my father was the very first CB soldier to depart form the flying Tiger Team in Camp Roberts during WWII.

So, What do you want my full name, address, DL, Social Security, telephone?

Are you going to dictate to CCN, Yahoo, Google, You tube all these requirements for your perfect world?

You are vain and officious.


Back in 1981 I was briefed on the Government Code, I recall one rule that said, government employees shall not engage in political activity without authorization from HQ.


If this is your was of engaging in politics, the state should reprimand or terminate you.


secondly I find it a shame that the Sheriff has to work cooperatively with the likes of you because of chain of government command or order. He is light years ahead of wannabes like you!


To be more specific as an e.g.

The sheriff of this county will receive and consider public input where you label or put down someone if it s/he not suited to your ideology.

The Sheriff of this county have realized and demonstrated the importance of the common touch and their support.

As far as I am concern your only employable by Hitler or the KKK by your type of devices use as evidenced here.


The evidence is posted right here on CCN, but oh we do not have sufficient circumstantial evidence that it is truly you, i.e. your address, your DL and Social Security Number for positive ID! Start with YouTube, then Yahoo, MSN, Google, then Tribune, and finally CNN.


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Why do we have to pay for Lois Capps lack of over sight? She should be the one that has to pay…not us the tax payer.


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I think we all should call her office and ask her what she thinks. Maybe she would want to make a contribution towards the expense of this horrific tragedy from her lucrative campaign fund. I’m sure it would be a political plus for her…and she won’t run again anyway….right? She’s just a one term gal. AAAAHAHAHAHA suckers!


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Rudyard Kipling “IF” To walk among Kings and yet keep the common touch!

Proud, Arrogant, Smart-Sharp & Qualified, easily used by the ambitious that envy and “agrees” with him all the time, he’ll learn when the hair on his head had turned gray.

There is a naive side to him, lack of real world common insight that you have from the bottom up, that which I can tell you have suffered much to know that he cannot relate to from the top down!


A good supervisor or manager should allow personnel to vent and better worry when they don’t, with him you get labeled!


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Too Lazy …Don’t Respond


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Kevin Rice

I can be accuse and corrected by making speculative inference and deductions on limited info from the news.

Some of the commenter here put keen informative posts, such as below, they get carried away at times and sound wracked because of some experienced past sufferings. They’re only error is the neglect to post or share why they feel that way.


You seem to be an expert at labeling people and I have never ever seen for example Capps to ever make herself look better by labeling some person down.

I am Republican, yet I voted for Capps each and every time, now you know something about my partisan!

You are no damn better than anyone else!


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You’re part of the problem. Vote better in the future.


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Here we go again

Base on what? Your ego, history-government changed to what it is today, hoping for a change, the SOS or your just your condescending point of view!

or based on the freedom to vote whom I believe in and hope for or are you going to ridicule and label me more?

In the motion of time, change is constant, Lois Capps is allowed to use her discretion to change her mind and she will not with-hold her reasons why.

Until you learn how to communicate with common people, don’t even belittle me in how or who to vote for!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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Don’t be vain. The article is about Lois, not you. Why don’t you submit an opinion piece. Oh, but then you’d have to sign your name. Never mind.


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Kevin Rice says:

01/07/2015 at 3:08 pm


“Don’t be vain.”


Because your eccentric labeling is very distracting, and your condescending vanity is no more than a mirror of yourself.!


Do not belittle people on how and who to vote for.


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“Oh, but then you’d have to sign your name. Never mind.”


There you go again!


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Whether you elect a savvy slick polished candidate who has big money to help his election or a person like Lois Capps who gave a person a second chance and screwed up, they will ALL follow the advice of Legal counsel both government and private.

They will all tell her or him to deny deny, and legal will delay delay and negotiate.

The evidence of this man’s error points to Capps office and the government losing no matter what. Left to her own device (which would be a legal NO NO) she would apologize and clean house. Legal needs leverage to negotiate settlement and deny fault.

What difference does it makes if the family get an extra million or two, they cannot replace the life of their love ones.

Knowing her, she wants to amid error, sorrow, and compensation.

Don’t you the hell think that Capps is not grieving over this.

And don’t you the hell think she is feeling sick to have to follow legal counsel directive!

The reason the government is getting bigger and bigger is because picking the impressive qualified ones, an endless chain of the SOS, in case you haven’t figured it out because your too young!

If many of you have had to contact Capps or former Assemblyman Blakely’s office office because of a problem, you get get genuine serious service.

Sure she is at a handicap when thrown among the political and corporate lions den, but don’t you assume she does not have real virtue instead of BS.


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If partisanship and reneging on promises is a virtue, she’s your man.


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Except when she’s not.


You simply don’t know her and have not worn her shoes.


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“If partisanship and reneging on promises is a virtue, she’s your man.”


Granted

She is not as smart as other politicians who know how to cover up things and morph things, she’s not that type of person as you say because she’s “nice”

Go ahead and put another crook with the perfect qualification or smarts.


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I have met Lois Capps, she is nice in face to face meet and greets, lunches, etc.


She is also a nurse, but she must not have practiced much, as she doesn’t practice the art of

compassion.


She lies. She thought it better to cover up and avoid the vehicular murder of a beautiful young woman on a Santa Barbara Street than simply do the “American” thing and be honest, go knock on the family’s door, and say sorry. That is also the thing a REAL nurse would do. A really sorry political leader would do.


She lies more. She signed a contract and took money in 1998 agreeing to only serve 2 terms. It is 2015, Lois Capps is still in office.


She made a bad decision. An EPICLY bad decision to hire this man. Bad decisions and policitics don’t go well together common sensically to begin with, but her bad decision ended in death and tragedy. It is also costing the taxpayers MILLIONS.


Why do people keep voting for her????


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I don’t find Lois to be conscientious. She is agenda-driven and doesn’t care much about representing the whole. Her lack of legal foundation is a severe obstacle that leads to poorly executed and poorly thought out policy. It is not an asset to be lacking legal and constitutional intellect. Being “nice” gets a lot of inept and evil people elected, often over others who have depth and breadth that Lois doesn’t. Social popularity and a good smile are poor criteria, though they are the main criteria for low informed voters


Comparisons to some straw-man imagined corporate attorney candidate are hypothetical and disingenuous. Not to mention Lois is a liar who reneged on her term limit promise.


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Kevin Rice

Whether your a slick clever smart keen savvy person or have big money backing you to make an election successful.

You might be smarter than her but not better than her!

When she took her husband’s place, she had no corporate backing!

She entered the lions den, but she never lost her virtues.

I lived at 254 Grand Avenue at the time SLO. She saw my wife with a baby, returned and gave her a hand made hobby wooden toy. She had a support-less ($) but sincere campaign.

So whatever your your critique, don’t you insinuate your a better person, just smarter!

If you enter the political realm being smarter, its back to the SOS, unless you can prove me wrong!

I would elect her over you even if you are smarter than her!


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Kevin Rice

In life NOTHING IS RISK FREE she gave a person a chance and he messed up

She is not a CS smart person!


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You sure fixate on a lot of things I neither said nor implied. We can agree Lois is “nice”. Except when she’s not.


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Except when she’s not.


You simply don’t know her and have not worn her shoes.


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“You sure fixate on a lot of things”


You are so smart, that you don’t know anything about me, my education, training, background, experiences, or the things I considered before I rendered my fixation!


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Brother , is this projection or what ?


KR has this obsession about Lois Capps that verges on a complex, and he thinks others fixate ?


It is really quite comical, and KR may truly be Ms. Capps’ ‘bete noir’.


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Yes, I believe you are projecting.


Tell us where you received your psychology degree, by the way. My guess is you have none.


Finally, the term you are misusing is bête noire. It means a person or thing strongly detested. I have no idea if Capps detests me, and I doubt you have any more idea than I do.


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Is Chris Mitchum the best conservative candidate we can come up with? Lois Capps is one of the least effective representative in Congress. I met Chris Mitchum and I said “what a dud ,we are going to loose” and again our district elected someone who should have never been elected in the first place. Professional politicians are killing our republic.


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Is Lois Capps the best Left wing candidate we can come up with? Public office shouldn’t be bequeathed. Lois is “nice”. That’s the best thing I ever hear about her. Well, she’s not so nice it seems. And nice doesn’t say much for getting the job done.


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Lois Capps is not ‘Left wing’, but she isn’t a bat-squeeze crazy conservative either.


I now have health care, due in no small part from her concerted efforts.


I disagree at times with her votes, but for this, she continues to have my support.


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From your “sinister” (see Latin definition) vantage point I suppose she would appears centric.


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Not merely Left, but Libertarian/Left, even more so than Gandhi, Mandela, Nader, and FDR in the same quadrant. -9/-8 on the scale.


I would expect Ms. Capps to be in the Authoritarian/Right quadrant near, say Bill Clinton and Eisenhower, but more to the center of the grid, yeah


If you care, you can take the test yourself at http://www.politicalcompass.org/test.

Then maybe you could post your results and name a few historical figures that score near you , for some perspective.


Test takes about twenty minutes.


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BTW, others are welcome to take the test. What’s to risk ?


For the ‘neggy’ votes, I can only surmise that you’re either lazy, afraid, or embarrassed.


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Here’s the grid with some famous historical and contemporary figures: cdn.ebaumsworld.com/thumbs/gallery/226269


I find that I am closest to Noam Chomsky: -9/-9, and Carl Sagan: -10/-10


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This is my family Coat-of-Arms:

http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/18017.html


Note the crown.


Too many “Rice” family Coat-of Arms from various countries and nationalities to know which would be peculiar to you, or I would post the link.


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You now have healthcare from having my pockets picked through higher taxes.


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IF I had suffered a medical setback previous to enrollment in ‘Obamacare’, then I would have had no alternative but to go to an emergency room.

THAT would have impacted costs, resulting in higher overall medical pricing and higher taxes.


Since the even partial implementation of the ACA, Obamacare, there has been the lowest increase in healthcare costs and insurance premiums in decades.


Thankfully, I’ve been pretty healthy.


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With Social Security, it is the young and healthy of working age that pay for the elderly retired and disabled.

Same thing with Medicare.

Two wildly successful American programs, even today, that spread risk by making it comprehensive.

What’s hard to understand about that ?


Nobody likes bureaucracy …I get that.

Ask your ‘doctor’ friends how they like collecting bills from indigent patients.


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Public office shouldn’t be bequeathed. Lois is “nice”.


What qualities of a person do you look for during election time?


Every time I vote for someone who has a highly polished background and talks good, if he wins, we end up getting (in short) screwed with the SOS.


So, many years ago, Lois Capps came to our home campaigning to take her husband’s place. She was a wife of a politician with a nurse background. I found her to be a very “NICE” caring and “conscientious” person. She did not have an expensive suit on and she does not have a Law background. She was just a very “NICE” kind and good person and a local (Residence of SLO) for a change! I did not find her a shrew or clever person with corporate ties.


Although she slipped acting out of her heart instead of her head hiring a person with past DUI’s, I firmly believe that some of the things her office did to try to cover up was under the advice and direction of slick, clever, shrew, dirty attorneys, both private and government (who by the way are the politician types). I don’t believe her nature has changed, her habit of being honest and considerate was altered under instruction.


I don’t like Obama, if he himself came to this town and tried to run for Capps place, I would do everything I can to run his BS little butt out of town.


Actually it is I that should change my original question, my question should be NOT what qualities I should look for, but what qualification (they usually are later found to have extra or “hidden”) They will probably have the superficial of Lois but they are not genuine “NICE” people.


If Lois Capps does have the courage to run again, even with this embarrassing situation. I will still vote for her instead of some out of towner who looks and talks good.


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