Kristin Smarts’ family files wrongful death lawsuit against Cal Poly

January 18, 2024

By KAREN VELIE

The family of Kristin Smart filed a lawsuit on Thursday against Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo for wrongful death, negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distress, according to the suit.

Paul Flores murdered Smart during an attempted rape in 1996 following a Cal Poly frat party. After the party, Flores helped escort Smart, who was found passed out on a lawn outside the party, back to the dorms. She was never seen again and her body was not recovered.

In 2022, a jury found Flores guilty of the murder of Smart.

The Smart family’s lawsuit accuses Cal Poly of failing its legal duties because it “did not pursue a missing person case promptly, did not interview witnesses timely, did not seal the primary suspect’s dorm room as a crime scene, allowed the suspect’s room to be sanitized and cleaned before it was searched, and did not search the suspect’s room until sixteen days after Smart disappeared.”

Lawsuit allegations include:

• The Cal Poly Police Department (CPPD) did not interview witnesses until four days after Smart disappeared.
• Campus police did not interview Flores, whom multiple witnesses had informally identified as the last person seen with Smart, until four days after Smart disappeared.
• CPPD did not seal off Flores’ dorm room as a potential crime scene, despite multiple witnesses identifying him as the last person seen with Smart.
• CPPD did not search Flores’ dorm room until sixteen days after Smart disappeared, despite multiple witnesses identifying him as the last person seen with Smart.

In addition, the suit claims Cal Poly failed to properly act on multiple reports about Paul Flores’ “threatening, stalking and harassing behavior.”

The multiple reports include:

• On Dec. 17, 1995, a female Cal Poly student filed a police report stating that Flores had been harassing her. Flores had climbed the trellis of her apartment building to spy on her from the balcony. When police arrived, they found Flores and identified him as the culprit.
• On March 27, 1996, three female Cal Poly students filed police reports stating that Flores had been harassing and stalking them. He had been calling them for six weeks and had filled their entire answering machine tape with nothing but silent, hang-up calls. The three women told officers that, in Dec. 1995, Flores had climbed on their apartment balcony and tried to break into their apartment.
• On Jan. 14, 1996, someone reported to Cal Poly that Flores vandalized Cal Poly grounds and property while intoxicated.
• On Jan. 17, 1996, Cal Poly required Flores to attend a “Mediation/Information Meeting” with the coordinator of student development, Nancy Day. This meeting was being held because Flores harassed a staff member at Cal Poly. At the meeting, Cal Poly discussed with Flores “the seriousness of harassing a staff member at Cal Poly” and also mentioned future possible cancellation of his housing contract with Cal Poly.

“If Cal Poly had properly acted on those reports, conducted an investigation, and appropriately disciplined the student, he would not have been on campus, and therefore would not have been able to murder Kristin. Flores also would have been prevented from assaulting and raping countless other women, in the years after he murdered Kristin,” according to the lawsuit.

Even though Smart was killed in 1996, the Smart family argues the suit is timely because they were not aware of Cal Poly’s failures until May 2023, when Cal Poly’s president publicly apologized to the family saying: “We recognize that things should have been done differently – and I personally wish that they had.”

The suit seeks financial damages and attorney and court costs. The Smart family asked for a jury trial.