Citing the legal doctrine of assumption of the risk, a judge has dismissed a Long Beach couple as defendants in a lawsuit stemming from the death of their son’s caretaker, who was allegedly attacked while driving and suffered a stroke.
Paul Farris was a U.S. Army veteran who died in 2025, months after allegedly being repeatedly struck in the head in a vehicle by Scott Braly, the son of Robert and Mary Alice Braly, who hired Farris to be their son’s caretaker. The Farris family alleges in their Long Beach Superior Court lawsuit that the Bralys and other members of their family ignored Farris’ advice that Scott Braly get mental health services, possibly at a Costa Mesa facility.
On March 4, Judge Mark C. Kim signed a judgment in favor of Robert and Mary Braly. The judge had previously granted their motion to dismiss the part of the Farris family’s case against them by claiming that Paul Farris knew of their son’s potential violence and that the decedent assumed the risk anyway.
In their court papers, attorneys for the Farris family contended that the Bralys increased the risk to their loved one by failing to obtain the necessary mental health treatment necessary to reduce his violent tendencies. The plaintiffs’ lawyers also maintained that the assault on Farris was unrelated to the symptoms of any disease from which Scott Braly suffered.
But in his ruling, the judge said the Farris family’s own lawsuit illustrated that Farris was subjected to violence at the hands of Scott Braly throughout the decedent’s employment from 2009-24 and that therefore assumption of the risk applies.
“If a person with numerous medical conditions who requires live-in care engages in ongoing violent behavior over a period of 15 years, the necessary conclusion is that the violence is an aspect of the person’s condition in the same way that it would be an aspect of a dementia diagnosis,” Kim wrote.
In addition, failure to take action cannot form the basis of liability, the judge further penned.
Farris previously worked in special education at Millikan High School, where he met Scott Braly. The Bralys are Long Beach philanthropists who hired Farris to caretake their son, who has aphasia and cerebral palsy and also is orthopedically handicapped.
According to the Farris family’s suit, the Bralys refused Farris’ repeated requests to obtain additional mental health services for Scott Braly, whose violence culminated with an attack on Farris when the decedent was trying to park a car. Scott Braly, in the passenger seat, tried to take control of the vehicle, then assaulted the decedent repeatedly in the head, causing a stroke that eventually claimed Farris’ life, the suit states.
Scott Braly’s brother, Craig Braly, is the remaining defendant in the suit filed in September 2024. In a sworn declaration, Craig Braly says it was not uncommon for his brother to become verbally and/or physically aggressive once or twice a month.
“Paul Farris’ duties as caregiver were family and personal in nature and they were not connected with or in the course of my or my parents’ business, professions or occupations,” according to Craig Braly, whose own motion to be dismissed from the case is scheduled April 28 before a new bench officer, Judge Sabina A. Helton.