Stidham lawsuit settles for $2.29M

Under the terms of the settlement, Daphne Stidham agreed to dismiss Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall, Pima County, and former prosecutor Lourdes Lopez from the lawsuit.

The entire judgment was found against former prosecutor Paul Skitzki. Because he was a county prosecutor at the time, the county will be responsible for paying the judgment.

Attorney Rick Rollman, who represented the county, confirmed the settlement.

“It’s a business deal. There were neither any denials nor admissions made by Mr. Skitzki,” Rollman said.

Stidham was found stabbed to death outside his medical complex near First Avenue and River Road on Oct. 5, 2004. Ten months later, his widow filed a lawsuit saying former Pima County prosecutors Lourdes Lopez and Skitzki knew about a plot to kill her husband and failed to tell the proper authorities.

Daphne Stidham sued not only Lopez and Skitzki, but their former boss, LaWall, as well as Wetmore Land Corp., saying conditions at the medical complex aided Stidham's killer.

Wetmore Land Corp. settled with Daphne Stidham for an undisclosed sum a few months ago.

Skitzki declined to comment Tuesday afternoon.

Dr. Bradley Schwartz and Ronald Bruce Bigger are both serving life sentences in connection with Stidham’s death. Schwartz was convicted last year of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and Bigger was convicted earlier this year of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.

Throughout the course of the civil case, the attorneys for Lopez and Skitzki argued their clients had no legal duty to report the plot even though they are members of the State Bar of Arizona. Skitzki’s attorney also insisted Skitzki didn’t learn of the plot until after the slaying.

Last April, Pima County Superior Court Judge Deborah Bernini filed a written decision disagreeing with Lopez and Skitzki’s attorneys.

In her ruling, Bernini wrote, "The most recent decisions by our appellate courts have given the trial courts little recourse. The traditional rigid notions of duty have dramatically changed in the last decade and what were once bright lines have clearly eroded."

At that time, Stidham's attorney, Philip Hall, said he was pleased with the judge's ruling.

"What she is saying is the law says that any reasonable person in their position had a duty to report the plot against Dr. Stidham to the appropriate people, and, assuming the jurors decide they did know about the plot ahead of time, they failed in their duty," Hall said.

Pinal County prosecutors Sylvia Lafferty and Richard Platt believe Schwartz paid Bigger $10,000 for the slaying because he was angry Stidham had abandoned their joint practice while Schwartz was in a drug-rehabilitation program.

Stidham ended up with many of Schwartz's clients after Schwartz and Lopez, his then-girlfriend, were indicted on federal drug charges in September 2002 and Schwartz’s medical license was temporarily suspended. In the days following Stidham's death, numerous people told detectives that Schwartz had a long-standing grudge against Stidham and often spoke of his hatred for the married father of two.

Bigger and Schwartz were arrested shortly after Lopez went to detectives and said Schwartz had told her he wanted to hire a hit man to kill Stidham and stage the incident to look like a carjacking.

In the days and weeks following the arrests, it was learned Lopez may have told Skitzki about Schwartz’s alleged plot before the murder.

LaWall fired Skitzki for not reporting Lopez’s allegations and suspended three other attorneys — attorneys who learned of Lopez’s story after the slaying but also failed to immediately report it.

Skitzki, who denied learning of Schwartz’s alleged plot beforehand, appealed his firing and lost.

LaWall testified during Skitzki’s appeal before the Pima County Merit Commission that “if Skitzki came forward with this information in a timely way, that Dr. Stidham may still be alive,” it reads.

Skitzki is currently a public defender.

The Arizona Supreme Court’s disciplinary commission has recommended a disbarment for Lopez because even after Lopez and Schwartz were indicted in September 2002 on prescription drug fraud charges, she continued a relationship with Schwartz despite being ordered not to, and she lied about it.

If the Arizona Supreme Court opts not to review Lopez’s case, she will be disbarred. It has not yet made a decision as to whether it will review the case.