The City of Los Angeles has agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by two brothers who were critically injured in a high-speed LAPD crash in Encino for $18 million.
Stephen and Richard Paper, now 75 and 77 years old, will receive structured payments over the next two years, according to the agreement detailed during a hearing Wednesday morning just as jurors were returning to the courtroom in Van Nuys to hear more testimony in the case.
“We’re happy it’s over,” Stephen Paper said outside court, as he and his brother left for another medical appointment related to their rehabilitation from injuries they suffered in the collision.
Stephen Paper, left, and his brother Richard outside court in Van Nuys Wednesday, after the City of Los Angeles agreed to settle the lawsuit they filed after they were struck in 2024 by an LAPD patrol car in Encino.
“We’re making progress, but it’s very incremental,” Richard Paper said of their recoveries.
The trial in their lawsuit began last week after City Council records indicated a previous settlement discussion in August wasn’t approved by Council members.
“The evidence is going to show that an on-duty LAPD officer was excessively speeding, was driving too fast, caused a big crash and caused life-threatening and lifelong injuries to two people,” the Paper brothers’ attorney, Robert Glassman, told jurors during opening statements Sept. 8.
The lawsuit also named the officer driving the patrol car that hit them, Jason Stevenson, who at the time of the collision was assigned to the Valley Traffic Division street racing unit, according to court filings.
Deputy City Attorney Justin Sanders, defending the case, told jurors during opening statements the collision in June 2024 was simply an accident, and the City shouldn’t be held liable.
The LA City Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the settlement or the case.
Chief Deputy City Attorney Denise C. Mills, who also attended the hearing Wednesday, attempted to have the media removed from the courtroom at one point, and objected to a request from the brothers that an apology from the City be included in the settlement agreement.
LA Superior Court Judge Valerie Salkin declined to remove the news reporter from court, and pressed the City Attorney’s Office on its rationale for objecting to an apology.
“As a human, I don’t think it’s unreasonable for the apology to occur,” Judge Salkin said.
Stephen and Richard Paper were in a Toyota Camry that was broadsided by the LAPD cruiser traveling southbound on Balboa Boulevard as the brothers made a left turn to go west on Burbank Boulevard.
According to the LAPD’s investigation of the collision, Officer Stevenson was solely at fault, and an analysis prepared by the LAPD showed Stevenson’s cruiser accelerated to more than 80 mph in the seconds before impact, and was traveling at 55 mph when the collision happened.
The crash was recorded by an in-car camera mounted in Stevenson’s patrol car and the video was shown to jurors.
The moment of impact was recorded by an in-car camera mounted in the LAPD cruiser that struck Stephen and Richard Paper in Encino in 2024, and the video was shown to jurors.
“The primary cause of the crash is Party 1 (Jason Stevenson) in violation of 22350 of the California Vehicle Code, unsafe speed,” wrote the LAPD collision investigator in a report that appeared in the lawsuit file.
Body-worn camera video from an officer who responded to the crash scene showed Stevenson sitting on stairs near a sidewalk at the intersection and recorded Stevenson saying he was not in pursuit at the time of the crash.
“I didn’t activate the lights,” Stevenson was recorded saying on the body-worn camera video, which was transcribed and presented as an item of evidence in court.
“I wasn’t even in a pursuit, I was just trying to catch up,” he said.
The LAPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the settlement or provide Officer Stevenson’s current status with the department.
Stevenson did not answer questions during a pre-trial deposition, so the Paper brothers’ attorney, Robert Glassman, said the reason for the high-speed driving is still something of a mystery.
“It’s totally bewildering,” Glassman said outside court. “It’s reckless, it’s egregious, unfortunately, we never heard from Officer Stevenson. We don’t have an explanation.”
Both brothers suffered multiple life-threatening injuries, Glassman told jurors, including traumatic brain injuries, skull fractures, spinal injuries, and rib and pelvic fractures.
“I have a new, metal back and I have double vision,” Stephen Paper said outside court.
He and his brother don’t remember the crash.
The number of collisions involving LAPD officers and vehicles that injure uninvolved motorists and pedestrians, referred to in city statistics as ‘third parties,’ has been a growing concern at the LAPD and City Hall.
In 2023, data assembled for the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners showed an increase in the number of car chases resulting from pursuits in 2021 and 2022. The data revealed that when there were injuries, about half of those hurt were third parties.
The number of pursuits increased in 2024, the LAPD reported, but data on the total number of police-involved crashes, including pursuits, hasn’t been available.
Legal settlements and judgements involving City employees’ conduct, including those stemming from crashes and injuries involving police vehicles have also risen in recent years, topping $280 million for the fiscal year that ended in June 2025, according to the LA City Controller’s Office.