Norwalk Cyclist Receives Jury Award of $700,000
On April 8, 2015, a Bridgeport jury awarded a Norwalk cyclist damages of $700,000 at the conclusion of a civil trial. The cyclist alleged in her complaint that she sustained severe injuries, including a fractured pelvis and a shattered right elbow, when she was thrown from her bike after hitting a defect in speed bump within the Ledgebrook Condominium Complex on May 22, 2013. The plaintiff’s complaint further alleged that the speed bump had fallen into disrepair, but that the defects were masked from view because they had been recently painted over and filled in with bright yellow paint by the condominium’s property manager.
The plaintiff’s attorney, John W. Mills (“Jack”), of Mills & Cahill, LLC, in New Haven, stated “We were obviously very pleased that the jury agreed with our position that the defendant breached the duty to keep the premises reasonably safe for people traveling through the condo complex. My client sustained very serious injuries, which required multiple surgeries and left her in an assisted living facility for several weeks. She loved cycling, and has not been able to return to that. The defendant blamed her for her injuries, and even claimed she was using her cell phone when she was injured, which was not accurate, but which posed a major hurdle for us at trial.”
The jury originally awarded the plaintiff total damages of $1.4 million dollars, but the verdict was reduced by 50% for the plaintiff’s own comparative negligence. Mills stated that “We represent many cyclists, and unfortunately we often deal with a bias against cyclists in certain situations. My client was keeping a proper lookout, but was catapulted off her bike when her front wheel hit a defect in the asphalt, causing the wheel to turn suddenly to the left and stopping the bike. Between the photos, some of which appeared to minimize the extent of the defect, and the allegations that she was trying to answer her phone when she fell, we had a lot to deal with at trial. She is a wonderful person, and we are ecstatic we prevailed in the end.”