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A Bike Accident Results in a $5 Million Verdict for a Man Who Hit a Manhole Cover

A Santa Cruz man was injured when he hit a manhole cover that the local telephone company had left exposed. After a long trial, the man won a $5 million verdict. Was this verdict fair or was it a bike accident that the bike rider should have been able to prevent? Read on to get the details and then reach out to Law Offices of Fernando D. Vargas at 909-982-0707 if you believe you have grounds for a bike accident case of your own.

The facts behind the case

The case involves a 44-year old man named Joseph Wressling. He was riding his bike at 8:30 in the morning in a bike lane. He was in front and his fiancée was riding behind him, when he came upon a manhole that was located in the bike lane. Wressling saw the manhole was uncovered and looked back to indicate to his fiancée so that she’d see it. In the meantime, he hit the manhole cover, which he hadn’t been aware of. He ended up in a lane of traffic and was hit by a car. He suffered serious injuries and filed a lawsuit against the telephone company that was responsible for the manhole cover, the county that owned the street, and the driver of the car that hit him.

The plaintiff’s argument

Wressling said that the telephone company owed him money via premises liability laws, that the county owned him for dangerous conditions on public property, and that the driver of the vehicle was negligent. His argument included the idea that since the manhole cover was three inches shorter than the grade of the road, it was a dangerous condition and that the telephone company had a duty to keep it level with the road’s grade.

The manhole cover was in the bike lane, which was maintained by the county and so Wressling argued that they had a responsibility to keep the road safe. Finally, he said that the driver of the car only hit him because she was driving too closely to the bike lane.

The defendants’ arguments

The telephone company said that they were negligent in not maintaining the cover of the manhole but said that it wasn’t the main cause of the accident, but rather that Wressling actually swerved into the lane three seconds after passing het manhole cover. The county agreed that the bike lane was dangerous in that particular spot but said it was otherwise safe. The driver claimed she was driving in the middle of her lane and had no way to avoid the wreck.

The results of the jury trial

The trial went on for 20 days and the jury only deliberated for six hours before finding against the telephone company for nearly $7 million. They found that the county and the driver of the car were not at fault. They also found that while the phone company was 75% at fault, Wressling himself was 25% at fault. As a result, he was awarded a net amount of just over $5 million.