Virginia Jury Awards $350K in Triathlon Negligence Case

February 4, 2008

  • February 4, 2008 at 1:42 am
    Compman says:
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    Well,

    I guess I better go out and run over a bicyclist so I can pay off my mortgage!. What a complete joke this is. She kills somebody and then sues because she ran someone over. So what, get over it. So she gets rewarded for killing somebody. I think they need to start giving IQ tests to jurors before they can serve. Either that or do away with them for good.

  • February 4, 2008 at 1:50 am
    Dread says:
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    I’m w/you compman. Our legal system has deteriorated to the point it no longer recognizes principles of liability. To compound matters, some juries lack the common sense and ability to be objective, letting emotional and financial issues take precedent over what’s right. I wonder what the woman’s damages were to warrant any reward? Bicycle race or not, she should have exercised caution and lookout. Any cylist could have suffered the same fate. I’d also guess that an event this big would be common knowledge in these jerkwater towns.

  • February 4, 2008 at 2:07 am
    insurance junkie says:
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    Did they close the roads for the race? Blacksburg is not a very big town – just about any resident should have known about the race. Why didn’t they have volunteers to “police” the intersections if they did not close the roads to vehicle traffic?

    The driver did not deserve an award. So much for a jury of your peers!

  • February 4, 2008 at 2:21 am
    IJ says:
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    Insurance Junkie,

    Your post does not make sense. The reason the driver was awarded damages is precisely because the race director failed to block off the roads adequately.

    I don’t know the details of the case, but it sounds to me as if the driver’s auto insurance would have responded to the cyclists’s claim against the driver. The driver/auto policy then subrogates the claim amount from the race director.

    If the cyclist violates traffic rules and races into a car and is injured, why is the cyclist held harmless?

  • February 4, 2008 at 2:30 am
    Boring Actuary says:
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    … is how the race director of a triathalon could possibly expect that all traffic rules would be followed. I mean, why would he expect that someone who is racing for a personal best time is going to stop for stop signs??

  • February 4, 2008 at 3:20 am
    Tip of the Iceberg? says:
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    I sure hope these types of verdicts are just reporting of all the absurd verdits out of the thousands that are decided each day. My cynicism is growing by the minute! Cannot believe this one.

  • February 4, 2008 at 3:36 am
    Eli says:
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    Dear “boring actuary”. You needn’t use the adjective “boring”. “Acutary” implies that.

  • February 4, 2008 at 4:20 am
    Calif Ex Pat says:
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    Hey folks – check your maps – Blackberg is in the ‘no defense verdict’ area of the State – worse, VA is one of the few remaining 1% contrib bars recovery states – driver not hurt – had an ’emotional distress’ claim – so sympathy verdict – but still ‘way too much for hurt feelings

  • February 4, 2008 at 4:21 am
    DesertRat says:
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    I am continually amazed at the rampant frivolity in our legal system and the juries that return these rediculous awards. I think in the simple minds of our jurors these days they honestly think that they are only doing what is right, taking money from the evil corporate insurance industry and redistributing it to the poor victims.

    All the while, they have no clue as to the ripple effect and how their decision will affect their own lives eventually when the cost of goods and services increase as a result of higher premiums across the board.

    This country has lost all sense of what Insurance all about. We(society as a whole)no longer care about indemnity but rather view insurance as a lottery ticket waiting to be cashed in on when something bad happens; regardless of our own culpability in the loss.

    Sad

  • February 4, 2008 at 6:19 am
    Anonymous says:
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    Jury awards $350,000 in Blacksburg triathlon lawsuit
    Jurors held the town and the event’s race director liable for the crash that killed a cycling participant in 2000.
    By Shawna Morrison
    381-1665

    A Montgomery County jury late Tuesday night awarded $350,000 to a woman involved in a crash that killed a bicyclist during a Blacksburg triathlon more than seven years ago.

    Sharon Knight, a Blacksburg resident, had filed a civil lawsuit against the town and the director of the third annual Greater Blacksburg Triathlon, claiming they were negligent in failing to warn passing motorists of the race course.

    Triathlon participant Gary Wayne Taylor, a 30-year-old sports promoter from Lynchburg, died midway through the June 18, 2000, competition after his bicycle crashed into Knight’s car.

    Knight was heading to church east on Southgate Drive toward Lane Stadium about 9 a.m. that morning when Taylor crashed into the side of her car at the intersection with Tech Center Drive.

    Knight has said she saw Taylor run a stop sign at the base of Tech Center Drive and swerved but couldn’t avoid a collision.

    She had asked for $750,000 in damages for mental and emotional trauma and damages to her car. I could not sleep or eat a life was over a person someone child can you but yourself in shoes like this for the rest of your life

    After listening to two days of testimony in Montgomery County Circuit Court, the jury met for four hours and 15 minutes before returning after 9 p.m. Tuesday with a verdict against race director Beverly Biancur and the town.

    Biancur is no longer a town employee.

    The town, which sponsored the race, failed to provide personnel or markings to warn passing motorists that they were entering a race course.

    Attorneys for the town have said competitors were instructed to follow all traffic signs and laws before the race started.

    Knight’s attorney, Thomas DeBusk, couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday.

    Town officials referred calls to Susan Waddell, the attorney who represented the town. She was out of the office Wednesday afternoon.

    In a 2002 trial, a jury found that Biancur and the town were negligent in organizing the race and awarded $500,000 in damages to Taylor’s family



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