Connecticut Jury Awards $2.9M to Bicyclist for Collision

A Connecticut jury has awarded $2.9 million to a bicyclist who was injured when she hit a gate on West Hartford land owned by a regional water and sewer agency.

Maribeth Blonski of Rocky Hill sued the Hartford-based Metropolitan District Commission over the 2002 incident. She alleged the agency endangered people by placing the steel gate on a trail near a reservoir in the Talcott Mountain Recreation Area.

The MDC’s lawyer says agency officials were surprised by Friday’s verdict in Hartford Superior Court and will appeal.

Blonski broke four vertebrae in her neck when she hit the gate, which was erected to keep cars away from the reservoir. She had been an avid cyclist and hosted a local-access television program about mountain biking before the collision.