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A Vancouver cyclist was recently awarded more than $100,000 for injuries sustained after falling off his bike when he was cut-off by a car turning left in front of him, despite the car not hitting him.
According to court records, Michael Clay was riding his bike northbound on Lakewood Drive, a designated bikeway, at 10pm on July 24, 2019, roughly an hour after sunset, after having watched a Vancouver Canadians baseball game at Nat Bailey Stadium earlier that evening. Clay was wearing a helmet and using his iPhone for illumination.
As he approached the alley between East 2nd and East 1st Avenue, Clay stated in court that a southbound vehicle turned left into the alley immediately in front of him without signaling. Clay applied braked hard to avoid the car, resulting in him being catapulted over the handlebars, breaking his wrist and cracking his helmet.
The bike and the car, an Alfa Romeo GT driven by Luciano Montagliani, never collided, however.
Legal Battle: Seeking Vancouver Cyclist Injury Compensation
As result of his injuries, Clay has had two surgeries to repair his broken wrist, which now has metal plates and screws inserted in it. Clay will likely need a third surgery to eventually remove the metal plates and screws. The court also heard that he continues to suffer “ongoing, likely permanent discomfort, and limited range of motion.”
In his defense, Montagliani claimed that he did not turn into the alley in front of Clay, and that it must have been another vehicle that had driven off. Montagliani claimed that he turned onto Lakewood from East 1st Avenue and immediately saw a man tumbling off his bicycle and landing in the middle of the road. Montagliani claims he pulled over 70 to 80 feet away, exited his car and approached the fallen cyclist in order to help him. By the time Montagliani approached the fallen cyclist, a pair of neighbours were already assisting the Clay, and two police officers joined soon after.
While Montagliani claimed to have not turned in front of Clay into the alley, he did admit that he had intended to turn into the alley in order to access his home on East 1st Avenue, which backs onto the alley.
Court Decision: Justice for a Vancouver Cyclist
However, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Michael Tammen stated in his decision that he found the defense’s theory “speculative and unsupported by any evidence,” while noting that it would have taken “a coincidence of remarkable proportions” for Clay to have correctly guessed Montagliani’s intentions to turn left into the alley.
Montagliani further claimed that Clay was intoxicated, and that this led to Clay falling off his bike. One of the police officers that attended the scene testified that they believed Clay appeared intoxicated at the scene. However, the police officer was not able to offer any evidence of this, nor any specific observations supporting that opinion, and produced no notes of the encounter.
Tammen concluded that the police officer’s evidence was unreliable, and gave it no weight.
Clay, meanwhile, testified that he had consumed three alcoholic beverages at the game between approximately 7:00–9:30 p.m. and was not intoxicated at the time of the incident, which was corroborated by the testimony of a co-worker with whom he had attended the game.
As a result, Tammen found Montagliani 100% liable for the damages incurred by Clay, stating that he was “persuaded on a balance of probabilities that but for the negligence of the defendant, the plaintiff would not have fallen from his bicycle.
“I cannot say that the plaintiff in any way overreacted, nor that his response, applying both brakes forcefully, was inappropriate,” he added.
Tammen awarded Clay $111,155.72 in total damages.
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