Kauai Jury Gives $1.8 Million to Crash Victim

A Kauai, Hawaii, jury has awarded nearly $1.8 million to a woman who was knocked off the back of a motorcycle and run over by a car.

The jury awarded Lisa Wilson $1.75 million in general damages and $37,100 for lost income in her lawsuit against the car’s driver, Byron Say.

Before the trial, Say admitted liability and agreed to pay about $100,000 for Wilson’s past and future medical bills, said her attorney, Teresa Tico. And the insurance company of the mother of the woman who rented the car and loaned it to Say agreed to a “modest” settlement, Tico said.

Wilson, 52, said she and the motorcycle operator were knocked into the air and onto the roadway when Say rear-ended the motorcycle June 25, 2005, in Hanalei. The car dragged Wilson until its tires ran over her midsection.

She suffered 20 rib fractures, two collapsed lungs, a lacerated spleen and fractures to her shoulders, hips, pelvis and left leg. The motorcycle operator wasn’t seriously injured.

Police arrested Say after he crashed the car into a guardrail and ran into a taro patch.

Say pleaded no contest in August 2005 to a charge of operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, which is a traffic violation, not a crime.

County prosecutors later tried to charge Say with two felonies, negligent injury and fleeing the scene of an accident. But a judge ruled it was too late because Say had already pleaded to a related charge.

Information from: Honolulu Star-Bulletin,
http://www.starbulletin.com