Speed-Bump-Boy's family have apparently retained Gloria Allred, what a perfect match for the little snake. I take it there's juries in civil trials in NY? "No, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, my client was not involved in an unlawful confinement and a vicious attack on a family, he was checking on another rider who was, um, uninjured and was, um staying in his saddle to um, better facilitate the checking and, um, stayed in the saddle to um, restrain the, um, non-vicious attack on the, um, family in the SUV who are, um, like, rich and stuff, unlike my client who, um, is, ah, um..."
NY is a pure comparative state. The biker is going to get paid
something. They only need to show that the SUV driver was even 1% negligent for the biker to recover that 1%.
Here's a quote from a website run by an injury lawyer that explains it pretty well:
Presently, thirteen (13) states follow a pure comparative negligence system: Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Washington. In a pure comparative negligence system, a judge or jury assigns a percentage of fault to each responsible party and then apportions the damage award accordingly. Using this system, an injured person may recover his or her damages even if the injured person was 99% at fault in causing the injury, with those damages reduced by his or her portion of the fault. For example, in a car accident between Dave and Debbie where Debbie was found to be 99% responsible, and the jury found that Debbie suffered $10,000 in damages, that award would be reduced by Debbie’s 99% fault in causing the injury. In the end, Dave would only have to pay 1% of Debbie’s damages, or $100 in this case.
The only question here is if the SUV driver bought his policy from a decent, reputable insurance company that will actually pay the biker instead of trying to wriggle out of it for "intentional act" on the part of the SUV driver. As ridiculous as it sounds I could see some companies try to do that. They'll certainly have to defend the driver, but they might try to avoid paying any indemnity. He certainly has assets so hopefully he paid up for a good company.
