$2 Million Settlement With Tucson After Drunk Driver Kills 14-Year-Old Bicyclist on East Broadway
After trial: The $40 million jury verdict (February 2010) was cut to $12 million by the trial judge, then sent back for a new trial by the Arizona Court of Appeals in March 2011 because of the parents' fault testimony. The family settled with the city for $2 million in 2012, and the driver's settlement is confidential.
Won by Burch & Cracchiolo, P.A., Mercaldo Law Firm and Wiggins Law Offices.
A 14-year-old boy riding his bicycle on East Broadway in Tucson was struck and killed on Jan. 12, 2008 by a drunk driver whose lane ended at a road-widening gap the city had left unfinished. His parents sued the driver, the city and a restaurant that had served her. The family settled with the city in 2012 for $2 million and a public naming, after a 2010 jury trial and an appeal.
What happened
On the evening of January 12, 2008, a 14-year-old boy and a friend were riding their bicycles east on East Broadway near Harrison Road in Tucson, around 7:20 p.m. A car came up behind them and hit both boys. The family's son died of his injuries. He was a straight-A student at St. Michael's Parish Day School who had just finished entrance exams for Salpointe Catholic High School.
The driver, Glenda Rumsey, had a blood-alcohol level of 0.249 two hours after the crash. She was later convicted of manslaughter, aggravated assault and DUI charges and sentenced to 14 years in prison. The criminal case answered for her. The boy's parents wanted to know why the road had put a drunk driver into a bike lane in the first place.
Attorney Ronald Mercaldo took the family's civil case against Rumsey, the city of Tucson and Chuy's, the restaurant where she had been drinking. The claim against the city rested on road design. During a roadway improvement project, a city engineer had dropped plans to add five feet of asphalt, which left a lane offset near Vozack Lane. When Rumsey's lane ended, she drifted left while merging and into the bike lane where the boys were riding. Chuy's settled before trial for an undisclosed amount.
The case went to a Pima County jury in February 2010 before Judge Kenneth Lee. The city was represented by Richard Davis and Rumsey by Steve Corradini. After less than three hours of deliberation, the jury returned a verdict of $40 million and placed about a third of the fault on the city, roughly $13 million of the total.
The verdict did not hold. Judge Lee cut the judgment to $12 million, calling the award excessive and noting that comparable cases had produced far smaller sums for the loss of a child. In March 2011, the Arizona Court of Appeals reversed and sent the case back for a new trial. Judge J. William Brammer Jr. wrote that the court could not conclude the jury would have reached the same verdict without the parents' testimony about fault.
Rather than try the case again, the parents settled with the city in May 2012 for $2 million. The city also agreed to name a basketball court or parks facility after their son. The family reached a separate, confidential settlement with Rumsey. The boy's father told the Arizona Daily Star that drivers on that stretch of road now face a safer transition.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.Arizona Court of Appeals, Rincon v. Rumsey, 2 CA-CV 2010-0150, 2011·Archived copy
- 2.Arizona Daily Star, 'Parents, Tucson settle teen's '08 bike death', May 19, 2012·Archived copy
- 3.Arizona Daily Star, '$40M awarded in teen's death', February 13, 2010·Archived copy
- 4.Arizona Daily Star, 'Award slashed in teen's death', May 28, 2010·Archived copy
- 5.Arizona Daily Star, 'Verdict in boy's death overturned', March 17, 2011·Archived copy
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