St. Louis County Jury Awards E-Scooter Rider $3.01 Million After Crash on Contractor's Gravel in Bike Lane
After trial: We found no public post-trial ruling or appeal as of this writing, but the verdict is recent and finality is not confirmed. Whether the judgment has been paid is not public.
Won by The Simon Law Firm.
A St. Louis County jury found MDB Construction Services negligent after a pool contractor left gravel in a Wydown bike lane without a permit or warning devices, and an e-scooter rider crashed in 2022. On October 16, 2025, the jury awarded Jason Wheeler $3 million in compensatory damages plus $10,000 in punitive damages. We found no post-trial ruling or appeal.
What happened
One evening in 2022, Jason Wheeler and his wife rode their electric scooters from Clayton, Missouri, to St. Louis's Central West End for dinner and live music. Later, Wheeler set off alone on his scooter along Wydown Boulevard, in the marked bike lane, to get the car and come back for his wife. He was traveling about 25 miles per hour when he hit a pile of gravel in the lane.
The gravel had been left there by MDB Construction Services, a pool contractor working nearby. The company had no permit to put material in the bike lane, and it had set out no cones, barriers or reflective markers to warn anyone riding through. Wheeler was thrown from the scooter. He broke his arm and was scraped over much of his body. He was later diagnosed with a herniated disc, and the injuries reached his back, spine, shoulder, elbow, wrist and hand.
Wheeler sued MDB in St. Louis County Circuit Court. He was represented by Kevin Carnie Jr. and Patrick McPhail of The Simon Law Firm. William Thomas defended the company. The case went to trial before Judge Brian May and lasted three days. The plaintiff's argument was straightforward: a bike lane exists to give riders a safe space, and a contractor that leaves an unmarked, unpermitted hazard in it has been negligent, not merely unlucky.
The jury agreed. After about an hour and a half of deliberation, it returned a unanimous verdict for Wheeler on October 16, 2025, awarding $3 million in compensatory damages.
The jury also found that punitive damages were warranted. After the defense put on evidence of the company's finances, nine of the twelve jurors voted to add $10,000 in punitive damages, bringing the total to $3.01 million.
Missouri Lawyers Media reported the verdict on October 29, 2025. We found no post-trial motion ruling or appeal in the public record, so the finality of the judgment is not confirmed.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
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