Our client and her husband were out for their routine morning walk in early September. They took the same route almost every morning for the past six years. It was just before dawn and they were walking toward traffic as the law requires them to do. The shoulder was 8 feet wide and paved. At that same time, a young man was riding his bicycle as part of his morning workout routine and was traveling with traffic, as required by law. Unfortunately, the bicyclist did not see our client walking and he crashed head on into her. The force of the impact threw our client 10-15 feet backwards and the bicyclist ended up in the ditch. Our client was taken to Regions Hospital by ambulance and the bicyclist was cited for failure to yield to a pedestrian and for not having a light on his bicycle.

Our client suffered a skull fracture at the front of her head. She required emergency brain surgery and was in a coma for several days after the accident. Her medical expenses were in excess of $1.5 million. Our client resides in a nursing home and will never be able to return to living at home or be able to work. She has paralysis on the left side of her body, short term memory loss, has difficulty eating and little control over bowel functions.

Paul Downes was able to recover $500,000 from the bicyclist for her damages. This recovery was from his homeowners' policy and from the defendant personally.