Huntington Beach : Cyclist Accepts $400,000 Settlement for Injuries

A motorcyclist Wednesday accepted a $400,000 settlement for injuries received in a 1981 accident rather than test a legal argument that he was at least partly to blame for not wearing a helmet while riding.

Kenneth Anderson, 20, of Huntington Beach, accepted the money offered by the attorney for Jennifer Privett of Huntington Beach minutes before jury selection was to begin in the courtroom of Orange County Superior Court Judge James R. Ross.

Anderson’s attorney, R. Richard Farnell, said Privett’s insurance company will pay the settlement. Farnell said Privett had a policy calling for a maximum payment of $50,000 to anyone injured in an accident, but that when the insurance company failed to pay the money “within a reasonable period of time” it left itself open to the possibility of a higher jury award for acting in bad faith.

Farnell said Anderson was riding home on his motorcycle on July 27, 1981, when he was struck by a car driven by Privett on Garfield Avenue in Huntington Beach, causing extensive head and leg injuries.

Farnell said his client decided to settle the suit because Ross indicated that the defense would be allowed to argue that Anderson was partly to blame for his injuries because he was not wearing a helmet. It would have marked the first time such a defense argument was used in a California court, Farnell said.