Bicycle Accident Wins Woman $13.3 Million

A quadriplegic Arizona woman was awarded $13.3 million by a Fresno County Superior Court jury for disabling injuries she suffered in a 1985 bicycle accident in Yosemite National Park.

The award was one of the highest on record in California for a personal injury, said an attorney for Mary Hall, 44, who now lives in a special-care facility in Northridge. Hall was an undergraduate student at the University of Arizona at the time of the accident.

Last week’s judgment was entered against the Yosemite Park and Curry Co., which operates concessions in the park and rented Hall the bicycle. The jury did not impose punitive damages but found the firm was negligent, said Mary E. Alexander, Hall’s San Francisco attorney.

Alexander said the unusually high award was due in part to Hall’s need for around-the-clock care. She has been hospitalized since the accident, is paralyzed from the neck down, and breathes through a tracheal tube, Alexander said.

The accident occured on a paved path near the base of Lower Yosemite Falls, in Yosemite Valley. Alexander said Hall could not stop the bicycle as she descended a steep hill and struck a tree, breaking her neck.

Hall’s attorneys argued the bicycle was poorly maintained and had insufficient brakes for the steepness of the hill. The jury ruled the firm was negligent for not warning riders of the hazard, Alexander said.

The firm, which has not decided whether to appeal, contended that Hall should have heeded a sign posted by the National Park Service that prohibits taking bicycles up the hill.

“It’s a horrible, horrible accident,” said Dan Jensen, executive vice president for the firm. “But we think that the judgment is incorrect. We don’t think we did anything wrong or were negligent.”