Bike Crash Victim to Receive $5 Million : Suit: A jury awarded $15 million, but an agreement limits the amount.

A 19-year-old West Hills man who was paralyzed two years ago when his bike collided with an illegally parked school bus won what will amount to $5 million from a jury that determined Friday that the bus company and its driver were largely responsible for the accident.

The Van Nuys Superior Court jury awarded Bobby Rohan $15,139,191 at the end of a monthlong trial. However, a pretrial agreement between Rohan and Cardinal Transportation Group Inc. placed a maximum of $5 million on any jury award--as long as it is paid within 30 days of the verdict.

Rohan was an El Camino Real High School swim team member and a highly regarded triathlete when he was rendered a quadriplegic March 27, 1989, after his bike struck a school bus parked in a no-parking zone on Platt Avenue near Victory Boulevard.

“I’m ecstatic,” Rohan said about the outcome of the trial. “It’s a big relief. I don’t have to worry how I am going to pay for care the rest of my life.”

His attorney, Mace Stephen Simon, said evidence in the civil case established that the bus driver, Yolanda Brooks, routinely stopped in the no-parking zone while she ate at a nearby restaurant. He said Rohan tried to ride around the bus but a car passed too closely and he swerved into the bus, striking his head. The bus was under contract to the Los Angeles Unified School District, but the district was not a party in the suit.

Simon said Rohan has already incurred $543,000 in medical expenses and will need 24-hour care for the rest of his life. He said the jury’s award should comfortably provide that care.

Simon said that under the pretrial agreement with the bus company, “there will be no appeal of this case. They are cutting a check and sending it right away.”

Otis Wright, who defended the Gardena-based bus company, said the $5-million award will be covered by the company’s insurance. He said he was disappointed that the jurors had placed 80% of the blame for the accident on the bus company and its driver. The jury found Rohan was 10% responsible and that the car that passed closely by him--and did not stop after the accident--was also 10% responsible.

“We honestly thought that it looked pretty clear that Rohan wasn’t watching where he was going, irrespective of the bus being parked illegally,” Wright said. “It was a large yellow school bus.”