Defense: Shoemaker Was ‘on Verge of Death’

A defense lawyer said Tuesday that neurosurgeons for both the defense and the plaintiff will testify that Bill Shoemaker was a quadriplegic even before paramedics arrived at the scene of his single-car accident six years ago.

“Experts from both sides will say that William Shoemaker was a full-blown quadriplegic at the time of the accident,” attorney Michael A. O’Flaherty said in Los Angeles County Superior Court as the defense lawyers finished their opening statements.

O’Flaherty represents Glendora Community Hospital and one of the seven doctors Shoemaker has sued in a $50-million malpractice action.

Shoemaker, who won a record 8,833 races as a jockey before becoming a trainer in 1990, alleges that the doctors made his injuries worse when they treated him in the hours after the accident.

Shoemaker’s Ford Bronco II went down a 30-foot embankment off California 30 in San Dimas on April 8, 1991, rolling over three or four times.

Kenneth N. Mueller, another defense attorney, told the jury that evidence will show that Shoemaker suffered serious spinal-column injuries.

“The roof of the car came down on his head with tremendous force,” Mueller said. “It pulled [the seventh cervical vertebra] right out of the column and broke off pieces of bone.”

Steve Van Sicklen, another defense attorney, said that Shoemaker almost died.

“Literally, he was on the verge of death on four occasions before he went into surgery,” Van Sicklen said.