A motorcyclist and Navy veteran who lost a leg in a 2019 chain-reaction crash started by a Navy sailor driving a military van near San Diego has won a $10.8 million settlement against the United States.
Attorneys for the motorcyclist, Peter Arthur, said the settlement is one of the largest against the federal government in the San Diego area for a suit involving a vehicle collision, the San Diego Union Tribune reported.
Arthur, a 49-year-old who served 20 years in the U.S. Navy, underwent multiple surgeries following the Sept. 13, 2019, crash. Arthur was thrown from his motorcycle, causing the femur, tibia and fibula in his right leg to shatter, according to his civil lawsuit. Doctors eventually had to amputate the leg above the knee.
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Navy sailor Michael Stanley Reynolds was driving a large passenger van on Interstate 5 when he “suddenly and without warning” swerved into the next lane to his left, causing several vehicles to crash, according to the lawsuit.
Reynolds did not face criminal charges in connection with the crash. A Navy spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment by the Union-Tribune.
Arthur’s civil lawsuit against the federal government alleges his injuries were “permanent, disfiguring, and disabling” and “will require extensive future medical care, life care, and vocational rehabilitation.”
