10/366
5 years ago
The Hole.
As many of you know, about 5 months ago, Tom was involved in a bike accident. He was biking north down Front street near the Cape Fear bridge (for those of you who know where that is). When biking over a storm grate, the grate fell through the road, about three feet into the ground, taking his bike with it (note that his bike did not get caught in the grate, the grate simply collapsed into the hole it was covering). He was thrown, face first, from the bike and landed on the road.
911 was called and offered to take him to Cape Fear Memorial Hospital. The EMTs also called the city to inform them of the accident. Tom asked to be taken to New Hanover Regional Medical Center, the one across the street from our house, which, for whatever reason, the EMTs could not do, so a kind stranger drove Tom to the hospital.
At the ER, he needed a CT to determine if he had broken any bones in his head, a dental x-ray to determine the damage to his teeth, and his lip sewn shut.
The following day, we went to our dentist who found that one front tooth was broken through the root and had to be removed. Additionally, the other front tooth was chipped and had to be repaired at a separate visit.
Tom will now need to have oral surgery to have an implant put in so the dentist can create a new front tooth. Even after my dental insurance pays out, we will still have out of pocket expenses of at least $7,000, for the dental work alone (given that Tom is only 29, we’d like a permanent fix) This does not include the expenses from the ER that we will have to pay for (another $3000+).
We contacted the city directly and Tom spoke with the city’s HR department and had his statement recorded. We then received a letter in the mail from the insurance company stating that this accident was not the fault of the City of Wilmington, despite the fact that the sewer grate was clearly laid incorrectly.
When Tom called to question this ruling, he was told that the city was not liable because they had not known the grate was laid incorrectly and therefore it is classified as an “accident.” This seems like an illogical defense to me. If a traffic light was hung incorrectly and fell from the sky into someone’s car, killing them, could the city simply say “Oh, well we didn’t know it was a problem, so it’s not our fault” and get away with it?
We followed up with a lawyer who actually confirmed, that yes, this IS a valid defense. In fact, the lawyer even sent us a previous case very similar to ours where again, the city was not held liable. So all those expenses and bills are just one great big “sucks to be you.”
It’s been a rough year.
So hey, if you are in the Wilmington area, and happen to know of any prior accidents involving road grates and/or accidents specific to the Front St/Cape Fear Memorial Bridge area, I’d love to hear about it!
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