Gary Stuebe got his settlement

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Pima County and the organizers of El Tour de Tucson have settled a lawsuit with a Surprise resident who was brain-damaged in a crash nearly two years ago. The settlement was for $3.5 million.

. . .

Stuebe was riding in the bicycling event on Nov. 22, 2008, when William Wilson, then 91, turned north onto Westward Look Drive from West Ina Road and collided with 10 bike riders.

Stuebe, then 41, suffered a life-threatening brain injury, and four others suffered a variety of less-serious injuries.

. . .

Taxpayers won’t be directly responsible for the $3.5 million. Although the county normally pays the first $2 million of any judgment or claim settlement, the Perimeter Bicycling Association took out a $2 million policy on the event, which will cover the county’s out-of-pocket obligation, said William Rubin, who helped represent the county. Insurance will cover the rest.

Leshner said it’s miraculous that Stuebe is alive. He suffered damage to his frontal and temporal lobes, had portions of his brain removed and spent 40 days in a coma. He still suffers from epilepsy as a result of the crash.

Before the crash, Stuebe was a senior inventory analyst for PetSmart, but he will never be able to return to that job, Leshner said.

“Gary has a lot of challenges, but the settlements give him a secure financial future,” Leshner said.
Despite the settlements, Leshner said Stuebe is determined to work again and is considering a job offer to sack groceries.

Wilson fled the scene and hired attorney Michael Bloom, who provided Wilson’s name to authorities two days later.

He pleaded guilty to attempted leaving the scene of an accident and was placed on three years’ probation in June 2009.

Bloom said at the time of his sentencing that Wilson left only because he was frightened by angry bicyclists who had gathered around his car and yelled at him.

azstarnet.com/news/local/crime/article_8aecede2-77e1-5827-8ed6-aa2c23f677b7.html.

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About big jonny

The man, the legend. The guy who started it all back in the Year of Our Lord Beer, 2000, with a couple of pages worth of idiotic ranting hardcoded on some random porn site that would host anything you uploaded, a book called HTML for Dummies (which was completely appropriate), a bad attitude (which hasn’t much changed), and a Dell desktop running Win95 with 64 mgs of ram and a six gig hard drive. Those were the days. Then he went to law school. Go figure. Flagstaff, Arizona, USA

12 Replies to “Gary Stuebe got his settlement”

  1. The question is not whether he will work at Petsmart again, (with 3.5 mil, who would?) but WILL HE BE ABLE TO RIDE AGAIN? I’m sure Gary would like the answer to be yes. Justice is served, for once.

  2. 3.5M ain’t shit these days. Put it in a fund and you might get 50k net. You can live on that, sure, but don’t think your house will be on “Cribs” anytime soon.

  3. Not too sure justice was served….money came from taxpayers and the ride organizers it sounds like. Should’ve come from the old man and whoever insured him to drive and a whole lot more $$.

  4. gary and his wife and children have had such a challenge and the money is not the issue! They are living with a challenge now that they have never had to deal with before!!! Its about having a life that they now no longer can live without the difficulties they have to deal with!! Thanks to all who have had them in thoughts and prayers and Please continue to think about them and keep them in your prayers!!! Life is a challenge to all of us but more so to those who have challenges to tempt thier fate!!!!!!!!! and dauber just so you know money didnt come from the taxpayers!!!! who cares anyways their lives have been totally disrupted and you have no idea what they have been thru and still going thru!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  5. I updated the post above to include this part from the article:

    Taxpayers won’t be directly responsible for the $3.5 million. Although the county normally pays the first $2 million of any judgment or claim settlement, the Perimeter Bicycling Association took out a $2 million policy on the event, which will cover the county’s out-of-pocket obligation, said William Rubin, who helped represent the county. Insurance will cover the rest.

  6. Fiscal conservative that I am, I’d still approve if they had to pay. I only object to wasteful spending, and I’m damned if I see how this qualifies.

  7. A firsthand account of life after a TBI:

    http://outskirtspress.com/webpage.php?ISBN=9781432758455

    Geo is an old friend of mine from high school. Our lives paralleled a lot. Got into cycling at about the same time, with about the same vigor. He was a bit more naturally talented at it. Both been hit and seriously injured. But for a matter of freak chance that could be me, or a number of other people here. Don’t ever let your guard down.

  8. Thanks for the update, I don’t live in Az, only read about this on DC. My point above (that maybe wasn’t clear) was that this guy had a horrible injury but it seemed the negligent party isn’t the one paying and also that the judgement amount seems weak compared to the injuries sustained. I wish him well in his recovery and that he gets his due.

  9. A guy hits and nearly kills a cyclist and the county pays for claim settlements? How is that law?

  10. The guy who hit him paid too, but didn’t exactly have enough dough to cover the injuries. The county was on the hook because they were negligent (or believed they could be found negligent by a jury) in their management of the corner where Stuebe was hit. Obviously, the county and ride organizers are insured to the gills. I think Pima County self-insures to two million, so their share will come out of the taxpayer’s pockets. That’s like a buck twenty or so per person. I for one won’t mind paying.

  11. Like I said, most around here probably know how I feel about government waste. But this ain’t waste.