Chester Co. Bicyclist Injured In Crash Wins $29 Million Settlement

WEST CHESTER, PA — A Chester County court has awarded a bicyclist who suffered severe injuries in a crash a settlement of more than $29 million dollars, his lawyers announced this week.

The incident occurred in July 2022 on a bike and pedestrian trail that intersects with Bushong Road in Lancaster County.

As the 51-year-old man entered the intersection he was struck by a truck owned by JM Lapp Plumbing and launched 25 feet away, according to the lawsuit. He suffered an axonal brain injury that sent him into a long coma, and numerous internal injuries that resulted in the removal of his spleen.

He now lives in a long term care facility, where he must remain the rest of his life, his attorneys said.

“Prior to the crash, our client was an athlete and had a true zest for life,” Morgan & Morgan founder John Morgan and attorney Clancy Boylan said in a joint statement. “He was a caring and compassionate nurse at a VA hospital and lived his life to the fullest. But a negligent driver left him with catastrophic and permanent injuries that robbed him of his ability to work, care for himself and live the life he had dreamed."

Attorney said they gave the driver's insurance company, Penn National Insurance, "several opportunities to do the right thing" and pay the limit of its policy, but they refused.

The victim has had to relearn how to speak and eat, attorneys added.

Before the settlement, he rejected a pre-trial settlement offer of $500,000.