Dear Dwight,
I am sorry I lost your case, but it was not for the lack of trying. When CALTRANS offered nil, I took your case to trial, spent $59,620 on your trial, plus my office devoted hundreds of hours of attorney and staff time in trying to obtain a recovery for you. The facts of Dwight Stark v. Caltrans are public records of the Superior Court.
I am sorry the effort left a bad taste in your mouth.
Based on witness reports that El Camino Real was seriously dilapidated at the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, I tried your case against CALTRANS even though there were no similar motorcycle crashes at the location in the preceding five years. Your case was a stretch because of the stringent legal requirement to prove a roadway is dangerous when used by the general public, but I had known you for more than 30 years as my barber and my son's barber and my acquaintanceship led me to conclude that you should have the chance to recover for his dislocated shoulder, fractured elbow and lacerated knee, especially with the long hours a barber uses his shoulders and arms cutting hair. Everyone makes mistakes and I could have refused to try your case to a jury that eventually voted against us 12-0, but I don't give up on clients or friends.
On Friday, May 20, 2011, you were motorcycling home from work in Menlo Park on El Camino Real. You were traveling the same path you had used for year, going southbound on El Camino Real. Just "north" of the Stanford Shopping the roadway was 30 years old and should have been resurfaced 10 years ago. The pavement was unraveling, rutted and had potholes that generated loose gravel.
You braked for traffic at a red light, locked up his front brakes, lost control and fell. You attributed the locking up of the front brakes to loose gravel on the road. You reported the loose gravel to the paramedics, but the responding Palo Alto motorcycle officer didn't see gravel in the roadway and his report blamed you for the crash because you lost control by applying you front brake as opposed to relying on the rear brake to stop.
Brent White, one of the firemen that responded to the scene, testified there was loose gravel on the roadway in the area where you fell. He said the gravel stuck out in his mind because he slipped on it as he was carrying you on the gurney across the gutter and almost fell to the ground. Mr. White also testified he had never seen a roadway with as much loose gravel before or since, and that the condition of the roadway concerned him.
Under Palo Alto's maintenance agreement with CALTRANS, the City of Palo Alto was responsible to sweep the roadway on a weekly basis. Mr. Hospitalier, the Manager of Maintenance Operations for the City of Palo Alto testified his phone was "ringing off the hook" with complaints from concerned residents about the condition of the roadway in the months before the crash. Mr. Hospitalier forwarded these complaints to CALTRANS. When CALTRANS did not respond to the numerous phone calls, Mr. Hospitalier submitted formal Maintenance Service Requests to CALTRANS on April 5, 2011, and April 11, 2011.
CALTRANS also received complaints from the public before yourcrash:
* "Large swaths of potholes and pavement erosion-has been this way for months";
* "The right & Middle lanes of S-bound El Camino ... is so rutted and torn up that they are almost undriveable";
* "the roadway is in terrible shape - many deep potholes, a lot of gravel spread around. I am a bicycle user in that area and I note the danger ... of falling. Please note that this is even a severe problem for people in automobiles - the pavement is extremely bad here!";
* "[l]oose gravel in the roadway causes poor traction"; and
* Pavement from Sand Hill to University is in poor condition. This is a severe hazard to drivers and bicyclist."
At trial CALTRANS admitted the roadway was in 30 years old and in serious disrepair but that it was not in a dangerous condition when used by the pubic generally and that the roadway was safe because there had not been one motorcycle crash on this section of road for years.
CALTRANS statisticians testified that California has approximately 26 million cars and trucks and approximately 900,000 motorcycles. El Camino at the Stanford Shopping Center has an average daily traffic volume of approximately 38,000 cars and trucks and about 1300 motorcycles a day going in both directions or approximately 650 a day taking the same course as you.
Over a period of three years in excess of 700,000 motorcycles crossed over the same section of roadway without one crash according to the Statewide Traffic Reporting System maintained by the CHP. You were the first motorcycle to go down on this section of highway.
The jury heard the evidence and the testimony of our experts and decided against us.
I am glad we tried your case. I am very sorry you were injured and the impact the verdict has had you.
Richard Alexander read more
