68-year-old former librarian Trudy Roy was injured on May 19 of this year when she was injured in a motorcycle accident involving a police motorcycle. Trudy had been walking to the grocery store, something she’d done for years without incident, when she stopped to observe a group of policeman running for a Special Olympics fund-raiser. She had a good time, stopping to chat with children along the way who had also stopped to watch the fun. When she decided to continue on her way, she waited for a policeman to motion her across the street. She was struck halfway across the street by officer Jerry Shuttles.
The office had raced to the front of the pack. Just as he cleared the pack of motorcyclists, he saw Trudy Roy and attempted to swerve, leaving a forty foot skid mark. The officer was violently bucked from his motorcycle, but it paled in comparison to Trudy’s injuries. Her battered 118-pound body flew ten feet high and twenty feet across the road before slamming into pavement. The left side of her body was deadened, perhaps permanently. Her left arm is a source of constant aching numbness as its nerves were destroyed in the motor vehicle accident. “I wish they’d cut it off,” claims Trudy. Doctors are attempting to save the left leg, but it is proving difficult as the leg was broken in five places and contracted an infection.
Her insurance through the Homewood Public Library in Alabama offered Trudy $100,000. The sum covers less than half of her medical costs, and places her in a pickle with her finances. Trudy had taken the job at Homewood Public Library in order to support her and her alcoholic husband. She retired in November, 2005 after working for the library for 20 years. Her five children and their families are incredibly frustrated with the predicament. “Homewood is someone who could help my mother, and they’re just hiding behind the cap. We’re just asking for her to be taken care of,” said her son Mike Roy.
The cap responsible for causing such personal injury to Trudy was placed in 1977, back when $100,000 was more than enough to cover the bills. If the cap were updated, it would decrease a great deal of these horrible instances in Alabama. Brenda Roy, Trudy’s daughter, said that, “We’ve all cried; we’ve all been angry. We don’t believe in frivolous lawsuits. But we strongly believe that, in severe situations, the representatives need to amend the law.”
If you or someone you know has been injured in a motorcycle accident, or if you would like to learn more about damage caps, please feel free to contact a personal injury lawyer. The Injury Lawyers, P.C., in Mobile, Alabama are a group of experienced personal injury attorneys specializing in automobile accidents and other forms of personal injury law.
