The Accident

It was a mild, sunny Saturday in early October 2015, maybe one of the last opportunities for my husband Greg to enjoy a long, leisurely bicycle ride before the rain and darkness set in for the next six months in Portland, Ore. Greg is not just a fair-weather rider; he commutes by bike to work in the sun and rain year-round as long as overall conditions are safe i.e. not icy or too windy. At this point two years ago, he had already ridden his bike over 4,000 miles since purchasing it new from REI here in Portland in 2012.

On this particular day, Greg decided to go on a ride he has done a few times before, parts of which he has ridden countless times before, sometimes with me but more often alone. He left our apartment by mid-morning and put his bike on a bus heading east. He disembarked in Gresham and biked the Gresham Fairview Trail to where it intersects with the Springwater Corridor. From there he started heading west on the trail, which he would ride until eventually turning north toward our home on the north slope of Mt. Tabor.

I was enjoying a quiet afternoon relaxing at home when I received a text message from Greg saying he had been in an accident but that both he and his bike were unharmed. However, the other rider that was involved was injured. We did not actually talk on the phone; he just texted me that everything was okay and that he would continue his ride and be home in a few hours. Of course I was worried, but Greg is a very experienced rider and I trust that if he was actually hurt he would ask for help. The only other time he has had any incidents on his bike other than the all-too-common flat tire was when he was riding in northwest Portland and was thrown off his bike while crossing a section of old, recessed railroad tracks.

When Greg arrived home later that October afternoon, I was anxious to hear the details of the accident. He told me that near the intersection at SE 174th Ave, he came upon two cyclists who were riding abreast, also going west. They were riding slightly slower than he was, so he would overtake them. The standard procedure is to audibly announce your intention to pass, always on the left, by either ringing a bell or giving a verbal warning like "bike" or "on your left." Greg has a very loud, mid-to-high-pitch bell on his bike, and that is what he uses to alert other riders that he is approaching. In this case, after he rang the bell when he was approximately 20 feet behind them, the rider in the middle of the path, who had been sitting upright with his hands off the handlebars, leaned forward and put his hands back on the handlebars then moved slightly to the right. This gave Greg enough room to pass on the left, so he proceeded. Just as he came alongside the two cyclists, the one in the middle swerved back to the left, causing his handlebars to clip Greg's. The contact sent Greg onto the rough shoulder of the trail and it took him some time to regain control of his bike. Once he did, he looked back at the other riders and saw that the one in the middle had fallen off his bike.

Greg was concerned for the downed rider so he circled back to check on him. The guy seemed a bit disoriented and said he was in pain. There were no obvious injuries to him nor any damage to his bike, but he told his riding partner that he wanted to go to the doctor. Greg assisted them by using Google Maps on his phone to show them where they were at in relation to the nearest intersection where someone could pick them up. Greg offered to help them walk their bikes to the intersection but they declined. Before Greg left, they asked him for his name and phone number, which he provided.

Based on this information, I asked Greg to immediately sit down and write a full, detailed description of the accident while it was still fresh on his mind. I didn't want to take any chances that he might forget the specifics in case there were any claims against us (the fact that they had asked for his name and phone number raised red flags for me). Sure enough, my intuition was accurate. Less than two weeks after the accident the injured rider called Greg, told him that he had ended up in the hospital for three nights with a concussion and multiple fractures, and asked for our insurance information. Since we do not own a home or a vehicle, we have renter's insurance through State Farm. Our policy is pretty basic, covering our relatively minimal personal belongings, and it includes only $100,000 in liability.

The following weeks turned into months as we waited apprehensively, wondering if or when a claim would be filed. It was not until the afternoon of our fifth wedding anniversary in July 2016 that I received an email from State Farm notifying me that there was a report of loss against our insurance policy. Two weeks later our doorbell rang, and Greg was served with a summons to "appear" and defend a complaint for bodily injuries and money damages totaling $326,752.04.

Thus began the protracted battle to prove Greg's innocence i.e. that he was not negligent in causing the accident and the subsequent injuries to the other rider.