Scott Bliss is seen prior to the crash in a photo submitted by his family.
The crash scene after Bliss was injured on an on ramp in Centralia.
A lawsuit filed against the Washington State Department of Transportation and one of its contractors after a crash on Interstate 5 in Centralia in 2015 could result in more than $30 million in damages related to a man’s severe injuries.
The potentially expensive verdict would be “one of the largest personal injury verdicts ever in the state of Washington for a single injury,” said George Mix, an attorney representing the state of Washington in the case in Lewis County Superior Court Thursday.
The lawsuit came after a crash on Interstate 5 left Rochester motorcyclist Scott Bliss with permanent brain injuries a year ago. The matter was originally scheduled to go to trial this summer but is now on track for mid-October.
Attorneys for the plaintiff and defendants met in Lewis County Superior Court Thursday to discuss a proposed continuance, or a delay of the trial, and to discuss pretrial concerns, such as the format of jury selection.
Attorney Kathryn Morton represents Scarsella Bros Inc. and Wesley Snelson, and is working with Mix on the defense side. Bliss is represented by Viivi Vanderslice and Kirk Bernard, of Bernard Law Group PLLC, Seattle.
Bliss, and his partner and guardian, Cheryl Aton, are asking for $30 million in economic damages to cover the cost of Bliss’ care for the rest of his life. A jury will also decide on general damages to be awarded to Bliss in excess of that $30 million, Bernard said.
On Thursday, Mix and Morton asked Superior Court Judge Nelson Hunt to delay the trial for 90 days — moving it from July to October.
“We just need some more time here, to be honest with you,” Mix said.
Specifically, he told Superior Court Judge Nelson Hunt that the defense doesn’t have all of the information it needs about damages and liability for the case, and needs more time to complete depositions.
Attorneys for Bliss objected strongly to the continuance, saying it could be harmful to their client’s continuing recovery.
“When this trial date was scheduled back in October, it was set because of the medical necessity for Mr. Bliss,” Vanderslice said.
Vanderslice argued the defendants have all the information they should need, and said the defense’s motion to continue lacked specifics.
“This is not a trial by ambush,” she said. “These are things they’ve known.”
At about 5:20 a.m. on April 17, 2015, Bliss, 46, was riding his motorcycle on the Interstate 5 onramp off Harrison Avenue in Centralia where crews were doing construction for the I-5 Mellen Street to Blakeslee Junction project.
Bliss’ motorcycle collided with a dump truck driven by Wesley Snelson, an employee of Scarsella Bros. Inc., the contractor on the project, as it made an illegal U-turn, blocking the ramp, according to the lawsuit.
The truck should have used a gravel access road to turn around, but was allowed to make a U-turn in the on-ramp in the dark without a flagger to alert oncoming traffic, according to the lawsuit.
Bliss was transported by emergency crews to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where he stayed in a coma for a month after the collision, Vanderslice told The Chronicle.
After being released, he was transferred to a rehabilitation facility in Puyallup. After a day there, he was transferred to Good Samaritan Hospital, where he almost died during emergency surgery, Vanderslice said.
“It was really, really poor care for 24 hours and that’s what happened,” she said.
Aton filed the multimillion-dollar lawsuits against the Washington State Department of Transportation and Scarsella Bros. Inc and Snelson in June. The cases have since been consolidated into a single lawsuit.
Bliss fought off numerous infections and from June through December while in a hospital specializing in acute care, Vanderslice said. However, he got very little regular therapy and personalized care there, she said.
“He was unconscious with the lowest Glascow coma rating you can have and still be alive,” Bernard said, referring to a system of scoring a person’s consciousness level.
Bliss started to wake up in August, Vanderslice added.
After leaving that facility, he was transferred to Centre for Neuro Skills, or CNS, in Bakersfield, California. There, getting 24-hour care and rehabilitation, he has shown improvement, Vanderslice said.
“There is no comparable facility in Washington State,” she said.
Bliss is expected to suffer permanent brain damage that will likely become a progressive form of dementia, Bernard told The Chronicle. Bliss struggles to use his hands, and his personality has been affected by the brain injury.
“His walking will be limited to shuffling,” Bernard said.
Bliss is tentatively scheduled to be discharged from CNS in July.
“At that point, they’ve done what they can for him,” Vanderslice said. “Then he needs to have comparable care here.”
Bliss is from Rochester, where there are no similar residential facilities that can cater to his needs, so he will need to bring someone into his home to care for him, Vanderslice told The Chronicle.
Without more money, Bliss, who Vanderslice said is on Medicaid, will not be able to pay for that care.
“I don’t know what he’s going to do,” she said.
Hunt granted the continuance and rescheduled the trial to start the week of Oct. 17. He tentatively set the trial to last three weeks.
A mediation session has also been scheduled for June 1.
The trial was originally scheduled to last two weeks.
“I think council will agree, there’s no way this is going to be done in two weeks,” Mix said.
Mix estimated that the trial could take five to six weeks. Hunt suggested it could take longer.
Hunt noted finding a jury willing and able to sit through a potentially month-long trial or more will be difficult, and said up to 120 potential jurors will likely be called for jury selection.
