A jury has ordered the University of Washington to pay $1.4 million to the family of a man who was severely injured after crashing his bike on a speed bump near Husky Stadium in 2017. The man, Roger Stocker, sustained a traumatic brain injury and needed constant assistance following the crash. He died because of his injuries in 2019.
Attorneys with Washington Bike Law and the Adee Law Firm, representing the Stocker family, argued that the UW had knowledge of the speed bump's danger but refused to have it removed or replaced. They cited several other reported crashes in the same location, including one involving a second person to sustain a traumatic brain injury, in 2020, and whose family is also suing tjhe UW.
Lawyers for the UW countered that Stocker's Alzheimer's diagnosis was the reason for his crash and that he subjected himself to that risk voluntarily, which Stocker's lawyers vehemently denied.
The verdict, which came after a protracted legal fight that did not end in a settlement as civil cases often do, found both the university and Stocker were negligent. Out of roughly $4 million in damages identified by the jury, members concluded the UW should cover 35%.
Aaron Adee, lawyer for Stocker, said they were trying to understand why Stocker was found to be 65% responsible. Despite his diagnosis, Stocker was high functioning, Adee said, and was an outspoken advocate for people with Alzheimer's.
"Roger's legacy was the work he did post diagnosis for destigmatizing Alzheimer's," Adee said. UW's contention that it explained his crash served "effectively to undo everything that he'd worked to accomplish."
UW spokesperson Victor Balta said the university is considering next steps, including a possible appeal.
"The defense was not allowed to state its case," Balta said in an email. "We believe the verdict would have been different if the UW had been permitted to call its defense witnesses and present its evidence."
The speed bump, located on Walla Walla Road just outside of Husky Stadium, was installed in 2015. Injuries quickly followed, Stocker's attorneys said. They provided seven examples of crashes that were officially reported to the University of Washington, with likely more that were never documented.
"There was a lot of anecdotal evidence of many, many crashes that were never reported," said Adee.
In 2016, the UW painted the bump white, along with lettering on the road warning of a bump.
Following his crash, Stocker needed round-the-clock medical care and lost his ability to communicate.
"Prior to the crash, Roger Stocker could not have been expected to have knowledge of this raised ridge of pavement, could not have been expected to have knowledge that this raised ridge of pavement presented a hazard to him, could not avoid hitting this raised ridge of pavement, and was not adequately warned of the raised ridge of pavement before impact," reads the Stockers' complaint.
In 2020, several years after Stocker's crash, Jonathan Spencer crashed his bicycle in the same location. His injuries also left him needing 24-hour care.
His family's attorney, Todd Gardner, declined to comment on the Stocker verdict, but said, "We just feel like when there's something that's that obviously hazardous and multiple people are hurt in the same spot, then something's wrong."
