How walking on the wrong side of the American River bike trail led to a $10 million verdict
The two teens were working together at a Folsom nursing home. They liked each other. Finally, he asked her out. The movie date started with a stroll on the recreation trail next to Lake Natoma.
At about the same time, Ken and Carol Korsmo of Fair Oaks, a couple in their mid-60s and avid tandem bicycle riders, set out along their favorite route around scenic Lake Natoma.
The two couples’ paths converged tragically that spring evening, June 2, 2014, on a twisty and densely wooded section of the American River Parkway trail.
A moment of confusion led to a serious bike crash causing three injuries and a courtroom fight over who was at fault – and perhaps an eye-opening lesson to the tens of thousands of American River Parkway users about trail rules, etiquette and consequences.
Last month, a Sacramento Superior Court civil court jury issued a $10 million verdict. In doing so, it determined that three of the four people shared some legal responsibility for causing the crash. The decision throws a spotlight on the ambiguity of interactions on the region’s recreation trails, most notably the popular 32-mile American River Parkway trail.
In this case, the teens were walking side by side on the paved trail when they heard a bell ring behind them from an approaching bike. The young woman, who was 16 at the time, said they were walking slightly apart.
“We were trying to get over the (first date) awkwardness because we both liked each other a lot, but were both nervous,” she said later in a court deposition.
Bike collides with walkers
Ken Korsmo, the lead rider on the married-couple tandem, later told a jury he rang the bell on his handlebars because the young woman was walking near the center line. The boy was in the opposite lane, on the left side of the trail.
When he heard the bell, Julio Lawrence, who was 19 at the time, stepped out of the way to his left. But his date began heading toward the right side of the trail to get out of the way.
The young man corrected her, telling her she should come toward the left. She reversed course, and had taken one or two steps, she said in a court deposition, when she was hit from behind by the bike.
The Sacramento Bee is not publishing the 16-year-old girl’s name because she was a minor at the time of the incident.
The cyclists, who were going an estimated 10 miles per hour at impact, were thrown to the ground with their cleats still clipped to their bike pedals. Both were wearing helmets, but both were knocked unconscious, according to one of their attorneys.
The 16-year-old was sent tumbling. She suffered cuts and bruises. The 19-year-old called 911 on his cell phone, struggling to direct emergency crews to the site, which was near a spur trail entrance from Young Wo Circle in Folsom.
Other cyclists and trail users stopped to offer assistance, both to the Korsmos and to the young woman.
Carol Korsmo, a school teacher, was in a coma for three days and spent several months in a hospital intensive care unit, according to her attorneys, John Demas and Tim Spangler of the Demas Law Group. She was forced to retire from work with permanent injuries, including cognitive problems.
The Korsmos sued, contending the teens were negligent and careless, and had failed to walk on the trail in a reasonable and safe manner.
American River Parkway walking rules
American River Parkway trail rules indicate that pedestrians are instructed to stay to the left, facing oncoming cyclists. If there is space on the dirt shoulder, they should be on that shoulder or step to that shoulder when a cyclist approaches.
Part of the parkway is in the county of Sacramento, and part in the California State Parks jurisdiction. State Parks Department Superintendent Rich Preston said the basic rules are the same in both areas.
Preston said rangers do not issue citations to those who disobey the rules.
Last month, the Korsmos reached a settlement with the 16-year-old girl’s parent’s home insurance company. The company agreed to pay $300,000, the maximum amount of the family’s insurance policy.
The insurance company for the 19-year-old boy’s parents opted for a jury trial, however, according to Demas.
That insurance company and the defense attorneys did not respond to several Bee requests for comment. The Bee was unable to reach the young man, leaving messages at several phone numbers. The defense attorneys contended in court documents that the tandem cyclists were negligent and that their arrival on the trail from behind constituted “an unexpected and sudden peril.”
A jury last month ruled that the Korsmos are due $10.2 million, based on legal formulas for loss of wages, medical expenses and physical and emotional suffering for Carol Korsmo.
But the jury divided the fault among three of the four people: It concluded that the girl was 60 percent responsible for the crash, the boy was 16 percent responsible and the man steering the tandem bike was 24 percent responsible.
The girl’s responsibility stemmed from her walking in the wrong spot and failing to correctly get out of the way, the plaintiff attorneys said. The boy was partly responsible, those attorneys said, because the girl was following his instructions to move left after she had initially gone right.
Ken Korsmo shared responsibility because he could have slowed down more and could have called out a verbal warning or instructions to the pair ahead, his attorneys said.
Under the state’s liability law, the Korsmos will not get the full $10 million, their attorneys said. That’s partly because the girl’s insurance company already settled with a $300,000 payment, and because Ken Korsmo, although partly responsible, is not a defendant in the case.
Demas said he believes the Korsmos should be due something in the $5 million range from the young man’s parents’ insurance company, based on complex formulas for economic and non-economic damages. Attorneys in the case said that will be determined by the judge.
“We can all feel empathy for each of these people,” Demas said, “but ultimately we were able to show that decisions and choices have consequences, and you have to follow the rules. If you don’t, you have to be held accountable. “
Phillip Bonotto, the attorney for the young woman, said his client, now 21, is sorry the Korsmos were injured, and hopes to put the matter behind her.
The young couple did not date again, her attorney told The Bee.
Here are the Sacramento County rules for recreation trail usage: https://regionalparks.saccounty.net/Parks/Pages/Multi-useTrailRulesandRegulations.aspx
This story was originally published November 12, 2019 at 11:04 AM.