CITY HALL — City Hall will pay a bicyclist who fell while riding on Ocean Park Boulevard $225,000 under a settlement agreement the City Council approved on Tuesday.
The bicyclist, Robin Ratner, said in court documents a “misleveling of the pavement” of between 1-and-a-half inches and 2 inches in the bike lane caused her to “go airborn and crash,” resulting in a head injury and two bone fractures, among other injuries.
The October, 2009 crash on Ocean Park Boulevard at Main Street cost $175,000 in medical expenses and caused Ratner to lose $60,000 in earnings, according to the documents.
Deputy City Attorney Lance Gams, who handled the case for City Hall, said the settlement agreement was a good deal for tax payers because a potential jury award could have been more than a million dollars.
“I think that the plaintiff would receive sympathetic treatment by a jury if the case went to trial,” he said.
The attorney for Ratner, Beverly Hills-based Peter Bersin, said his client had asked him not to comment publicly on the case.
nickt@www.smdp.com
