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Pima OKs $1M for kin of victim in ATV crash
By Andrea Kelly
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.02.2009
Pima County has agreed to pay $1 million to the family of a man who died after he hit a washed-out section of Redington Road on an all-terrain vehicle three years ago. The Pima County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the settlement Tuesday. Gary L. Gardella, 53, was riding on Redington Road with a friend when they hit the washed-out section in August 2006. The crash followed massive flooding throughout Pima County from storms in late July.
Gardella, who was thrown from his ATV when it slid off the road and into the ditch, was not wearing a helmet and died at the scene, according to Arizona Daily Star archives. The settlement is a relief for the close-knit family, which was traumatized by the accident, said Jim Marner, the family's lawyer. The kids were all younger than 20 when Gardella died, he said.
Gardella was driving below the advisory speed limit and was not being reckless, Marner said. The road had been closed after the flooding from monsoon storms in late July, Marner said. It had been reopened by the time Gardella was using it, which is why the county should have known the road was in bad shape. "You have an expectancy that the county, if they're going to maintain the roads, there won't be a hole there that's 4 feet deep that's going to kill you," Marner said.
Gardella's wife, Susan, and his three kids, Michael, Kelly and Tony, asked for $10 million in a claim and civil suit against Pima County. The family said the county had "actual or constructive knowledge" of the "deep, hazardous, latent and unreasonably dangerous ditch" on the road. The amount broke down to $4 million for Susan Gardella and $2 million for each of the children.
The county denied the claim years ago but agreed to the $1 million Tuesday. The settlement is not an admission of fault, said Tom Dugal, deputy Pima county attorney. The settlement, which will be paid from the county's self-insurance fund, puts the lawsuit to rest, Dugal said.
