03x113 - Motorcycle vs Jaywalker

[bunniefuu]

- You hit her with your motorcycle?
- I did.

She was on the side of the road.

Are you suggesting
that he hit her on purpose?

Um...

She was jaywalking
in the middle of the street, right?

He was not in the middle
of the road when he hit her.

I don't care.
He was where he was supposed to be.

She was not where she was supposed to be.

- [announcer] This is Judy Justice.
- [theme music]

[announcer] Casey Griffin is suing
motorcyclist, Jeffrey Pearson, for damages

after Casey's 16-year-old
daughter, Kennedy,

was struck by Jeffrey
while crossing the streets.

[Kevin]
Court come to order. All rise.

[Judy]
Have a seat please.

Judge, case 3184, Griffin versus Pearson.

- Thank you, Kevin.
- [Kevin] You're welcome.

[Judy] This was an accident...
your daughter was involved in an accident.

- In an automobile accident.
- Yes, ma'am.

- She was a pedestrian?
- [Casey] Yes, ma'am.

- You were not there?
- I was not.

Okay. So why don't you sit down.
Daughter, stand up.

- Tell me your first name.
- Kennedy.

Kennedy, on what day
were you involved in an accident?

December 28th.

- [Judy] What time?
- Around 6:00.

Between 6:00 and 7 o'clock at night.

- Dark?
- [Kennedy] Mhm.

Where do you live?

I live in Fulton
but the accident happened in Jeff City.

- [Judy] In what state?
- [Kennedy] Missouri.

[Judy]
You were on foot?

- You were walking?
- [Kennedy] Mhm.

Where were you going to or coming from?

I was leaving my sister's house
across the street

and I was crossing the street
to get to my brother's car.

So go over there
and show me where you were crossing.

- Show me your sister's house.
- [Kennedy] I'm not sure which one it is.

[Judy]
You're right in the middle of the block.

- [Kennedy] Mhm.
- [Judy] Okay.

So you're leaving your sister's house
in the middle of the block.

- And show me where you were going?
- I was going across to over here.

[Judy] You were crossing
in the middle of the street?

- Mhm.
- [Judy] And it was dark?

Yes, ma'am.

When you crossed the street
in the middle of the block in the dark,

are there street lamps on that street?

Yes or no? Do you know? Or if you
don't know, tell me I don't know.

I don't know.

- Are there street lamps on your street?
- There are, but most of them don't work.

[Judy]
Okay. So there were no street lights.

If they don't work, then there
were no lights. So it's dark, right?

- Yes.
- [Judy] And you're crossing

- in the middle of the block?
- Mhm.

[Judy]
You're wearing any reflective clothing?

- No.
- So tell me what happened.

So me and my brother
went to visit my sister.

She lives in Jeff City,
which is 30 minutes away.

I got all that.
You're crossing the street.

We were gonna leave.

So we were gonna get in my brother's car
instead of my sister's.

My brother had parked across the street.

And he had already crossed the street
so I was going behind him.

I had looked both ways.
There was nobody coming.

So I was crossing the street
and my sister was behind me.

She hadn't gotten on the street yet.

And as I'm walking,
in my peripheral vision,

I see a motorcycle
come like from off the intersection,

turn onto the road that I'm walking on.

And I wasn't close
to the end of the road at all,

so I figured he would have time to see me.

[Judy] Let me stop you right there
and let me process what you just said.

You thought
that he would have time to see you?

- Yes.
- [Judy] You were thinking

- what he would be thinking?
- [Kennedy] Yes.

- [Judy] And?
- [Kennedy] And I was already

more than halfway across the street.

I only had a few more steps
to get to the other side.

So I just quickened up a little bit.

And I was almost fully across
the street and then I got hit.

Whose fault is that?

Honestly,
I wouldn't say it's anyone's fault.

Well, certainly not his fault.
Certainly not his fault. You saw him.

- Yes.
- [Judy] Okay.

You're jaywalking in the middle
of the street, not at a corner.

You saw him and you said to yourself,
"Self, I think I can make it," right?

- Mhm.
- [Judy] And you didn't.

I mean, you don't think
that this man sped up

- 'cause he saw you, to hit you, right?
- [Kennedy] No. Of course not.

[Judy] Of course not.
You don't think he hit you intentionally.

- Right?
- No.

You understand that you were in the wrong,
crossing in the middle of the street.

- No.
- [Judy] Well, you are.

You're supposed to cross at the corner.
That way, people stop.

I don't know if you have stop signs,
if you have lights. Stop signs or light?

- Neither.
- [Judy] Where?

There's not a stop sign or a light.

There's a light at the very end
of the street.

[Judy] Okay. Well, I'd like you to go over
to the street where you live

and I want you to show me
where the light is.

It's not in this picture.
It's at the very end.

[Judy]
Okay. Now, on the other street, below.

- This one?
- [Judy] That one.

- Is it a two-way street?
- [Kelsey] Yes.

[Judy]
It's a two-way street.

And at the intersection there,
you have four lanes of traffic

and you're telling me
there's no stop sign or a yield sign?

- [Kelsey] There's a stop sign here.
- [Judy] Well, that's what I'm saying.

Of course, there's a stop sign. So at the
other end of the street, there's a light,

and at the corner, there's a stop sign
where vehicles have to stop.

- Mhm.
- Right? Right. Now, you can step back.

- So you got hit. And what happened?
- [Kennedy] I didn't blackout.

I wasn't unconscious. But it was kind
of blurry for a few moments.

I just really remember getting hit.
I rolled a few times.

Everything really became clear again.
A few moments later, my legs hurt a lot.

I stayed on the ground for a while.
I don't know exactly how long.

I wanna say somewhere between 10 and 20
minutes, until the ambulance got there,

and they put me on a stretcher
and took me to the ambulance.

[theme music]

My daughter has the pictures
where the motorcycle was when she was hit.

- If you have proof...
- Yes.

[Judy] ...that he went up
on the street and hit her,

- I'd like to see that.
- Okay.

[Judy] Your daughter says
she really thought she could make it.

[theme music]

[announcer] Casey Griffin claims
motorcyclist, Jeffrey Pearson,

hit her 16-year-old daughter, Kennedy,
while crossing the street.

Jeffrey is countersuing Casey
for motorcycle damages.

- Go ahead.
- [Kennedy] I remember he was there too.

He apologized for the accident

and he said he didn't mean
to do it and I believed him.

I said, "It's okay," and I said,
"Thank you." At some point, he left.

I remember my brother was there with me
while I was still on the road. And...

- And where was your sister?
- [Kennedy] She was there.

I could see her pacing
in the like peripheral vision.

And I could see she was on the phone
with somebody but I couldn't hear.

And there was... I think there were three,
maybe two people around me.

My brother was definitely one of them.

He was like right to my side,
like on the ground kneeling above me,

- and he had called my mom.
- Mhm.

There was another person.

I think somebody who was just driving
and got out of their car.

And he said...

No, don't tell me what anybody said
that got out of their car.

- [Kennedy] Alright.
- You can't. It's the law.

You can't tell me what somebody else said.

- The ambulance took you to the hospital?
- Yes.

- Did you stay in the hospital?
- Until like 2:00 in the morning.

[Judy]
So you didn't spend the night there?

- [Kennedy] No.
- [Judy] And did they take X-rays?

- Did they... you had no broken bones?
- No.

- [Judy] You got some scrapes?
- Mhm.

I'm gonna ask you
a couple of other questions...

- [Kennedy] Alright.
- ...that maybe you don't know.

Now, I'm gonna have your mom stand up.

When this happened,
the defendant gave someone,

either your brother or your sister,

his information,
his insurance information, et cetera.

- That is correct, sir?
- Yes, ma'am.

[Judy]
And did you contact his insurance company?

- Yes, ma'am, I did.
- And, ultimately,

his insurance company said
the accident was your daughter's fault

and they weren't covering
any of her expenses.

- No. That's not what they told me.
- [Judy] What did they tell you?

They told me that he didn't have coverage.
I have the voicemail for it.

- Did you have coverage?
- [Jeffrey] I did, ma'am.

I do believe that they didn't cover it
because it wasn't my fault.

That's what I was told.

[Judy] Do you have a letter
from your insurance company?

I have one of my insurance cards.
Like a picture of it.

[Judy]
Okay. I'll take a look at that for now.

- After his insurance company...
- [Jeffrey] Here you go.

...told you either he didn't have insurance
or they weren't paying the bill...

- [Casey] Mhm.
- ...did you consult with a lawyer?

- No, ma'am, I didn't.
- [Judy] Okay.

Now, you just heard your daughter tell me...
and she's absolutely charming, lovely...

- [Kennedy] Thank you.
- ...honest, honest,

that she didn't think this accident was
anybody's fault. You agree with that?

Um... I don't.
From what I've been told, no, I don't.

I'd like you to tell me why.

- Let me recap the facts for you.
- Okay. Okay.

[Judy] He hasn't said a word really, yet,
but from what your daughter tells me,

and as I said, she's lovely and bright
and articulate and I think honest.

Mhm. She is.

She was jaywalking
in the middle of the street.

Not at a stop sign, not at a light.

I haven't asked him, but it's clear,
even from your daughter's rendition,

that he certainly
didn't intentionally hit her.

- Mhm.
- [Judy] Right? Your daughter says

that her brother jaywalked first,
crossed over. She was going second.

And her oldest sister... I'm right?
You are her older sister, right?

- Yes.
- [Judy] Was behind her.

She said when she got almost
to the middle of the block,

she saw from her peripheral vision...

I was more than halfway across the street.

She was more than halfway
across the street.

She saw in her peripheral vision
his motorcycle,

which had its lights on,
but she thought she could make it,

because she said,
"I thought that he would see me

and either stop or go around."
I don't know what you thought.

Either stop or go around. She thought
that he would be able to see her.

She was... it was like
looking in a crystal ball.

And he did in fact hit her
because she was mistaken.

- He didn't see her.
- Mhm.

Right? No lights. She's crossing
in the middle of the street.

She saw him. He didn't see her.
And it was an accident.

- Mhm.
- [Judy] Because... what my shock is

that you are suing him
for not only actual damages

from whatever out-of-pocket you
may have had, but punitive damages.

- And you know what that is?
- Yes, ma'am, I do.

[Judy]
To punish him for a wrongdoing.

Why would you think that he did something
to be punished for a wrongdoing?

Because she was already across the street.
She was on the side of the road.

He was not in the middle
of the road when he hit her.

She was on the side of the road
when she got hit.

[Judy]
That's not what she told me.

And your daughter is touching you now
and she's saying to...

"Mom,"...she's touching you
and she's saying,

"That's not what happened."

- Um...
- [Judy] She wasn't...

your daughter didn't tell me that
she was not in the middle of the road.

I mean, when you say middle of the road...
she wasn't on a street...

[Judy]
She was crossing.

- She's not supposed to cross there.
- [Casey] No, that's what I'm saying.

That's what she said,
but she was already across the street.

I have... my daughter has the pictures
where the motorcycle was

when she was hit. Her headphone...

[Judy]
Oh, I would like to see that. If you...

- Yes. [chuckles]
- [Judy] Just a second.

- If you have proof...
- [Casey] Yes.

...that... shh.

If you have proof that he went up
where the cars were parked

or went up on the street and hit her,
I'd like to see that.

- [Casey] Okay.
- Your daughter says

she really thought she could make it,
so she kept going,

which means
she was in the middle of the road.

She was in the road where he was supposed
to be and she was not supposed to be.

If you're telling me that he actually went
up on the street and hit her,

I'd love to see that.

- Okay.
- [Judy] Okay. Great.

- [chuckles]
- You have that?

[Kelsey] Well, he wasn't. He didn't
come up on the side of the road, but...

[Judy]
Well, that's what your mother just said.

[Kelsey]
He was very close to the sidewalk.

She was probably about two steps away
from the sidewalk.

I don't care.
He was where he was supposed to be.

She was not where she was supposed to be.

I think it was just more so... it was kind
of impossible for him not to see her,

because she had already...
she was basically across the street.

Sit down. Are you... are you...

You're not suggesting that
what your daughter says is true,

that it was basically
not possible for him not to see her.

[laughs] That would mean to me
that he hit her on purpose.

Are you suggesting
that he hit her on purpose?

No, ma'am. I wasn't there, so...

You're not suggesting
he hit her on purpose?

- No.
- [Judy] Of course not,

because his motorcycle was damaged.
Why would he hit her on purpose? Okay.

[theme music]

I want you to picture this.
Cars parked on both sides of the street.

Motorist is going.

And a little kid darts in
between two cars out in the street

and the car hits him and he's hurt.
Whose fault is that?

[theme music]

[announcer] Casey Griffin is accusing
motorcyclist, Jeffrey Pearson,

of hitting her 16-year-old daughter,
Kennedy, while crossing the street.

Jeffrey claims Kennedy caused the accident
and damaged his motorcycle.

An accident is what happens when people
don't mean to do something on purpose.

- Mhm.
- [Judy] That's an accident.

When you look at an accident,
you have to say...

Listen, if you have a toddler,
a two, three-year-old

and that two or three-year-old
darts out between two cars

and a motorist can't stop in time
and hits that child, whose fault is that?

I'm asking you a question.
I want you to picture this.

Cars parked on both sides of the street.

Motorist is going,
going within the speed limit, right?

- Mhm.
- [Judy] And a little kid

darts in between two cars out in the
street and the car hits him and he's hurt.

- Whose fault is that?
- The child.

[Judy]
Actually, it's not the child's.

It's the parents who were supposed
to be watching him.

Now nobody's suggesting that you were
supposed to watch your daughter

- because she's a grown up, almost.
- [chuckles]

[Judy]
Because she's allowed out at night.

You allow her to make decisions
for herself. She's as tall as you are.

She's bright. So she has to take
responsibility for herself.

She didn't dart, but he's not aware
of what's going on in her mind.

So this was an accident.

And I can't ascribe any blame to him
for that accident unless you saw her.

- I did not.
- [Judy] Well, tell me.

You were traveling
and you hit her with your motorcycle.

I did.

[Judy] If you had hit her going


Presumably so, yes.

[Judy] She, not only fortunately
was not dead,

- she wasn't seriously injured.
- [Jeffrey] Correct.

Which suggests to a reasonable person that
there was not an excessive speed involved.

So I want you to tell me what you saw
as you were riding down the street.

[Jeffrey]
I thought it was closer to 8:00 PM.

I turned off of the highway coming from
the store and got up to the stop sign.

And I went right,
which is where this happened.

Point over there.

- Can I go over here?
- [Judy] Yeah. Go ahead.

Okay.

I come off the highway right here
at the stop sign and turned up this way.

And as I'm coming up here, there's another
car coming down this way toward me.

And the car coming toward me,
the headlight blinked out for a second.

So I let off my throttle on my bike,

and then next thing I know,
three feet in front of me a girl appears.

Now, I'm riding down the middle
of my lane. I'm not on the sides.

I'm not in the middle of the road.
I'm in the middle of my lane.

When I seen her,
I tried to veer off but I couldn't.

And my bike came to a rest... right there
is the entrance to the parking lot.

My bike came to a rest right here.

She was right here
at the corner of that entrance.

And I was off my bike trying to help her.

[Judy]
Okay.

What happened to your motorcycle?

[Jeffrey]
It damaged the front end of it.

I mean, it demolished the front end
of my motorcycle. I have pictures,

- if you'd like to see them.
- [Judy] I would.

I also have a estimate
on how much damage it did.

- This is an older bike.
- [Jeffrey] Yes, ma'am.

Yeah, I could see it's an older bike.
What year bike is it?

- [Jeffrey] It's a 1994.
- [Judy] When did you buy it?

- About a year ago, a year and a half ago.
- Who did you buy it from?

On the Internet. I bought it off Facebook.

- [Judy] How much did you pay for it?
- I paid $1,500 for it.

Just for giggles, I wanna see
the estimate that you're gonna give me.

- Okay. So, Mr. Pearson...
- Yes, ma'am.

- [Judy] ...you're suing... counterclaiming...
- Yes, ma'am.

...because the accident wasn't your fault,

and I am finding
that the accident was your fault,

but for the fact that you were crossing
in the middle of the street,

you actually shouldn't
have been where you were.

He was in the right. You were not.
You actually saw him and miscalculated

whether or not you could beat him
to the corner. That's what you told me.

So it's clear to me that this accident
was not his fault but yours.

He was clearly not speeding,
because if he was speeding,

you would have been
seriously injured or worse.

But, Mr. Pearson, you say you paid $1,500

- for the entire motorcycle.
- Right.

- [Judy] You're suing her for $3,500.
- [Jeffrey] Right.

[Judy]
Well, doesn't that sound silly to you?

- No, ma'am.
- Well, it is silly.

[Jeffrey] The condition that the bike
was in when I bought it

to what it is now
and to put it back to that condition...

Buy another 1994 bike.

- Okay.
- [Judy] Do you understand?

- Yeah.
- [Judy] Buy another 1994 bike.

- Sarah Rose...
- Sure.

...bring up on your
trustee calculator, 1994...

Wait. A calculator or Google?

- Google.
- Yeah.

- Whatever it is.
- [courtroom laughs]

I don't know what kind of bike this is.

- Honda CBR.
- Honda CBR?

- [Jeffrey] Yes, ma'am.
- CBR.



- [Sarah] You want the price or...
- [Judy] Yeah. 1994 Honda CBR.

[Sarah]
For a very good condition, 3,145.

And then it jumps.
From good condition, it's about 1,500.

[Judy] Good condition is 1,500?
Well, that's what he paid for it.

[Sarah] Another one just sold for 3,700.
Fixed up. 3000. Just sold.

Really? You got a very good deal, sir,
on this motorcycle.

- [Jeffrey] Yes, I did.
- Who did you buy it from?

I bought it from a guy
up in Troy, Missouri.

Did you put any work into it?

- A lot.
- [Judy] A lot?

- Like what did you do to it?
- [Jeffrey] The motor had been redone.

- [Judy] After you bought it?
- Yeah.

- [Judy] Not before you bought it?
- No.

- [Sarah] Yeah.
- That's it?

- [Sarah] Yeah.
- Okay. Mr. Pearson, believe it or not,

I really believe that you're entitled
to some compensation

- for the damage caused to your bike.
- Right.

[Judy] I think she was negligent
in crossing the way she did.

She was crossing where she shouldn't
have been crossing. She saw your bike.

She decided to cross anyway. That's the
scenario. She decided to cross anyway.

She thought she could make it.
Well, she didn't. She was injured.

That's not your fault. Your bike
was injured. That would be her fault.

- Got it?
- [Jeffrey] Yes, ma'am.

[Judy] And you're gonna get
what you paid for your bike,

- $1,500.
- Okay.

Judgment on the counterclaim for $1,500.

Your claim is dismissed. We're finished.
Thank you very much.

- [Kevin] This court is adjourned.
- [theme music]

I was terrified because I didn't know
if he was... if she was gonna live,

if she was severely hurt or anything,
so I was scared.

I wasn't at fault for anything,

so I think that I should be paid
for the damages to my bike

since her daughter ran out in front of me.

He actually told the police officer that
his bike was already broke like it was

- before he hit my daughter.
- The bike was in almost mint shape.

I was just scared. But when I seen her
and I seen that she was okay, I was fine.

I didn't see her until she's about
three feet in front of my bike

- and I couldn't do nothing.
- It was really scary.

She didn't even have any visible
wounds or anything.

I still don't think
the accident was my fault.

Look both ways before
you cross the road. [chuckles]

I'm just happy she's still here.

[Judy] I thought that
she was absolutely charming...

- Yes.
- [Judy] ...honest...

- Mhm.
- [Judy] ...articulate.

And it's true, you know,
you're not an insurer

just because you're driving a vehicle.

- Mhm.
- [Judy] You're not.

I mean, the example that I gave
about the toddler crossing the street...

I think she understood after that.

It helped her put it in
perspective a little bit.

- You think so?
- [Sarah] I think so.

I hope so. She and her mother
should just be grateful

that she had a couple of scrapes and
bruises, but nothing worse than that.

Yeah.

[Judy] Because if he were going
any faster, or if it was a car...

- [Sarah] Mhm.
- ...she wouldn't be so lucky.

- Yeah. I agree.
- [Judy] Yeah.

- Cross at the green, not in between.
- [Sarah laughs]

That's what you teach your children.

- Mhm.
- [Judy] I didn't always do that,

but if you don't cross at the green,
not in between,

- and if you get into an accident...
- It's your fault.

- ... it's your fault.
- [Sarah chuckles]

[announcer]
Want justice?

[theme music]