New Mexico Bicyclist Gets $2.1M Verdict But Half The Blame

An Albuquerque, N.M. bicyclist has won a $2.1 million judgment for injuries he received in a crash with a delivery truck but will likely collect only half that amount because a jury said he was partly to blame.

Bicyclist Simon Lees crashed into the three-ton truck in 2009 and spent weeks in a hospital recovering from broken ribs, a punctured lung, a fractured clavicle, a dislocated left shoulder and dislocated bones in his right hand and wrist.

The Albuquerque Journal reported a jury on Wednesday awarded the money but found the 48-year-old auto dealership manager was half at fault.

Lees was in a bike lane when he entered an intersection where traffic had backed up and was hit by a westbound truck turning left in front of stopped eastbound traffic.