Tux of Borg Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...IES11/703010351 Doctor sues girl, 11, over inline-skating collision Says her negligence caused injuries in Chester Twp. BY PEGGY WRIGHT A bicycling doctor has sued his then-11-year-old inline-skating neighbor for pain and suffering after they collided on their Chester Township street in 2003. Their trial is under way in Morristown this week. Lauren Ellis was inline-skating down her street on a fall afternoon when she collided with an adult neighbor, a prominent fertility doctor, who was bicycling. Dr. Alexander Dlugi, now 54, sued the child, claiming she was negligent and caused the collision by reacting unreasonably when he approached her from behind on Sugar Maple Row, shouted "watch out" and rang his bicycle bell. This week, the seven-member jury in the civil trial pitting the endocrinologist against Ellis, now a 15-year-old freshman at West Morris-Mendham High School, heard testimony from the teenager and Dlugi, and opinions from an accident-reconstruction specialist. The accident expert said on Wednesday Dlugi could have avoided the collision by simply riding around the skater. Doctor's case Dlugi was an owner of the Bedminster-based Center for Reproductive Endocrinology at the time of the accident, and remains a fertility specialist and part-owner of the center. He broke his collarbone when he tumbled from his bike. His attorney, Thomas Jardim, said the doctor's injury did not heal properly or quickly, so he underwent surgery in February 2004, and missed a significant amount of work and income. The doctor has difficulty sleeping well, has lost mobility in his right shoulder and enjoyment of sports he used to excel at, including biking, swimming and tennis, Jardim said. Ellis was bruised when the collision knocked her to the ground, but her parents, Jon and Janet Ellis, did not file a counter-suit. "It may seem like an odd thing," Jardim said, of the lawsuit against the child. "But people are responsible for their actions." He said the law recognizes that minors over the age of 7 are presumed responsible for their actions, as adults are. A defense witness For Wednesday's testimony from John Desch, the president of an accident-reconstruction firm based in Riverdale, diagrams, photographs, an easel and ruler were used for an analysis of the encounter between the exercising neighbors on Oct. 19, 2003. Desch, who was called as a witness by Ellis' attorney, Joe Accardi, concluded that the girl did not do anything wrong, under the circumstances. The girl was skating, generally on the right side of Sugar Maple Row, and Dlugi had passed her once on his first bicycle loop around the neighborhood. Ellis stopped skating and stepped to the curb when she noticed two approaching vehicles. She stepped back into the road -- with Dlugi a distance behind her on his bicycle -- and resumed skating. Then Dlugi decided to overtake and pass the girl on the road, Desch said. Wrong move to left Dlugi, who was traveling at no more than 8 mph, rang his bell and called out as he neared her. Hearing the noises, the girl turned around to see Dlugi waving at her and drawing near, and she tried to get out of his way but actually moved into his path and they collided, Desch explained. "She's startled by the presence of the bicyclist. She takes evasive action to avoid an impending collision and moved further to the left," Desch said. "I don't find any fault with her actions at all." He opined further that Dlugi should have fully braked, or maintained better control of his bicycle, and could have avoided the entanglement with the skater by riding around her in silence. Jardim, the doctor's lawyer, sought to discredit Desch's opinions by noting he never investigated a collision between a bicyclist and a skater, and misidentified on his diagram the actual point of their crash. But Desch stuck fast to his opinion that the girl, ahead of the doctor on the same side of the road, had more rights than Dlugi did to her position on the street. The trial before Superior Court Judge W. Hunt Dumont resumes today with testimony from medical doctors. Closing arguments are set for Monday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fan in San Diego Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 How embarrasing for that doctor. He should be ashamed of himself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Fong Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 What a douche bag. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oneonta Buffalo Fan Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 What a douche bag. Totally agree. What's the deal with some people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 Totally agree. What's the deal with some people. They whine... Piss and moan about everything... Never find fault with themselves... I just don't get it, it is like they never left being 9 years old... If it isn't somebody else, it is bad cars, bad food, bad government, bad taxes, Bush Bad, you name it... Etc... People want to be know-it-alls/do-no-wrongs and refuse to man-up to the choices they make. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ieatcrayonz Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 How Orwellian do you have to be to run into an 11 year old girl? He had to burn those calories so quickly that he couldn't apply his brakes and wait 15 seconds? This guy must have been huge and desparate. His panic probably made him unable to think clearly but his lawyer will never mention that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcjeff215 Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 Wow. If I hit a kid or a kid hits me, the first thing I do is worry about the kid as long as all of my parts are still intact. Now, those freaking kids that have those sneaker/skate combinations and buzz around at 150 mph in a Target or a BJ's? Someone needs to talk some sense into those parents or the stores need to start prohibiting those things. There's nothing like shopping for something mundane like socks or coffee and having some careless twirp almost run into you because he's on a pair of skates in a department store. That said... even if one of those kids plows in to me... I worry about the kid more than proving the point. Kids break! Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justnzane Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 damn i did some goofy $#!t when i was 11, and to think that i could have been sued for some of it creeps me out. Then again, all i would do was piss out in public and play tackle street football. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lurker Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 ...you will be under the care of Dr. Alex Dlugi who has 20 years of experience in infertility treatment and has a reputation for the highest level of compassion and personalized care. =============================================================================== Jurors heard testimony earlier this week from Ellis, Dlugi, an accident reconstruction specialist, and an economist, who spoke of the doctor's high earnings and the large profit he made from selling part of the fertility practice. Dlugi contends the collision hampered his physical abilities as a doctor and that he lost income in the months he was recovering from a broken collarbone and undergoing surgery. He contends he also cannot enjoy the way he used to such sports as tennis, swimming and bicycling, and has trouble sleeping. Anybody want to bet on the number of seconds the jury is out before arriving at a verdict? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartshan-83 Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 What a turd. But anyway, wouldn't he have to prove that she acted unreasonably compared to other 11 year-olds (not adults)? How unreasonable is it for a pre-teen girl to lose control of her skating when some goofy doctor with a BELL (who uses a bike bell??) comes up behind her and shouts at her? It's always somebody else's fault.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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