The California personal injury law firm, Bisnar Chase Personal Injury Attorneys, represented an Azusa Pacific University student who was injured in February of 2008 because of conditions of dangerous public property and motor vehicle negligence on her school campus. Bisnar Chase Personal Injury Attorneys has recently announced that the student, Julie Farris, was awarded $1.5 million after suffering a severe, permanent brain injury because of the accident. The law suit was filed against the City of Azusa, Azusa Pacific University, and the driver of a school-funded trolley who collided with Julie while she was riding her bicycle on campus.
Student Suffers Severe Injury after Accident on Campus
Julie Farris was traveling by bicycle on her university campus through the 800 block of East Foothill Boulevard, when she was hit by a trolley. The trolley was run by Azusa Pacific University, and driven by employee, Oscar Armando Galan. This stretch of public property on the school’s campus is notoriously congested, with parked vehicles lining the streets and little space for students on bicycles to maneuver safely. The combination of dangerous public property and the negligent driving by the university employee caused the accident which left Julie with catastrophic personal injuries.
University Negligent to Repair Unsafe Roadways
The stretch of road where Julie was injured, between the east and west campuses of APU, has been allegedly unreasonably congested for a long time. As one of the main paths for students to travel between campuses, hundreds of students were forced to ride bikes and walk along severe traffic on the already too-narrow road everyday. Because the University and city of Azusa never installed bike paths, bike lanes, crosswalks, or traffic signals, many students were forced to ride their bikes against the flow of traffic — as did Julie at the time of her accident — and risk personal injury.
In the lawsuit on behalf of Julie Farris, Bisnar Chase Personal Injury Attorneys alleged that the University and city of Azusa knew of the dangers on this road but were negligent to install safety devices on a road frequented by students.
“The defendants were aware of the dangerous conditions of the roadway due to increased serious and fatal car accidents,” said Brian Chase, a senior partner at Bisnar Chase Personal Injury Attorneys. “They had been provided funding to make improvements, but instead, they recklessly and negligently used those funds for other projects at the expense of public safety.”
Schools and Cities are Responsible for the Safety of Students
There are many concerns about Julie’s accident that have been raised by Bisnar Chase Personal Injury Attorneys in the lawsuit against the defendants. The college is expected to maintain a certain level of care to its students who live on the campus and travel on its roads, yet the times at which students must travel to and from class often coincide with the worst and most dangerous traffic conditions. This seems to be due to poor scheduling decisions on behalf of the school. Further, the City and University have been negligent to install necessary safety features on the road and train their trolley employees to drive safely around the students.
The trial is set to take place in February of 2011 in the Los Angeles County Superior Court.