Friday, February 18, 2011

Mountain Rides lawsuit settled out of court

Parties decline to discuss monetary agreement


By TERRY SMITH
Express Staff Writer

A lawsuit filed against Mountain Rides Transportation Authority from a traffic accident three years ago was settled out-of-court last week but the parties have declined to discuss terms of the settlement.

"All I can tell you is that it was happily resolved," said Ketchum attorney Ed Simon, who represented Blaine County couple Aliki and Chris Russo in their claim against Mountain Rides.

The Russos filed the suit in 2009, alleging that Mountain Rides bus driver Larry Larrson caused an accident on Jan. 3, 2008, in which Aliki Russo was severely injured.

The Blaine County Sheriff's Office reported then that the accident occurred around 7:30 a.m. on state Highway 75 near its intersection with the south leg of Broadway Run south of Ketchum. According to the report, Russo, then 36, was southbound in a 2008 GMC Envoy when she lost control of her vehicle on a slick roadway and collided with a northbound 1992 Chevrolet Blazer driven by Pedro Marquez, a 38-year-old Hailey resident.

In their lawsuit, the Russos claimed that Larrson caused the accident by driving a Mountain Rides bus in an unsafe manner onto the highway from Broadway Run.

The Sheriff's Office issued Larrson a citation for "unsafe pullout" and he was later found guilty in a court trial in Blaine County Magistrate Court and fined $75.

The Russos claimed in the suit that Aliki Russo sustained injuries to her back and neck, suffered a laceration of her spleen and received numerous cuts and bruises. The lawsuit was filed to recoup unspecified monetary damages in excess of $10,000.

A "stipulation" between the parties, stating that an agreement had been reached, was filed with Blaine County 5th District Court on Feb. 8 and the lawsuit was dismissed "with prejudice," which means that a suit regarding Russo's injuries cannot be refiled. The stipulation states that Mountain Rides does "not concede to any of the allegations" in the complaint and does "not admit that any such alleged facts have been proven or are true."

The stipulation does not state the terms of the settlement.

"I don't have anything to add," said Mountain Rides Executive Director Jason Miller. "Our insurance company settled it. We pay our insurance premium and our insurance company handles these things."

Mountain Rides is insured by Idaho Counties Risk Management Program, which insures numerous governmental entities in the state.

Boise attorney Kirtlan Naylor, who represented the insurance carrier and Mountain Rides in the suit, said he could not discuss terms of the agreement.

"The stipulation and the order say everything that can be said," Naylor said.

Mountain Rides funding partners Blaine County and the cities of Bellevue, Ketchum and Sun Valley were originally listed as co-defendants, but were released from the suit in an agreement among the parties in 2010.

Terry Smith: tsmith@mtexpress.com




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