Michael Dougan
OF THE EXAMINER STAFF
SAN RAFAEL - A 26-year-old Tiburon athlete has been awarded $3.4 million by a jury for injuries he suffered when the front wheel came off of his mountain bike during a ride on Mount Tamalpais nearly 2-1/4 years ago.
Attorneys for Mark Fiorito, who suffers epileptic seizures as a result of severe head injuries stemming from the accident, said the award by Marin County Superior Court jurors dramatized dangers inherent in quick-release mechanisms that allow a bike's front wheel to be removed for easy transportation and storage.
Because two of four defendants named in the suit have already settled out of court, Fiorito will actually receive less than the $3.4 million set by the jury. The lead attorney in the case is, Mark Webb.
Bike lacked safety devices
Webb argued in court that the front wheel on Fiorito's Mongoose bicycle
had come loose during a two-hour ride. During the trial Webb showed jurors a chart listing 15 other lawsuits against Mongoose and Merida Industries, the Taiwan company that assembles Mongoose bicycles.
"I believe that each of these cases represents the same (quick-release) defect," said Webb after the verdict. " To the best of my knowledge, all of these accidents happened because there was no safety device."
Fiorito's attorneys also called world-famous bicycle racer John Howard to the stand. He testified that he had once been injured when his quick-release mechanism failed and the front wheel popped off his bike.
Mongoose and Rogers had already reached pretrial settlements.
Fiorito declined comment on the award. Webb said his client "feels vindicated and hopes this never happens to anybody else.
Bicycle Retailer and Industry News
A Legal Viewpoint
By Steven W. Hansen
As I walk around Interbike meeting with various people, I am hearing much discussion about the Fiorito v. Mongoose case. And rightly so. As you may recall, a Northern California rider, Mark Fiorito, claimed that the front wheel suddenly fell off his mountain bike. He was badly injured.
Fiorito successfully sued the distributor, Mongoose; the bike's manufacturer, Merida; the fork's manufacturer, Spinner; and the Tiburon, California, retailer who sold him the bike.
Manufacturers and legal experts are concerned.
Intellectual Property
SF doc finds cancer drug
is potential HIV wasting treatment
Dr. Dean Rider
by Shaun Schwartz
A new drug poses great potential for some advanced AIDS patients, and a recent court settlement involving the drug company and a San Francisco physician should speed its approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Dr. Dean Rider, a San Francisco internist and gastroenterologist who specialized in HIV and AIDS-related illnesses, first learned of DEHOP in 1992 when he was consulting with the drug company that developed it, SunPharm Corporation of Jacksonville, Florida.
DEHOP was being researched for use with cancer patients, and Rider learned that one of DEHOP's side-effects was severe constipation.
"I recognized that what was for them (SunPharm) a complication or side effect, was exactly the thing that we were looking for," he said.
A lawsuit brought in San Francisco federal district court alleges that SunPharm breached an agreement with Rider to credit him for his discovery, according to attorney Mark L. Webb, who represented Rider in the suit. But Rider and SunPharm reached a settlement in June, Webb said, and both parties hope for rapid approval of DEHOP.
Civil Conspiracy
Boys hurt on bikes sue Wal-Mart, importer
Marin trial to focus on wheel clasp used on millions of cycles
Demian Bulwa and Peter Fimrite, Chronicle Staff Writers
Sunday, December 4, 2005
Anthony McCurdy watched the front wheel fall off his bike while riding to a bowling alley, he says. The 12-year-old's face hit the sidewalk, and his bicycle landed on his chest. Short of breath, he got up, but then had a seizure and again fell face-first, knocking out his two top front teeth.
Anthony, now a high school junior in West Chicago, said the crash more than five years ago changed him. "I'm just not as able to absorb information as I was before," he said. He and eight other boys from around the nation are suing retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which sold the bikes, and a San Rafael company that imported them from China. A trial in the case begins Monday in a Marin County courtroom, and the youths are expected to testify about smashing their faces into pavement after the front wheels came lose.
The lawsuit asserts that the so-called quick-release devices on the front wheels malfunctioned when the bikes hit bumps. The clasps, used on millions of bicycles, are designed to hold the front-wheel axle to the frame and allow the wheel to be easily removed for repairs or transport.
The boys and their parents also claim that Wal-Mart conspired with Dynacraft BSC Inc. of San Rafael and Carl Warren & Co., which investigated complaints for the importer, to cover up the defects. The suit alleges that Wal-Mart, which sold the bikes for about $150 each, and the Marin importer, which has a record of failing to report injuries, knew the bikes were dangerous because of complaints from users -- but failed to report alleged defects to government regulators while continuing to sell the bicycles.
"Consumers in America deserve to be able to rely on the safety of products they buy for their children," said Mark Webb, a San Francisco attorney representing the boys, who crashed from February 2000 to September 2003
Oakland to pay $2.75 million in police car crash
Mother of 4 broadsided during chase
Janine DeFao, Chronicle Staff Writer (2001)
In the largest lawsuit settlement in the city's history, Oakland will pay $2.75 million to a woman left permanently disabled when a police car struck her vehicle last year.
Bernice Berry, 49, is confined to a wheelchair and is not expected to walk again, said her attorney, Mark Webb of San Francisco. Berry suffered permanent brain damage, resulting in memory loss and difficulty reading and concentrating, he said.
The driver of the police car, Officer Mark Battle, was on his way to help other officers chase a fleeing suspect when his vehicle broadsided a car carrying Berry in the intersection of 73rd Avenue and Hamilton Street, said Chief Assistant City Attorney Randolph Hall.
The settlement, approved by the City Council on Tuesday night, will finance long-term medical care for Berry, a mother of four who also suffered 16 broken bones and internal injuries in the crash.
"Bernice is never going to be the same again," Webb said. But "the great thing about (the settlement) is that she's going to be taken care of for the rest of her life."
Police Chief Richard Word said Battle has not been disciplined, pending the results of an internal investigation. Battle, who joined the force in November 1998, has been transferred from patrol to a sexual assault task force.
Selected Criminal Cases
Federal Burglaries
Surprise Arrests at Postal Gang Hearing
by Ralph Craib, SF Chronicle
In a flurry of hearings on the 19th floor of the federal building yesterday, three members
of the so-called Sam Bailey gang appeared for routine legal matters only to hear
themselves accused of conspiring to murder one of their co-defendants.
Over protests of a squad of attorney's, they were arrested by postal inspectors and jailed.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Webb moved to revoke the bail of all five defendants.
Defense attorney's protested, but Webb told the court he was prepared to "present evidence that Bailey, Lance Smith and Robert G. Moore (two co-defendants) conspired to murder the chief
prosecution witness in this case.
'Little man,' friends on trial for big heists
by Tom Hall S F Examiner
The late Joe "Crazy Joey" Gallo, a slain New York City Mafia boss once referred to Frank Roza Jr.
as the "biggest fence on the West Coast" according to court testimony.
Burglars, according to William Eggers, an admitted thief from South
Lake Tahoe, spoke of Roza as "the little man."
In stature, Roza , 45, a Carson City, Nev., coin dealer, is 5 feet, 5 inches. He and three others
are defendants in a San Francisco trial before a jury in U.S. District Judge Stanley Weigel's court.
They are accused of being involved in three post office burglaries last year that grossed
$440,025 in stamps, food coupons and currency.
Because Roza is also charged with violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations laws
(RICO), the government is seeking forfeiture of his businesses, as well as the Ferrari that has been seized.
RICO provides for forfeiture of legitimate businesses or property financed with illegally obtained funds.
Hit-man tells court of plot to kill coin dealer
by Tom Hall SF Examiner
A self-described "criminal and theif by occupation" testified in federal court today that he was part of a team hired by a Reno coin dealer to kill a San Francisco man for $150,000.
Antonio Cerrito Sr., 40, a wiry professional criminal in federal
protective custody,said he was to be paid $50,000 by Frank Roza Jr. for his part in the $150,000
contract on the life of Joseph Escove, owner of William Hall Coins in San Francisco.
Roza, 45, owner of the Consolidated Coin Co. in Reno and Carson City, Nevada is one of four
men charged with conspiracy to obtain at least $407,000 in three postal burglaries last year.
At a hearing before U.S. Magistrate Owen Woodruff, prosecutor Mark Webb is seeking to have
Roza's bail revoked because of an alleged contract on Escove. Although not indicated,
Escove is said to have received stolen coins and stamps from Roza.
All Four Defendants Were Found Guilty In The First RICO Prosecution in This Area.
The Jury Also Granted Forfeiture of All Proceeds From Related Criminal Activity.
Hell's Angels plot
attacks, cops told
SANTA MONICA (UPI)
The state Department of Justice has issued a warning about a possible campaign by the Hell's Angel's
motorcycle club to ambush peace officers, it was reported yesterday.
In all three cases, the newspaper said, the officers involved were developing
evidence against members of the Hell's Angels.
Drug Lab Sentences for Four Men
San Francisco Chronicle
Prison sentences from one to five years were imposed in U.S. District Court here yesterday
on four men - two of them Hell's Angel's operating a methamphetamine lab.
The stiffest sentence, five years, was imposed by Judge Samuel Conti on Bobby England,
35, a trucker of 4024 Edgemoor street, Oakland.
Mark Webb, an assistant U.S. attorney, said England operated the lab
and is known to Angels as "Mr. Dirt."
When federal drug agents raided the lab they found five ounces of P2P, which could produce
eight pounds of "speed" and sell for about $120,000.
Heavy security as federal jury
delves into the Hell's Angels
by Tom Hall, San Francisco Examiner
Under exceptionally tight security, a federal grand jury today began a new and enlarged
investigation into the Hell's Angels motorcycle club.
The inquiry will range over a variety of possible crimes, including murder, dope
dealing and acts of violence, it was learned.
A similar grand jury in July investigated possible links between Hell's Angels members and
violence that had plagued some Bay Area industrial catering firms in recent years.
The investigation is being handled by Billie Rosen, a special attorney from the Justice Department
in Washington, whose expertise is in narcotics dealings, and Mark Webb, assistant U.S. attorney.
