Chester County jury awards $29 million to cyclist who was hit by driver for plumbing company

A Chester County jury awarded $29 million on Friday to a cyclist who was disabled by a brain injury after a commercial truck driver struck him in Lancaster County.

Heath Wilson, 51, was riding his bicycle on the Enola Low-Grade Trail in Lancaster County on July 16, 2022. When Wilson attempted to cross a road, the driver of a Ford Econoline E350 Super Duty struck him, causing him to spring onto the hood of the vehicle.

Wilson, a nurse at a Veterans Affairs hospital, suffered a severe brain injury and has not been able to live independently since. He resides in a long-term care facility in Maryland.

“Mr. Wilson sustained extensive injuries because of the crash which led to a laundry list of medical providers and facilities being involved in his care,” the cyclist’s lawyers said in legal filings.

Wilson sued the driver of the commercial truck, Donald Beiler, and the driver’s employer, JM Lapp Plumbing & Heating, in Chester County Court in 2023.

Clancy Boylan, an attorney with Morgan & Morgan, said he filed the lawsuit in Chester County because the plumbing company conducts work there and because the court system in Lancaster is slower.

He argued in court records that Wilson had the right of way and that the driver had the responsibility to yield. Beiler has been living on the road where the crash occurred for nearly a decade and should have been familiar with the intersection, Wilson’s attorneys said in court records.

In the weeklong trial, an expert for Wilson testified that the driver, traveling 29 mph, would have had a clear line of sight to the cyclist from at least 100 yards away, which should have allowed him to stop or slow down.

“He was going too fast and wasn’t paying attention,” Boylan told The Inquirer.

Attorneys for the driver and the plumbing company argued in court filings that Wilson had no memory of the accident and there were no witnesses at the moment of impact. Beiler was driving within the speed limit when suddenly the cyclist entered the road from the trail at a “high rate of speed,” they said, contending that Wilson, as a “seasoned biker,” also should have been familiar with the intersection.

“While the injuries that Mr. Wilson sustained are very serious, the incident that led to these injuries cannot be fully attributed to the Defendants … [because he] should have been aware of his responsibilities and all the necessary safety protocols that a bicyclist must take when riding on public trails and public roadways,” lawyers for the driver and the plumbing company said in court filings.

Those attorneys did not respond to requests for comment.

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Prior to the trial, Wilson’s lawyers estimated that he suffered $12 million in economic and medical damages. Lawyers for the plumbing company and the driver offered to settle the case for $500,000.

Wilson rejected the offer, sending the case to a jury trial.

The jury found that the driver and company were responsible for the crash and awarded Wilson $29 million, the cyclist’s attorneys said. That included the damages his lawyers sought plus $16 million for the pain, humiliation, loss of enjoyment of life’s pleasures, and disfigurement caused by the injuries.