Anthony Perosi Jr. wasn't the only one who got lucky when he scored a $136 million Powerball win — so did a bicyclist who got doored by his pickup.
The Staten Island plumber is being sued by Kieran Del Pasqua, who says he was sent flying when Perosi opened the door of his Ford F150 in a bike lane in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
The 40-year-old Internet exec had no chance to stop in the May 27 accident and slammed into the door, his Brooklyn Supreme Court lawsuit says.
He required surgery and now has screws in his elbow, the suit says.
Now he is going after Perosi, 56, who got a $39 million lump-sum payout after taxes.
"Lottery winners may feel and act carefree, but like the rest of us, they still owe a duty of reasonable care for the safety of their fellow citizens," said Del Pasqua's attorney, David MacCartney.
"Good luck is no substitute for careful driving and responsible behavior."
Del Pasqua filed the suit five days after Perosi's lottery win was announced, but MacCartney said his client had no idea at the time.
He wouldn't say how much money Del Pasqua is asking for, but noted he could go after the $16 million cut the plumber gave to his son, Anthony III.
Del Pasqua, a design director for the music-streaming service Spotify, hasn't been back to work since the crash and faces an uphill battle to regain use of both arms, MacCartney said.
Days after the crash, Del Pasqua's wife, Sandra Fransen, called Perosi to get information for an accident report.
Perosi acknowledged opening the door on Del Pasqua but "scoffed" at his injuries, telling Fransen he "barely left a scratch on my door," court papers say.
Perosi also hung up on police when they called for the same information, the suit says.
Del Pasqua declined to comment. Perosi didn't respond to messages.
Anthony III said he knew nothing about it.
"What he does is his own business," he said.
(Click to display full-size in gallery)
My, my the cyclist couldn't see the big red truck and ran into it while cycling... Oh please!
That didn't take long. When there's blood in the water, sharks start circling. .
OK.. So someone knows the smell of money..This is why I'll go into hiding for a few months if and when I hit a jackpot..
I will take taxi's because I will be able to afford to. Especially to and from the Lottery office. Everywhere else also.
BAN BIKE LANES
If it was the Chinese delivery man he would of picked up the Egg rolls and kept going.
Some good advice before you claim your JP win is to consult a good investment adviser, talk to a lawyer, get advice from a tax accountant - things like that, "get your ducks in a row". I've always thought a consultation with your insurance agent should be on the list too...specifically about increasing liability coverage on your vehicle for cases just like this as well as that on your home, just in case someone "trips on a crack" in your sidewalk.
and this is why winners should get at least 5M$ in umbrella insurance! Not only is his truck BRIGHT RED, it also is big. The chances of someone NOT seeing that truck unless the bike rider were riding blind - are pretty slim. UMBRELLA INSURANCE!
This is total BS. just trying to get paid. This is what happens when the whole world knows you won the JP. Was the bike propelled by rocket boosters?
Very tacky of the lawyer to mention he was a lottery winner. What does that have to do with what happened? It could have been a penniless person being careless too.
lol I LOVE drivin the car i have, HOWEVER, yep. This...right here, car service works wonders at times!
I see this man settling. I don't know why , but i am seeing him settle $$$ sooner than later,for the early 40s young man whose
injured.adios
If you win the lottery , I highly suggest you do what few smart Russians do. Get a dashcam recorder.
There are lowlifes in every walk of life, you got to protect your self if become a target for them.
That's a fact. A few year's ago l saw this guy step into oncoming traffic at an intersection and was hit, from talking to some folks at the scene: the driver " was at fault" because regardless- when a person is hit; someone has to pay. I call that irresponsible behavior. Jr may well have acquired an Attorney after Mac- cart ran off at the mouth with his " these lottery winners. ."
**** This is just another reason why I love Anonymity.
Every lottery winner or people of means should consider getting an LLC. Over the years I've seen several winners pictures and as an example it will say Johnson LLC. It makes it hard or sometimes impossible to get to someone's assets.
Probably attempting to get Jr to Settle.
Anthony Perosi, U got $39 mil outta $136 million won<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<............Congrats, but don't spend it ALL on a bicycle>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Better yet, Psyko can give U a good Cannondale 4 FREE & have
2 left 4 me!!!!!!!!! Anyway....counter sue D sucker 4D $136 million cause he scrached UR truck door
>
>
!!!
LLC are not bullet proof from lawsuits, particularly when injury is involved.
The bottom line here is this: Reasonable efforts by both the rider and the Owner of the vehicle. Did the rider attempt to avoid the incident? Had the driver at the time been aware of his cautionary efforts in opening and closing the door. Variables were in play and any good judge would address both sides on cautionary efforts.
We are human first, capable of injury or great deeds, money doesn't change that....
thats why you always get chaufered when you win big, and you lease your house. then gold diggers can sue the car company and property owner not you.
Right Goose- leasing a property does not absolve you of responsibility. People in Stockton who walked away from their homes during the Countrywide Real estate collapse were not off the hook- they still had to pay despite not living in those houses anymore. Lease companies are not idiot's, they looked at all the angles before going into the business.They cannot be left holding the bag for their clients lack of vision. Read the fine print next time you lease Anything. ..
W/ a big win you need a lawyer anyway, be sure to get one that can take care of this kind of stuff, have them on retainer.
One thing I'm sure they'll tell you is that you need insurance w/ an excessive claims clause.
Fed up w/ people on bikes that think they're bulletproof !
all the more reason to invest in heavy metal or something high speed & goes just about any whar
antique store license plates are mandatory
Let's hope for both of them that Mr Perosi,Jr. has good liability coverage for this accident.
His Insurance co is going to have to defend the lawsuit.
Mr Perosi best seek legal counsel to make sure his Auto Carrier defends the case in good faith and let's him know in advance if his policy limits will be exhausted by the damages, which in all probability will occur.
If the verdict exceeds the limits of his policy, hope his personal attorney defends him as well so that all his winnings are not all awarded to the Plaintiff.
Those bikes can sometimes sneak up even if you check for clearance, either with the side view mirror, or gradually opening the door, ever so slowly to peak out for cyclists.
NY is a pure comparative negligence state. The Jury in NY will no doubt, award the Plaintiff a big award for his injuries, loss of income, and consortium.
Yeah, we always have to be careful when operating a motor vehicle.
A perfect example for why jackpot winners should be allowed to remain anonymous. If your win is publicized, some one, somewhere, some how, is going to be looking for a payday.
Now, common sense tells me, if I'm on a bicycle in a bike lane, and I DON'T want to run into someone's car door, I ride far enough away from the cars that it won't happen. DUH!!!
It is the same thing you do when walking down the aisle of a parking lot. If you hear a car motor running, a car start up, or you see a cars back up lights come on, you either stop, or move out toward the middle of the aisle so the person doesn't back up into you. Because there may be a good chance the person does not see you. You can't just assume the driver will see you in their back up camera. They might not have one. Pay attention!!! YOU HAVE TO BE AWARE OF YOUR SURROUNDINGS!!!
If you're in a bike lane look ahead. Did you see someone pulling into a parking space, did you see someone's tail lights go out? If so, then someone may be getting out of the car!!! Move away from the car and you won't run into the door. What is so hard about that?
Drivers are supposed to give bike riders at least 3 feet of space when they pass them on the road, maybe cyclists need to give cars at least 3 feet of space also.
Bike lanes are about 5 feet wide and most car doors are about 3 feet wide. This type of accidents must happen thousands of times everyday in US cities. I can't take a side on this lawsuit until more information comes out or maybe video evidence is obtained and shared with us.
That sucks. But I agree, countersue for the damage to the door.
I ride every day believe me when I say cyclist go to fast in and out of Traffic. The bike lanes are a good way to get doored I've came close a few times but I don't hug the cars. Because cyclist is such a small item its really my responsibility to be careful. guarantee this guy was riding to fast. now wants payment
Btw I ride 10 to 15 Miles a day 4 to 5 days a week and no not because I got a DWI.
oh no. Just make sure you look out ur mirrors . you need to any ways as other cars may be coming and no one wants to win the door prize lol or we could say the cyclist won the door prize in this case
This certainly sets a precedence. I generally stay away from bike lanes, as they are on high volume roads. I haven't had any close calls with the "door prize", but I think from what I have read about road safety, that is is more of the bikers responsiblity to avoid the cars then the other way around. Thats another reason I avoid bike lanes. There is really no way for a biker to avoid the moving cars and avoid the parked car open door at the same time.
How can they have a bike lane between the road and the parking spaces without expecting lots of accidents?
I have yet to see someone riding a bicycle on the road that obeys traffic laws!
WTF? They took a 100 Million out for taxes? That is BULL<snip>!
What a <snip> this biker is.
Why don't they just play the lottery themselves if they want a payday. It's way too easy to win in New York, all you gotta do is buy a ticket there & bam you win!
That 136 million was probably the annuity amount. If he took the cash amount the taxes weren't 100 mil.
i have no idea. Usually the bike lane is usually sandwiched between the curb and the parking space making it tricky for anybody exiting from the passenger side.
But that's what car insurance is for. The jackpot winner shouldn't have to worry. I think
Most bike lanes in NYC are poorly designed, one of the reasons cyclists are killed routinely. Area's in Brooklyn like Park Slope are one of the focal point areas for the Mayor's Vision Zero plan. I wouldn't doubt if this cyclist is a proponent of the plan and this is his way of pointing out how 'dangerous' cars are. He should just be lucky he didn't end up as a stain on the street. Sue for medical if he doesn't have coverage but that's all.
Wonder why he didn't file a claim with his insurance company
??? Now you will have any and everybody coming out trying to sue.
someone jumps a fance on your ressidence, and cuts there arm. they're trespassing. but you as property owner get sued. masybe they break a leg jumping down, but uyou have a high fence. do they sure the leaseor or leasee? any unsafe property injury claims must surely go against the owner, not the tenant.
That last sentence had me rolling!
These bikers are a scourge, they fly down the street at breakneck speeds and then it's your fault when they screw up and get hurt. He should have rolled over him with the truck.
Several cities here have bike lanes, but I don't see how a bike running into an open car door is any different than another car hitting an open door. The person on the bike should have known of the possibility of a car door opening. My guess is the biker found out the car owner won the lottery and is hoping for a large settlement.
Because the insurance company didn't just win the lottery.
Shake-downs come in many flavors. If there's a big winner there will be people standing in line in hopes of throwing themselves in front of your car and then claim it was your fault. Sue the bicyclist for damaging the door and speeding.
Wow, this story stinks. The guy probably just got his money this week and there's a someone out to sue him already. Too bad because that could happen to anyone of us.
However, I hate bicyclist. They make me nervous when I'm driving near them. Especially when they're in packs!
I hear about these types of accidents all the time on the New York News.
Great video Joshua. I'm gonna get a dashcam too.
The article has all the information that's necessary, assuming it's true. If you open your door into traffic you're the one at fault.
I get the feeling most of you guys on here don't understand what 'dooring' is. It's not something you can just avoid, and in fact it has caused the death of at least one cyclist in NYC. The fault of being doored is totally on the person in the vehicle. Too many people open their door without checking to see what is coming, and most of them should be thankful that there is a bike lane there or else instead of just injuring someone else, they'd be often losing their doors from vehicle traffic.
What's the worst about dooring a cyclist, is the person opening the door rarely cares about the harm they cause to the cyclist or damage done to the bike. Hate cyclists or not, you're ignorant if you believe they are constantly at fault in these events. Hundreds of tickets are written for them in New York and Chicago recently enacted a law that even causing a cyclist to swerve out of the way of your door opening will get you a $300 ticket (dooring them gives you a $1000 ticket).
This video below is a perfect example for you people to understand. Zero time to react by the cyclist.
And perhaps another, from the view of a cab that thankfully didn't kill the cyclist thrown off his bike after being doored.
ttech, your videos prove that these bicyclist are dangerous on the road especially in the city. They weave thru traffic and don't obey the same laws as cars do and that's why they cause these accidents.
I say ban cyclist in the city streets!!!
Pain in the butts!
This is where they should ride their bikes. In the country for Gods sake!
Well Mr. Perosi,looks like u may have to pay something.An if u do look at it this way,after court,if it goes that far,u can take a nice vacation anywhere on the planet.Good Luck.
He'll end up having to pay something. The cyclist got injured while riding in the bike lane where he has the right to be and Perosi was careless in opening his door without checking first. He won't do that again as it'll be an expensive lesson to learn. I'm sure lawyers look into how much someone is worth before they sue them on behalf of their client, or before they even take the case. I would imagine lottery winners are special prey as they're viewed as only having won their money so they don't deserve to have all of it.
Yeah, a Dashcam would be a worthwhile thing to install, as well all the video surveillance he can muster. I'm sure someone will "trip" on his property one day.
I subscribe to a website feed "English Russia". They post all sorts of videos and photos, clandestine visits to Chernobyl, the war in the Ukraine, several from that huge meteor a yr. or two ago, things like that, but they also have a lot of Russian dashcam compilation videos. I've spent hours watching them and the "road rage" abounds. They have the cams b/c of all the bogus "accidents".
I agree 100% the cyclist in the first example had no time to stop because he took a huge chance going between the stopped and parked cars. In the second it looks like the cyclist tried to create his own lane too but neither example showed a bike lane. Laws vary in states, but I believe the two wheel vehicles laws apply to cyclist where there is no bike lane.
I can't comment on the New York and Chicago laws because you didn't say how they apply to a cyclist trying to create his own three foot lane.
The cyclists in the videos posted were obeying 100% of the traffic laws. You have a hatred for cyclists, I get it, but they were at 0% fault in those videos. The people in the vehicles were the ones doing something wrong (in both cases they would be given a citation if police witnessed it), so stop acting all high and mighty like people in vehicles aren't dangerous and that every cyclist is pure evil. Those videos only prove that you don't know what you're talking about.
The second one was taken in Chicago, on a street that has a bike lane. But even if it didn't have a marked bike lane, in Chicago, like most cities, cyclists have the right to ride where the bike lane would be. The only roads they aren't allowed to do that on are places like highways, that are also closed off to pedestrians. In Chicago, at least 20% of all cycling crashes are caused by dooring.
Any time you are exiting a vehicle, you are required to check to make sure you're not going to hit or block anything coming. In both of those cities (Chicago and NYC), the people in the vehicle are regularly decided to be at fault in dooring incidents, even if no formal bike lane exists. Though there have been one or two cases in Chicago where the wording of the law has meant both the cyclist and the person in the vehicle both receive tickets. But the fact is, the person in the vehicle doing the dooring is regularly found to be at fault in these cases.
"The second one was taken in Chicago, on a street that has a bike lane. But even if it didn't have a marked bike lane, in Chicago, like most cities, cyclists have the right to ride where the bike lane would be."
The car was parked and the bike came up as the driver was opening the door.
"Any time you are exiting a vehicle, you are required to check to make sure you're not going to hit or block anything coming."
How can anyone prove the driver didn't "make sure" before opening the door?
"But the fact is, the person in the vehicle doing the dooring is regularly found to be at fault in these cases."
But the case we're talking about is in New Jersey.
Oh come on, Dude.. how fast was this cyclist going? That guy was speeding. Cyclists should have to obey speed limits just like drivers, it's so obvious he was at risk going at that speed, and he failed to observe the vehicles brakelights being on..why should cyclists get awarded in lawsuits for cycling like mindless retards,, it's his fault he got hurt. How is a passenger in the back seat of a vehicle supposed to see a bicyclist bulleting past him
they need to Amend these cycling laws so it doesn't turn into a bunch of frauds zipping near cars trying to get a lawsuit, maybe they should make Bicycling licenses just like Drivers licenses..and forve cyclists to take a drivers Ed course regarding bike and traffic safety if they want to integrate so badly. Most drivers are not aware of the newly imposed bike laws
another Bloomberg follie the blue collar working man has to deal with..yuppies can sue you for falling off their bikes And tearing they're polo shorts now
"How can anyone prove the driver didn't "make sure" before opening the door?"
The fact that he opened the door in front of the cyclist is obvious proof that it wasn't safe to open the door. It's possible that he looked, but he obviously didn't do a good enough job of making sure it was a safe. Opening your door into traffic is the same kind of violation as speeding. You're guilty simply because you did it, even if you didn't mean to do it.
"But the case we're talking about is in New Jersey."
I'm pretty sure that Brooklyn is still in New York.
Yes, the car was stopped. What does that matter? Every dooring incident happens when the car is stopped/parked. And every single one of those dooring incidents found the person opening the door at fault. The cyclist in that video wasn't in the wrong. What you saw in that video is what motor-vehiclists get ticketed for across the country. Blame the cyclist if you want for "coming up as the driver was opening the door", but the law sees it as the driver opening up the door into the cyclists' path.
And well, most would assume that since he opened the door and hit someone, causing them to fly off their bike, that they didn't look to make sure it was safe to do so. Unless you're saying that along with any fine for dooring someone, he should also have a higher fine (and possibly a serious charge) for purposely injuring someone.
The case we're talking about is actually in Brooklyn, which is in New York, which has this law:
Section 1214. Opening and closing vehicle doors. No person shall open the door of a motor vehicle on the side available to moving traffic unless and until it is reasonable safe to do so, and can be done without interfering with the movement of other traffic, nor shall any person leave a door open on the side of the vehicle available to moving traffic for a period of time longer than necessary to load or unload passengers. [Source]
Thankfully for motor-vehiclists of NYS, that fine is only $150, but as I mentioned before, lawsuits and the resulting settlements have gone into the six figure area. I'd love if they increased that to the level that Chicago has, as people clearly don't take the current law - and resulting fine - seriously enough.
And back to the other video, where the person passes on the right of the stopped cab, I looked up the exact law for DC, and under D.C. Municipal Regulations Section 1201.3 it states a cyclist may pass a vehicle on either the left or right side.
I love how many people on here just blindly throw rationality and the law out the window because they have a deep seeded hatred for cyclists.
I obviously hit a raw nerve on you ttech. You seem so defensive and abrasive. How many times have you been "doored"?