Pima County Board of Supervisors candidate John Winchester and his wife are suing the City of Tucson for over $1 million for damages related to an injury to his shoulder when he rode his bike into the streetcar’s rails. The Notice of Claim was filed with the City of Tucson in September 2015, for an accident he had on University Avenue on March 23, 2015.
The lawsuit, filed by the law firm of Dwyer Hernandez P.C., names the City of Tucson, Granite Construction, Railworks Track System, and Old Pueblo Track Works as well as numerous John Does. The lawsuit does not specify Winchester’s injuries nor does it specify an amount Winchester hopes to collect.
According to the Notice, along with “his general damages and medical bills, Mr. Winchester has suffered lost wages and a loss in his earning capacity. Due to this incident, he has missed 15 days of work, which resulted in lost wages of $3,250.00.” Because his wife, Fernanda Quintanilla, acted as “Mr. Winchester’s full-time caretaker during his recovery and has a claim for loss of consortium. Ms. Quintanilla also had to take one week off of work and has lost wages in the amount of $200.00.”
The Notice concludes: “Due to the damages caused to Claimants to date and in the future, a reasonable amount of compensation to the Claimants is $1,000,000.00 for Claimant John Winchester’s claim, and $50,000.00 for Claimant Fernanda Quintanilla’s claim. Payment of these amounts to Claimants will settle all claims and allegations against the City of Tucson, and Claimants will execute a full and final release of any and all of Claimants’ claims.”
As is standard procedure, Winchester’s attorney followed up the Notice of Claim with a lawsuit filed in March of 2016.
The Notice of Claim reads in part:
On March 23, 2015 at approximately 5:15 p.m., John Winchester was riding his bicycle westbound on University Avenue in the designated bike lane. When he passed through the intersection of Euclid Avenue, he swerved left to avoid another cyclist and his tire got caught in the tracks causing him to be thrown violently over his handle bars and to sustain serious injuries. This also caused property damage to his bicycle to the front gears and brakes as both himself and his bicycle flipped forward and rolled. As he waited for his wife to come to take him to the emergency room, he had severe pain in his left shoulder.
Mr. Winchester was taken to Northwest Medical Center Emergency Room. He was treated for the injuries that he sustained in the incident. Mr. Winchester saw Dr. Michael Stilson two months after the incident at the University of Arizona Campus Health Services as he still had continued shoulder pain. Dr. Stilson performed a shoulder evaluation as he suspected a labral tear and referred him to Orthopedic Surgery. Mr. Winchester then met with Dr. William Pricket at Tucson Orthopedic Institute, 6320 N. La Cholla Blvd., #200, Tucson, AZ, for his severe shoulder pain. Dr. Pricket found that Mr. Winchester had a Iabral tear on his left shoulder and it was 90% dislodged. Dr. Pricket performed an Arthroscopic anterior, inferior, posterior and superior labral repair on July 9, 2015. Dr. Pricket placed 6 Biomet small juggernaut suture anchors in Mr. Winchester’s left shoulder. Mr. Winchester is to begin physical therapy at the University of Arizona Sport Campus, 1224 E. Lowell Street, Tucson, Arizona, in September and will incur additional bills. The medical bills that we have in our possession to date are $3,851.69, attached as Exhibit A. The emergency room and surgery bills are expected to be in excess of $30,000.00. Mr. Winchester has lost range of motion in his left shoulder and has continued pain. It is believed that this limited range of motion and continuing pain will be permanent. It is also more likely that Mr. Winchester will develop arthritis in his shoulder in the future than it would have been without this injury.
Prior to the incident, Mr. Winchester was a very physical person. He enjoyed playing flag football, baseball, outdoor sports, running, lifting weights, working out, etc. Mr. Winchester has thee-year-old son with whom he was very active. He also has an 8-month-old daughter. Since the incident, he cannot participate in the activities he did with his son and cannot hold or carry his daughter. He cannot enjoy the activities he did prior to the incident as he is unable to do them because of the pain and limited range of motion in his shoulder.
Mr. Winchester also cannot do the normal household chores that he used to do prior the incident, which includes most every household duty one can think of – taking out the trash, cleaning up the yard, pulling weeds, etc. His wife, Fernanda Quintanilla, had to take over those chores.
In addition to his general damages and medical bills, Mr. Winchester has suffered lost wages and a loss in his earning capacity. Due to this incident, he has missed 15 days of work, which resulted in lost wages of $3,250.00.
Mrs. Quintanilla acted as Mr. Winchester’s full-time caretaker during his recovery and has a claim for loss of consortium. Ms. Quintanilla also had to take one week off of work and has lost wages in the amount of $200.00.
The Claimants’ liability claims are based on negligent design of both the bike path and the track configuration, resulting in an unreasonably dangerous condition, as well as failure to properly warn of or cure that unreasonably dangerous condition. The track and the bike lane are both incorporated along a public street, and there is insufficient space to allow for a bicyclist to safely maneuver and navigate around obstacles that may arise along this route.
Another aspect of the City’s negligence is the lack of a rubber flap or “flange filler” along the track, leaving the slot below the street level beside the rail exposed. The condition is not “open and obvious “because the design reveals neither the nature nor depth of the slot, and no one suspects the manner in which the slot stops a bicycle’s forward movement as if a brake were applied to the front tire. It is believed this omission violated the approved design, which included a flange-filler or membrane. Also, designating this pathway as an approved bike path in that area created an unreasonably dangerous condition. The signage is also insufficient to properly advise a bicyclist who enters the area of the potential danger.
Due to the damages caused to Claimants to date and in the future, a reasonable amount of compensation to the Claimants is $1,000,000.00 for Claimant John Winchester’s claim, and $50,000.00 for Claimant Fernanda Quintanilla’s claim. Payment of these amounts to Claimants will settle all claims and allegations against the City of Tucson, and Claimants will execute a full and final release of any and all of Claimants’ claims.
He fumbled his own address when he filed to run for the Pima County Board of Supervisors, and a video is out that focuses on false claims made by Winchester about the actions of the voters of District 1. The video presents an interview on a Tucson radio station in which Winchester was caught lying to a caller about the Pima County bonds. He claimed that the Pima County Bond package passed in District 1 and that incumbent, Supervisor Ally Miller, was out of touch with her constituents for opposing the package.