Gary Suydam was struck by two cars and paralyzed on Jan. 27, 2017, as he rode his bike home from work. This month, a jury awarded him more than $52 million in a judgment against a driver and the temp-work company that employed her.
The verdict is the largest personal injury judgment in a decades-spanning database compiled by the Jury Verdict Reporter of Colorado, and experts said it’s one of the largest civil judgments in Colorado’s history.
Suydam’s not guaranteed to receive any money yet. The case is likely to go to appeal — but if the judgment stands, Suydam could collect tens of millions from a franchise of the Labor Finders service.
“He’s an inspirational person to me. He has personally changed my life in his way that he’s handled this, battled, continued to work and continued to keep a positive attitude in the face of so many challenges,” said Stuart Mann, Suydam’s attorney.
The crash
Suydam, now 53, was riding in a bike lane along West 26th Avenue on that winter afternoon, heading from his office in Golden to his home near Sloan’s Lake. He crossed Wadsworth Boulevard with a green light.
At the same time, driver Chelsea Brewer turned left from the opposite side of the intersection, crossing into Suydam’s path, according to police reports. The collision knocked Suydam from his Mondial Tommaso bike.
As he lay wounded in the street, a second driver, Stephen Tecmire, followed Brewer into the intersection. Tecmire’s Honda CRV wheel ran over Suydam’s head and dragged him several feet, according to police reports. Tecmire stopped but then left the scene, later telling officers that he was unaware of the accident.
“I think they knew they went over me. They should have known they went over me. And an eyewitness said it looked like the car drove over a boulder,” Suydam told this reporter last year. “I have no doubt that the helmet saved my life.”
Suydam, a computer programmer and former rock-and-roller, hasn’t been able to move his lower body or hands since the crash.
The trial
Suydam and his wife filed a lawsuit in 2017 seeking damages from the collision. It went to trial this month with two defendants: LFI Fort Pierce and Chelsea Brewer.
The case focused on the question of whether Brewer was working for Labor Finders at the time of the collision — which would determine whether the company was liable for Suydam’s injuries. It’s an increasingly common and complex question as more people take on contract, or “gig,” work.
“If we can show that you’re in what’s called the ‘course and scope’ of your employment, then the insurance policy for the company will become involved,” said Stephen Wahlberg, a Denver attorney and past president of the American Board of Trial Advocates, who wasn’t involved in the case.
Suydam’s attorneys argued Brewer was transporting two coworkers, along with company supplies and financial documents, back to the company’s Lakewood office. They said that Labor Finders had negligently failed to train Brewer to drive.
Labor Finders “incentivizes its employees to drive their own car by providing them with priority job placement with the explicit purpose of getting them to transport other employees,” the plaintiffs claimed.
The journey was only about five minutes by car, according to court filings.
Suydam’s side claimed that Labor Finders “arranged for Brewer to transport two other employees,” and told them that they wouldn’t get paid immediately unless they brought a signed work order back to the office, citing a statement from Brewer.
The defendants claimed that it wasn’t “absolutely necessary” for Brewer to drive back to the office that afternoon. The company claimed her main objective in making the drive was to pick up her paycheck sooner — a benefit to her, rather than Labor Finders.
But Suydam’s attorneys argued that workers delivering documents was a key part of the company’s appeal to clients.
The aftermath
After about three hours of deliberation, Mann said, the jury decided Suydam’s medical bills, lost wages and other “economic” costs totaled $15.7 million. They also awarded $32.8 million in physical impairment damages. That second category places a value on the experiences that Suydam could be denied by his injuries.
“How has your life changed? Do you love to play golf? Do you love to hike? Are you a gourmet cook? Do you love to travel? Do you love to paint?” Wahlberg said. “Whatever it is that you love to do, that you can’t do anymore, is worth something.”
The second driver, Stephen Tecmire, was sentenced to five years in prison on charges related to the crash. The jury assigned him 10 percent responsibility for Suydam’s injuries, but he won’t be liable for the cost, according to an attorney for the plaintiffs.
Instead, the cost falls on Brewer and the local Labor Force franchise. “This is a huge decision, a huge award,” Wahlberg said.
But it’s no guarantee. Attorney Mann said that the defendants will likely appeal the case. “He’s certainly not sitting there as a wealthy man. He’s not gotten penny one, but it’s a good start,” Mann said.
Attorneys for the defendants couldn’t be reached for comment on Friday. Suydam also couldn’t be reached for comment.
