The Region : Accident Victim to Be Paid $1.15 Million

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors agreed to pay $1.15 million to a man who was left paralyzed after a 1983 motorcycle accident on Bouquet Canyon Road in Saugus. The award to James Burghardt, 25, of San Bernardino, is the largest out-of-court settlement by the county in a personal injury case, although the county has lost larger sums in trials of such cases, said Owen Gallagher, senior deputy county counsel. Burghardt alleged in a lawsuit that he lost control of his motorcycle because of rock and other debris that county workers had failed to clear from the road. Burghardt, then a Lockheed Corp. assembly line worker living in Palmdale, suffered a fractured spine and lost the use of his legs and most of the use of his arms. Gallagher said the county Claims Board recommended settlement after research showed that Los Angeles County juries have awarded individuals between $3 million and $14 million recently in similar personal injury lawsuits.