CVN screenshot of plaintiff attorney Geordan Logan delivering his opening statement
Las Vegas, NV - A Nevada state court jury heard opening statements Tuesday in a lawsuit accusing a chauffeur for a Las Vegas gentleman’s club of running over a bicyclist with his sport utility vehicle and attempting to flee the scene, and the proceedings are being webcast gavel-to-gavel by Courtroom View Network.
Plaintiff Thunder Roybal sued Louis Bellomo and SHAC LLC, which operates the Sapphire Gentleman’s Club, following a 2016 accident that Roybal’s attorney told jurors resulted in four major surgeries to treat crush injuries to his shoulder, neck and chest and that warranted $18 million in compensation.
Roybal alleges Bellomo tried to pass his bike on the left side while in a hurry, however Bellomo’s attorney argued to jurors that Roybal’s supposedly unsafe behavior caused the accident, that the SUV didn’t run him over, and that not all his surgeries were directly related to injuries sustained in the crash.
The full proceedings are being webcast and recorded gavel-to-gavel by CVN, the only video news service dedicated to gavel-to-gavel coverage of civil trials of interest to the legal, educational and business communities.
Attorney Geordan Logan of the Claggett & Sykes Law Firm told jurors that Bellomo honked at Roybal impatiently while driving behind him. He claimed that while trying to pass Roybal, he clipped the left handlebar of his bike, ran Roybal over, and allegedly was only prevented by leaving the scene by Roybal’s brother physically blocking the SUV.
“We are here because a professional driver, driven by his own impatience, hits a bicyclist and flees,” Logan told the jury.
Logan maintained that expert testimony would confirm both that a scrape on Bellomo’s vehicle came from contact with Roybal’s handlebar, and also that a tire mark left on Roybal’s shirt came from a tire on the same vehicle.
Representing the defense, Justin Zarcone of Winner Booze & Zarcone argued to jurors that Roybal was riding too far to the left for Bellomo to safely pass him, and that after Bellomo honked at him Roybal attempted to swat the mirror on his car.
Zarcone denied that Bellomo tried to flee after the crash, telling jurors that he merely pulled up a short distance to a safer location. He also denied that Roybal’s medical records indicated he’d been run over by the vehicle.
“You’ll hear that the injury that he received to the shoulder is consistent with him falling down and hitting the ground, not being run over by a 6000 pound vehicle,” Zarcone said, adding that the tire mark merely resulted from contact with the tire.
Zarcone also disputed the severity of Roybal’s claimed injuries, describing to jurors how Roybal initially did not seek medical treatment and also previewing evidence from physicians who examined Roybal supposedly showing that his back surgery was the result of chronic problems unrelated to the crash.
The trial is taking place before Tina Newberry, and CVN’s coverage will continue for the duration of the proceedings.
The case is captioned Roybal Roybal v. Louis Bellomo & SHAC LLC, case number A-18-778040-C in Nevada’s 8th Judicial District Court in Clark County.
E-mail David Siegel at dsiegel@cvn.com
