Family Sues Driver and City After Teen Loses Legs in St. Louis Crash

I was questioning why this has this had. happened a man out on bond accused of. causing a crash that led to devastating. injuries for a teenager learns his fate. in a courtroom and a lawsuit has been. filed against all of the alleged players. involved including the city of St Louis. we're breaking down the case of Daniel. Riley with Dan Morgan managing partner. for Powerhouse Law Firm Morgan and. Morgan welcome to sidebar presented by. law on crime I'm Jesse Weber.

Jana Edmonson was just 17 years old an. active high school volleyball player. getting ready for big events like prom. graduation the rest of her life when. disaster struck the Tennessee teen was. at a volleyball tournament with her. parents in St Louis Missouri in February. 2023 family was walking back to their. hotel when two cars crashed colliding. into Jana and as a result both of her. legs had to be amputated testified.

during the trial of Daniel Riley the man. accused of driving the car that caused. that. crash we were about to proceed and then. after that I was I grabbed my dad and I. said oh watch out and we turned and ran. then after that I felt something hit me. and it was warm and then after that I. ended up on my stomach face down and I. was screaming cuz I couldn't feel my. body and I was.

just in. Penny. okay and I was screaming I I something. but I didn't know what 22-year-old. Daniel Riley was charged with one count. each of second deegree assault and armed. criminal action which are both felonies. he was also charged with multiple. misdemeanors including driving without a. license police say Riley blew past a. yield sign causing another car to hit.

his and sending both vehicles flying. Reports say he had accelerated from 17. mph to 45 mph within 3.5 seconds and. then floored the car before crashing a. toxicologist testified that Riley's. blood tested positive for THC Fentanyl. and Codine at the time of the crash. Riley was out on bond after he was. suspected of being part of an armed. robbery and it turns out that rley had. violated his bond close to 90 times. since he was originally charged in 2020.

according to court documents the armed. robbery case had yet to go to trial. because quote the state wasn't ready and. despite these multiple violations Riley. was allowed to stay on house arrest he. wasn't locked up so far Jana has had to. have almost 30 surgeries to deal not. only with the amputations but also. injuries to her internal organs and. pelvis it's absolutely horrible it took. a jury just about 3 hours to find Riley. guilty of four of the five charges the.

jury actually recommended that he spend. almost 19 years in prison but an actual. sentencing won't take place until April. when a judge will decide if Riley. sentences will run consecutively or. concurrently now Jana has also filed a. massive lawsuit against multiple. defendants including against the city of. St Louis and we are going to talk about. it so to discuss this let me bring in. personal injury attorney Dan Morgan the. managing partner of Morgan and Morgan.

our proud sponsor here on sidebar a. Powerhouse Law Firm Dan so good to see. you thanks for coming on good to see you. too thanks for having me so Dan this is. a horrific horrific case um and it. breaks my heart every time I see Jana. you know in a wheelchair um because she. was an athlete she she really had so. much to look forward to and this. devastated her life and really. Unthinkable way but before we even get. into the lawsuit do you think the judge. will agree with the jury a 19 years in.

prison in other words running the. sentences consecutively one after the. other and not together meaning. concurrently because my understanding is. the judge under Missouri law the judge. can reduce the punishment of the jury if. he finds it excessive and to be clear. with what the jury recommended the jury. recommended that Riley serve 6 years and. 3 months for second degree assault 11. years and 8 months for armed criminal. action 10 months for fourth degree. assault plus a 10-month fourth degree. assault charge that that actually has to.

be served in the city Justice Center so. the rest of the sentence will be served. in prison but do you think the judge is. going to agree that 19 years is the. appropriate punishment. here I in my personal opinion I I do I. think the Judge is gonna lay down what. the jury re recommended I don't see him. going more heavy-handed could he. potentially but I really don't see him. saying hey we'll just do a running cons. consecutively given this guy's. background his criminal history um you. know look look look look look at at the. law that was filed that he violated his.

bail you know 40 times this isn't you. know he made a mistake uh and he slipped. up you know one time this is a repated. offender and judges always look take. that into account when when making U. sentencing yeah I I I wouldn't be. surprised if he follows the jury's. recommendations but we'll see um has. some discretion there let's talk about. the lawsuit this is your bread and. butter now because so Jana filed the. lawsuit and I'm going to go through the. different defendants and what you think. of the claims one of the defendants. listed in this lawsuit as I mentioned is. the city of St Louis the suit is blaming.

the city saying there should have been a. stop sign not a yield sign at that. intersection because the buildings. prevent drivers from being able to see. each other or see the other cars the. suit States quote St Louis ODed duty to. the general public and specifically to. pedestrians like Jana Edmonson to remove. or warn of dangerous conditions and to. maintain the intersection including the. areas surrounding the intersection in a. reasonably safe condition in violation.

of this Duty St Louis negligently. permitted and maintained a dangerous. condition to exist at the intersection. creating an unreasonable risk of injury. to pedestrians what do you make of that. argument it is a premises liability. argument I mean I see where they're. going with it and it does make sense I. mean you you'd have to take the history. of that intersection though I mean if. this was the one and only time this. accident happened I don't think they. have a very strong argument but if you. took a historical data collection which.

is obviously all public record and you. saw hey at this exact yield intersection. there's five accidents a month or. there's been over 20 in the past five. years and you show a history or repeated. um action by the city to not take action. to make changes when they see that. damage and and and injuries are. happening at the specific place um that. yeah that could be a viable claim so it. really comes into the discovery phase of. it and really seeing was this a one-off. event that happened right here at this. yield I don't understand they're saying. well the buildings and blocking you can.

get code code enforcements and and. agencies out there that do that my guess. is that they went through all that. proper screening once they first got. approval but if there was in a repeated. history of these accidents then there. could be a need for the public to have a. change in course of what's going on. there generally speaking though have you. ever seen a lawsuit based on the city. not having the right signage or having. the wrong kind of stoplight or having. something to do with traffic that was. the city's fault have you ever seen a. lawsuit like that uh we have actually. yeah I mean there's times too when they. don't don't do the proper you know it.

could be one-off events we have here in. Orlando sometimes I know per personally. when the they rerouted the traffic wrong. kind of had it set up to cause an. accident um it was foreseeable and an. accident did did did occur an injury did. result from from that accient so yeah it. definitely has happened it's not like. this is a new Theory to go after the. city's fory thing again like I said if. there is a like a repeated history um. same with the sidewalk this sidewalk. there's a there's a step off um and it's. not property contrasted and there's been.

20 Falls at that same spot on the city. sidewalk and they just leave it like. that and not paint this side yellow and. this side white well then you can bring. a claim saying hey you guys knew this. was going to happen you didn't change. the course accidents keep happening. people keep falling and busting their. teeth open and nothing's been done no. nothing's changed then you can go out to. the city for not uh for not rectifying. the situation what about this fact I saw. this in local reporting that the yield. sign was replaced with a stop sign after. this happened so if that's the case does. that show that the city knew they were.

in the. wrong this is like a a classic law. school question dictionary it's a re. remedial measure um so most most times. almost all the time you can't take a. change that someone did to make a. condition safer to then say hey it. wasn't done right in the first place. then um so it does show that the city is. now said hey this a change need needs to. happen we are going to make it safer um. but you can't take that evidence and. then show hey could have should have. would have type type type of deal so. yeah that's kind of okay so in other.

words you can correct the problem. doesn't mean that you were legally. responsible okay okay that makes sense. exactly they don't want because they. don't want people to then not fix. problems if they're in a lawsuit where. hey you could you know because if I do. fix it then I'm saying I'm guilty but I. don't think I'm guilty but there's a. chance that I could solve a future. injury for this to happen again um. because then it is foreseeable too so if. you now you didn't think it could happen. but now you know it happened well then. you should go ahead and change it see. why we have you as our uh personal. injury expert right now all right so. let's talk about um the fact that Jana.

has not only sued the city she sued Mr. Riley for negligence but also sued his. mom Kimberly Riley for negligent. entrustment the argument was you. shouldn't have let him drive this rented. car this rented Audi when you knew he. was on house arrest when you knew he. didn't have a driver's license the suit. actually says he was incompetent what do. you make of that argument.

um I think these are her these are these. lawyers and her families in her case's. strongest claims are going against the. ATA driver and the negligent in. entrustment potentially the rental car. if they have an insurance agreement to. if they knew he was going to drive and. they then allow him you know there's. different Scopes I want to um forecast. but those are kind of the cleanest one. in Missouri and in St Louis they have. sovereign immunity so bringing cases. against cities and states and government. entities is already a hurdle in itself. so these routes will definitely be a lot. cleaner route to Justice um and it's.

actually going after the person that. caused the harm her issue is going to be. you know what does what does this. individual have to to really go after. you know if you sue him me obviously. she's in my opinion no no money is. really enough money for her for what. she's gone through and what what she has. to deal with for the rest of her life. but that person most likely doesn't have. that type of money to pay what those. damages are um so you know you're kind. of in a really tough s situation there. but no there is definitely a claim of. negligent and trustman if if that mother. gave her son a car that she knew he you.

know he didn't have a license and she. said here you know run run to the store. and go give me something he's just as. guilty as he is for giving him those. keys well you mentioned the car rental. company the car rental company is also. being sued for as well negligent. entrustment I I don't know exactly at. this point if they knew um you know when. when his mom was renting the car that. they knew he would drive it as well or. is it the idea if we are entrusting this. car to you um we are also assuming.

responsibility for anybody that you give. it to I don't know how that works. because if in terms again I don't know. what the rental paperwork was but if. someone rents a car and then that person. gives the car to their son their friend. to drive is it the in is it the car. rental company that's on the hook or is. the like the mom of that person on the. hook yeah so usually the Ral car. companies have pretty Ironclad contracts. that hey if you you know if another. person is going to be driving who is. that person what's their you know their. Drive there's been times when I've been. with my parents you know and I didn't.

have my driver's license on me so the. driver's comp the rental car company. said you know you're not allowed to. drive the car then if I then there say. hey we know you're still going to drive. it don't worry about giving us this. information that I'll document it then. yeah there could be a right realm to tie. that b back in of the negligent. entrustment most likely in this case. it's going to be a little more tough to. connect those dots uh for them again I. think this is a tip you you want to over. plead you want to name everybody that. could have some liability um and and. some implications here and there's.

probably also most most Ral car. companies too do have an underlying. Insurance um package you know that's out. there most likely this Ral car company. has probably pitched those limits. whatever that is um you know but. definitely i' would say the cleaner. route is definitely against the mom um. if she did throw those keys to him on. that day and say you know take take the. car knowing what she knew obviously the. insur the rental company would be in. trouble I would imagine if they knew. about that he was going to drive or he. signed paperwork he was going to drive. um the other driver was also part of. this lawsuit she's also being sued.

Elizabeth Smith um so she's one of the. name defendants uh Riley car was struck. by Smith's car when he sped into the. intersection now Jana says that Smith. was negligent and careless in operating. the car wasn't paying attention think. that that's a good argument against SMI. Smith uh again if she had an opportunity. if Smith had an opportunity to avoid the. Collision uh you know there could be. comparative Li liability so even though. um Riley's 90% at fault for this. accident a jury could say hey there's.

10% on Smith for for this accident so. whatever that verdict is say I'm just. going to use round round numbers to make. it easy for the listeners but say it's. you know a mill a million dollars then. you know Smith would be as responsible. for that $100,000 chunk and R and the. Riley would be responsible for that. $900,000 chunk so um I think in this. situation if a jury does come in and say. hey this uh and again I don't know the. facts about what Smith was doing but if. she was texting or speeding or switching. lanes and had an opportunity to avoid. the accident and didn't well then a jury.

could come and put comparative liability. on her as well um so I think it's. another case where you want to make sure. you over plead that way you don't come. down and uh get get a verdict and a jury. does put something on Smith but you. didn't name her in the in the complaint. so now you're not getting anything from. him so it's definitely I think the smart. U mooved by the attorney here to make. sure that everybody that uh could have. some comparative Li liability on this. verdict is attached hey so we want to. thank Morgan and Morgan for sponsoring. today's law on crime YouTube takeover if. you've seen our videos you know Morgan. and Morgan is a very proud sponsor of.

ours look I think it's clear to see from. our content that the world is not always. the safest place right and if you get. hurt that can be so confusing that could. be so scary what do you do who do you. turn to well Morgan and Morgan America's. largest injury Law Firm can help you see. if you're injured you need to know your. legal rights you need to know whether. you could be compensated for your injury. and Morgan and Morgan they have made it. super easy for their clients because. they've complet completely modernize the.

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submitting a claim at forthepeople.com. youout takeover or by dialing pound law. that's pound 529 on your. phone so all said and done I I mentioned. the claims I've mentioned the defendants. assuming that the city is on the hook. assuming the rental car companies on the. hook the different defendants are on the. hook what kind of Damages could Jana be. looking at here. well I mean it's it's really I mean you.

got all the medical damages that she's. gone through I think I mean I was. reading earlier I believe north of 20. surgeries and more in the future and you. know all that that she's already gone. through and all that going to be needed. into the future so those are just the. economical damage that's just saying hey. these are real numbers that she's. incurred that she's had to pay for. medical surgery so that's one bucket so. whatever that number is I think a jury. is going to have no problem writing down. I mean that's just basic here's here. here's here's the numbers here's what. the doctors present. um I think it would be tough for any.

defense attorney to say anything that. resulted from that was not due to what. transpired that day so I think that. economical damage will speak for it. themselves um and you know Lord willing. she has all the insurance and everything. she needs the medical coverages now that. have been taken care of all that so. hopefully those are outstanding for but. the um the Civil system is there to make. sure that she is made whole on that then. you get into the non-economical and. that's where it's really um left up to a. jury what is all that pain and suffering. worth the inconvenience for the rest of.

her life the pain and suffering that. she's gone through and the pain and. suffering that she has to endure in the. future um you know you're talking about. a girl that was a volleyball player that. had you know college and everything her. whole life ahead of her and all that's. now um she'll be bound to a wheelchair W. amputate um you know it's just it's it's. it's unfathomable so you know when when. you really think about what is that. worth what is you know it it's really in. my mind you know we would be asking for. a number well into the nine figures you. know not not not the eight figur this.

would be a $100 million do type ass to a. jury plus just because of thinking about. all this girls had to gone through all. all she will go through what her family. then has to you know it's just really. unfathomable so yeah this would be um. and but again the problem with no matter. what that number is say it's $100. million where's that money going to come. from if the state has the sovereign. immunity so they they have limits on can. Collective if the Ries don't have. obviously the you know I haven't seen. their names in the forist or anything. like that so they're most likely not. going to have the funds to pay that down.

so it's really going to be a situation. of who has um to to be collected but. yeah definitely a verdict if he went to. a jury would be astronomical or. potential settlement if these defendants. are still on the hook and it's making. its way through trial and it's getting. messy um listen this we know this. lawsuit has actually been delayed to. March 2025 so we'll wait and see what. happens between now and then um just a. really really sad case and I will say um. from all of us you know we're just. sending our best wishes to Jana and her. family cuz it's really a heartbreaking.

situation Dan Morgan thank you so much. for coming on Sir appreciate it thanks. for having me all right everybody that's. all we have for you here on this episode. of sidebar thank you so much for joining. us as always please subscribe on Apple. podcast Spotify YouTube wherever you get. your podcast I'm Jesse Weber I'll speak. to you next. [Music]. time.