Woman hit by NHP car to get $13,000

Thursday, Oct. 12, 2000 | 10:16 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A Las Vegas woman injured in an auto accident when a Nevada Highway Patrol officer started to reach for his cell phone will get $13,000 from the state, the Board of Examiners decided Wednesday.

The money is going to Nancy Weedon, whose medical expenses have reached $7,119. Attorneys for the state estimated she probably would receive $21,000 plus interest and attorney fees if the case went to trial.

Highway Patrol Trooper William Adamson was reaching for his cell phone Dec. 26, 1997, while driving on Interstate 15 near the Desert Inn overpass and rear-ended Weedon's car during rush hour traffic, state investigators said.

Some governments are enacting laws to prohibit motorists from using cell phones during driving. A bill is being written for the 2001 Nevada Legislature to consider a driver or a pedestrian using a cell phone automatically negligent if an accident occurs.

The board also agreed to a $49,999 settlement for Anna Weakland, whose car was rear-ended by a state Transportation Department vehicle driven by employee Jay Martinkus on Galetti Way in Sparks. Weakland was holding a cup of latte in her left hand when the accident occurred.

Her face was thrown against the cup as it hit the steering wheel. She suffered jaw and neck injuries. Her medical bills so far are $22,000 with further surgery expected.

The board, however, turned down a tearful plea from Jeanette Ogilivie of Carson City, who was severely injured in April last year when her car was rear-ended. The driver of the other car was not a state employee and the vehicle was not a government car.

Ogilivie said the intersection was dangerous and the Transportation Department, shortly after her accident at Hot Springs Road and College Parkway, redesigned it.

But state investigators said the woman who was driving the other car, in a hurry to get to work, ignored a warning sign 200 feet from the intersection that indicated there was a stop sign ahead. The motorist ran the stop sign, hitting Ogilivie.

Ogilivie has recovered $100,000 from the errant motorist's insurance. Her attorney has taken one-third of that and she says she faces further medical bills.

But Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa said there was no showing the state was negligent and a payment in this case "would open the door to a lot of liability" that the state would face in similar cases.

The board delayed action on a contract to allow the Friends in Service Helping (FISH) to lease and renovate an old building at Stewart south of Carson City to house up to 16 homeless men.

The Advocates for Domestic Violence have a nearby house at Stewart used as a shelter for battered women and their children. The group expressed concern the homeless men might threaten the women and their children.

The board will take a closer look at the situation and consider the lease at its next meeting.