Responses have been filed over Holmes Beach resident Deborah Trotter’s lawsuit over the wrongful death of her 86-year-old mother, Miriam.
Bradenton resident Michael Ritchie, 43, and Sarasota-based C-Squared CGC Inc., have filed defenses refuting their alleged responsibility for Trotter’s death.
The Trotters were struck in a crosswalk May 12, 2023, by Ritchie, who was driving a truck southbound on Marina Drive and took a green light to turn left onto Gulf Drive.
Miriam Trotter never regained consciousness, having suffered irreversible brain damage, and died May 17, 2023.
Deborah Trotter was treated and discharged from the hospital the day of the crash, suffering partial hearing loss, tinnitus and a permanent soft spot on her skull from the impact.
Ritchie did not receive criminal charges for the crash.
The Holmes Beach Police Department instead issued Ritchie a citation for failure to yield the right of way to pedestrians, which he contested in court.
Twelfth Circuit Judge Robert Farrance ruled on Aug. 9, 2023, to find Ritchie guilty of failure to yield the right of way to pedestrians. He ordered Ritchie to pay $166 for the citation and $21 in subpoena costs, as well as complete a basic driver improvement course.
Trotter’s wrongful death lawsuit was filed in the 12th Circuit Court on Dec. 27, 2023, and alleges both Ritchie and C-Squared’s negligence played a role in her mother’s death.
It also calls for the court to award $50,000 in damages, “exclusive of costs, interest and attorney’s fees.”
The lawsuit claims Ritchie was negligent by failing to yield the right of way to pedestrians in an active crosswalk, failing to maintain a proper lane of traffic, driving carelessly and recklessly, as well as failing to brake or reduce his speed before his truck’s impact with the Trotters.
Ritchie’s Feb. 1 response to the lawsuit — filed by attorney Scott Hamilton of the Bradenton-based Hamilton Price law firm — argues the crash was a result of Trotter and C-Squared’s negligence, not his own.
In his affirmative defenses to Trotter’s claims, Hamilton argues that Trotter’s claim is barred from recovery since her “alleged injuries and damages were caused or contributed, directly and proximately, in whole or in part, by her own negligence found to be greater than 50 percent.”
Otherwise, Hamilton wrote that Trotter should only be able to recover damages “limited to the reasonable and necessary cost or value of medical care rendered and may not include any amount in excess of the evidence of medical treatment and services expenses.”
On the other hand, Trotter’s lawsuit claims C-Squared was negligent by failing to coordinate the new traffic lights with crosswalk signals at the intersection of Gulf and Marina drives.
The crash occurred near the finish of Holmes Beach’s city center improvement project, which was completed by C-Squared and featured numerous roadway improvements, including new traffic signals at the intersection.
The wrongful death lawsuit also alleges C-Squared inadequately secured the construction area.
The complaint reads, “The negligent design, construction and approval of the maintenance of traffic plan and traffic signals for the area … particularly as to pedestrians forced to negotiate their way through the construction zone, created a highly dangerous but easily preventable trap for both pedestrians and the motoring public. But for the dangerous and preventable condition, the fatal collision … would never have happened.”
Attorney Jeremy Chevres of the Tampa-based Kubicki Draper law firm responded on March 19 to the lawsuit on behalf of C-Squared.
Chevres’ filing denies Trotter’s claims and, similarly to Ritchie’s defense, blames the crash on Ritchie and Trotter’s negligence.
“If plaintiff has suffered injuries and/or losses as alleged, these are the proximate results of negligence and/or wrongdoing by persons, entities, or forces not within defendant’s supervision, control, or responsibility, whereby defendant is not liable,” Chevres wrote.
Nevertheless, Chevres argued that any recovery should be awarded “in direct proportion to any fault apportioned.”
Both Ritchie and C-Squared filed demands for a jury trial in their responses to Trotter’s lawsuit.
No hearings were scheduled for the case as of April 6, according to the Manatee County Clerk of the Circuit Court’s website, records.manateeclerk.com.