|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The family of late NFL coach Greg Knapp is seeking damages in court following his death nearly three years ago after being struck by a vehicle while bicycling in San Ramon, with the next court date in the case set for this week.
Knapp’s widow and daughters filed the initial civil complaint in January 2023 alleging wrongful death against the city of San Ramon and the driver of the vehicle that struck and ultimately killed 58-year-old Knapp in 2021.
The lawsuit in Contra Costa County Superior Court is among the few records publicly naming Kevin Xu as the driver in the collision that led to Knapp’s death, with his identity having not been released by authorities following the decision from the district attorney’s office not to pursue criminal charges. Distracted driving due to cellphone use was determined to be the cause of the collision, but Xu’s use of a hands-free device kept the incident from being classified as a criminal one.
Xu, now 24, was arrested earlier this year for attempted assault and harassment charges following reported encounters with his estranged father and a neighboring resident. The Danville man’s mental health and competency were formally brought into doubt at a Feb. 5 hearing in that new criminal case, with a doctor’s report hearing scheduled for April 16, according to court records.
Embarcadero Media Foundation brought to light Xu’s connection to the Knapp case in the aftermath of his assault arrest by the Danville Police Department in January.
Although Xu was identified as the one behind the wheel of the vehicle that mortally injured Knapp, attorneys for the coach’s widow Charlotte Knapp, daughter Jordan Knapp and stepdaughters Natalie and Camille Dean argue that the city of San Ramon and Lennar Corp. were the ones responsible for unsafe conditions in the bike lane Knapp was riding in just before the collision on Dougherty Road north of North Monarch Road on July 17, 2021.
Knapp, a longtime NFL assistant coach who was just about to start his first season with the New York Jets, never regained consciousness and died at an area hospital five days after the crash.
The family’s attorneys argue that the city and 49 unidentified city employees “failed to properly design, plan, install, configure, maintain, repair, operate, monitor and/or control portions” of the stretch of road Knapp was struck on “including but not limited to the bicycle lane, the traffic lanes, the truck/water truck lane and the sidewalk” at the site of the collision “such that they constituted a dangerous condition of public property.”
They point to the impacts of the installation and operation of a recycled water facility near the roadway, including a reduction in lane width that was intended to be temporary “but ultimately was not a temporary change, thereby creating a dangerous condition.”
“Among other things, the subject roadway lacked proper safety measures and other controls, including, but not limited to, proper and sufficiently wide bike lane, proper and sufficiently wide traffic lanes, and/or safety barriers,” attorneys from the Homampour Law Firm wrote in last year’s initial complaint.
They additionally allege that the city and associated staff had not warned drivers and bicyclists about the changes to the roadway to accommodate the water facility, which according to attorneys amounted to a “deficiently sized bike lane and traffic lanes” that created a “foreseeable risk of injury to normal users of the roadway.”
“Said conditions were allowed to exist unremedied,” attorneys for Knapp’s family wrote. “This was inherently dangerous and created a trap, peculiar risk, and nuisance.”
The lawsuit argues that the city should have put forth additional efforts and measures to warn bicyclists and drivers about the narrowed lanes, such as signage indicating what to expect on the portion of roadway where Knapp was hit by Xu’s vehicle, and/or improved conditions and safety measures such as by installing barriers, moving the bike lane or widening lanes.
“The absence of proper safety measures and the installation, maintenance, repair, operation, monitoring, and/or control of the subject roadway, including, but not limited to, the bicycle lane, the traffic lanes, the truck/water truck lane, and the sidewalk at and near the roadway, was inadequate and improper and created a hazard, trap, and dangerous condition,” attorneys for the Knapp family wrote.
“It also created a peculiar risk and trap (the existence of an unsafe condition not reasonably apparent to motorists and bicyclists and/or an unsafe and improper roadway) for motorists and bicyclists traveling on the subject roadway,” they continued.
Attorneys argued that “the collision was foreseeable” to city and staff involved in changes to the roadway “and yet they failed to warn (or adequately warn) motorists and bicyclists.”
As a result, the initial complaint concludes that the city and associated staff are liable for Knapp’s death, as well as the resulting damages suffered by his widow and daughters “resulting from the loss of the love, companionship, society, comfort, care, assistance, protection, affection, attention, services, and support, including economic support, of Decedent.”
Attorneys for the city from the law firm Clapp, Moroney, Vucinich, Beeman and Scheley denied that the city was liable for Knapp’s death or damages to his surviving family in an answer to the initial complaint filed April 17, 2023, and argued that the plaintiffs were not entitled to damages.
They contended that the complaint “fails to state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action” against the city, and that Knapp had intentionally and knowingly assumed the risk associated with using the bike lane at the time of his death.
“This answering defendant alleges that decedent Gregory Knapp acted with knowledge of all the facts and circumstances surrounding his injuries and assumed the risk of the matters causing the injury, and that said matters of which decedent assumed the risk proximately,” defense attorneys for the city wrote in their answer to the initial complaint.
They went on to argue that the city and associated staff did not breach any duty in the implementation of changes to the lanes on the stretch of Dougherty Road in question, and that any dangerous conditions on the road were not within their purview.
“The damages suffered by plaintiffs, if any, are a result of comparative fault of third parties,” attorneys for the city wrote.
Among the other arguments in the initial response were the fact that the city did not own the property in question, as well as an allegation that they could not have foreseen Xu’s distracted driving.
Attorneys for the Knapp family filed an amended complaint on July 11, 2023 reaffirming their allegations against the city and Xu while adding Faria Preserve LLC, Calatlantic Group Inc.and Lennar Corp. to the list of defendants, arguing that they along with the city were responsible for the maintenance, operation, and safety of the roadway.
The amended complaint added a cause of action against Faria, Calatlantic and Lennar alleging general negligence on their parts for the conditions on the roadway prior to Knapp’s death that they said made the three companies also liable for the accident and the impact on the surviving family.
Attorneys for all three companies denied liability in their answer to the amended complaint, as did attorneys for the city again in their answer in August 2023.
Attorneys for Xu filed cross-complaints against the city and the other defendants named in the amended complaint, with attorneys for all three parties subsequently submitting answers to Xu and vice versa, which have been the subject of a majority of the court hearings in the case since last fall.
The next court date for the lawsuit is a case management conference on Wednesday (March 6) at 8:30 a.m.
