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US cycling champion’s family awarded $353 million verdict in civil lawsuit against drink and drug driverGwen Inglis (credit - USA Cycling)

US cycling champion’s family awarded $353 million verdict in civil lawsuit against drink and drug driver

Gwen Inglis was riding in a cycle lane when she was struck and killed by motorist Ryan Montoya, who was later sentenced to eight years in prison
by Ryan Mallon
Thu, Dec 08, 2022 11:29
3

The family of Gwen Inglis, the US Masters road race champion who was killed by a motorist driving under the influence of drink and drugs last year, has been awarded a $353 million verdict in a civil lawsuit against the driver.

46-year-old elite cyclist Inglis was struck and killed by Ryan Scott Montoya while riding in a cycle lane alongside her husband Michael in Lakewood, a suburb of Denver, Colorado, on 16 May 2021.

Motorist Montoya, who admitted to police officers that he had been drinking and using marijuana the night before, drifted into the bike lane and hit Inglis from behind, throwing her 20 feet along the road. The 31-year-old was previously convicted of driving under the influence in 2014 and had been charged with a second DUI just 10 days before Inglis was tragically killed.

> US cycling champion killed by driver drifting into bike lane

In April 2022, Montoya pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence and was sentenced in June to eight years in prison.  

A member of the Black Swift/Cycleton Cycling Team, at the time of her death Inglis was the reigning US national road race champion in the 45-49 age group. She was described by the Bicycle Racing Association of Colorado as “one of their best” and “a particularly special person”.

On Tuesday, lawyers representing Michael Inglis announced in a press release that a civil case brought against Montoya and his insurance company had resulted in a $353 million verdict.

“We asked a Jefferson County jury to tell us how we could deter other drivers from driving while on drugs and how we could deter drivers from harming cyclists,” specialist cycling lawyer Megan Hottman posted on Instagram. “We asked them to appraise the amazing life of Gwen Inglis and all the losses her husband Michael has suffered.

“There is no amount of money that brings Gwen back. We’d all pay it if there were. But her legacy in part now can be saving other lives.

“Part of this verdict is for punitive damages – damages meant to deter others from this conduct. Justice was served.”

Inglis’ husband Michael said in a statement: “No amount can bring back Gwennie, but 350 million is a tribute to Gwen's amazing character.”

Gwen Inglis
Colorado
Denver
Ryan Mallon

After obtaining a PhD, lecturing, and hosting a history podcast at Queen’s University Belfast, Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.

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3 comments

Avatar
eburtthebike | 2 years ago
3 likes

A graphic demonstration of the difference in compensation amounts awarded in the US and UK.

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andystow | 2 years ago
5 likes

I assume that what happens now is that the insurance company will pay up to the policy limits, maybe as much as $1M, but most likely the minimum required by law, which in Colorado is:

  • $25,000 for bodily injury or death to any one person in an accident;
  • $50,000 for bodily injury or death to all persons in any one accident; and
  • $15,000 for property damage in any one accident. 

Then any assets owned by Montoya other than maybe a primary residence will be sold. Then some portion of his wages, should he ever hold a job again once out of jail, will be garnished to go toward the judgement, probably for the rest of his life. I believe he can't use bankruptcy to get out of a judgement of this kind.

Avatar
Rendel Harris replied to andystow | 2 years ago
7 likes

That's interesting to know, thanks. Good to hear that he will carry on paying throughout his life, on the surface of it I was thinking what does that judgement do apart from drive up innocent people's insurance renewal costs?

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