Wrongful Death of 84-Year-Old Bicyclist

To close out 2020, a wrongful death claim was filed and settled on behalf of the family of William "Bill" Piatt. Mr. Piatt was fatally injured when a pick-up truck driver rear-ended his bicycle in rural New Madrid county. Bill Piatt was a retired minister who – never really retired from life – as he preached part-time, was active in the Boy Scouts, enthusiastic hand radio operator, as well as a home repairman. A few weeks before his death, he was on top of his roof doing repairs.

The case was settled without filing suit after Stephen E. Walsh sent a demand letter to Liberty Mutual's senior adjuster, including in the demand letter various photographs of the decedent and his family, bicycling activities (he had over 11,000 miles logged on his bicycle since 2014), as well as videos of decedent. Steve, in his demand letter, emphasized a truism that he learned from his trial college, The Edge: "It is not when you die that important, it's how you die that matters". The case came to the firm through the son-in-law of the deceased who is a member of the Highway Patrol who had wrestled with Steve some 20 years ago in a criminal case in Cape county.