Motorcycle Accident Results in

In Business Las Vegas, May 18th, 2007

A Pahrump teen who survived a fiery dirt bike crash six years ago recently was granted the state's largest individual personal injury verdict.

Joseph Provenza , now 19, received third-degree burns over 90 percent of his body after he crashed his dirt bike in the desert during a family outing in 2001. He sued motorcycle manufacturer Yamaha as well as Lemans, parent company of the firm that manufactured the motocross clothes Provenza was wearing when he crashed.

A Clark County jury awarded him Lemans to cover his past medical expenses, future medical expenses, future loss of earning capacity and past and future pain and suffering. Provenza had asked for about attorney, Robert Eglet, senior partner with Mainor , Eglet and Cottle in Las Vegas .$41,519,423 in a May 4 decision against $54 million, said his

Lemans has vowed to appeal the decision.

Eglet argued that the clothing manufacturer was negligent because the motocross clothing should have been fire retardant, given the apparent danger of fire in the sport. He said that the clothing caused further injury to Provenza following the crash.

"It's clothing the consumer would buy as protective clothing and it looks just like the stuff professional racers would use. We sued them on design defect theory that people would presume they would be fire retardant for the activity, which is riding on a five-gallon gasoline tank with an open engine," Eglet said. "Not only was it not fire retardant, it actually caused the fire to spread rapidly. The pants were made of a nylon polyester blend which basically melted to his skin."

Eglet said that while he expects Lemans to appeal, his client will win again in court and get more money due to interest accrued from the first decision.

"We're very satisfied," Eglet said. "The verdict was very fair, it was a just verdict. It fully compensates on the costs incurred, whether it fully compensates for his pain and suffering, I don't know. I don't know anybody who would accept a billion dollars to go through the suffering that Joey is going through. But is it fair and appropriate — a jury of his peers in Clark County heard the evidence and that's the figures they came up with. It's hard to disagree with that."

But attorneys for Lemans say the jury did not hear the whole story and that the decision is anything but fair. They claim that Provenza and his father, Michael Provenza , made illegal modifications to the motorbike that caused it to catch fire after Provenza crashed it. They also claim that the Provenza family then destroyed the evidence that would have proven this and then lied about it to authorities.

Lemans attorney Wayne Mason said there is no fire hazard in motocross and that the clothing Provenza was wearing was essentially the same as that used by professionals.

"The professionals wear the exact same clothing that we sell in the store and nobody makes fire retardant clothing because it's not an issue," Mason said. "This is a very unique and very unusual thing that occurred."