$13.3 Million Verdict for Yosemite Cyclist Paralyzed by Rental Bike with Known Brake Failure

Mary Hall rented a bicycle from the Curry Company, the National Park Service concessionaire operating inside Yosemite, planning to ride down from Lower Yosemite Falls. The bike's brakes failed. She slammed head-on into a tree, fracturing her neck and leaving her quadriplegic, requiring mechanical ventilation to breathe.

The rental company had known about the brake problem before Hall ever touched the bike. Earlier that same morning, another woman rented the identical bicycle, returned it, and told staff the brakes had failed and caused her to crash. Curry Company employees did not repair the bicycle and did not pull it from service. They put it back in the rental queue and handed it to Hall without any warning.

Mary Alexander of Mary Alexander & Associates helped win the case in Fresno County. The central theory was straightforward: Curry Company had actual, contemporaneous notice that this specific bicycle was dangerous, and it rented it out anyway. The earlier rider's warning, delivered the same morning to the same staff, left no room for a defense that the defect was hidden or unknown.

The jury returned a $13.3 million verdict, which included $11.17 million in special damages. Alexander has described the Hall case as her most memorable matter, a judgment that reflected both the severity of Hall's permanent injuries and the company's decision to ignore a direct warning from a prior customer.

No post-verdict reduction of the award appears in the public record.