MONROE — A motorcyclist who sued the City of Monroe for a 2016 collision with a police squad car recently settled the case out of court for $125,000, but city officials say the settlement won’t have much effect on the city or its budget.
The lawsuit filed by Monroe resident William Klein, 60, was dismissed in January, a year and a half after he filed it against the city, a Monroe police officer and the city’s legal liability insurance company. In the lawsuit, Klein cited nearly $45,000 in medical costs already incurred as a result of the accident as well as additional expenses for unknown future costs of care.
The Monroe Common Council approved a mediation settlement agreement with Klein in the amount of $125,000 at its meeting Dec. 16.
But the city is only liable for its deductible, $50,000, which includes over $20,000 in attorney fees. Cities and Villages Mutual Insurance Company (CVMIC) will cover the remainder.
The settlement is not an additional expense to the city nor does it cause the city to exceed budget limits because such legal expenses are already baked into the annual budget, according to Mayor Louis Armstrong.
“We had an incident, and that’s never a good thing. But we have legal fees budgeted every year,” he said.
Armstrong doesn’t expect the city’s insurance cost to go up as a result of the settlement.
Chief of Police Fred Kelley said his department has made no policy changes as a result of the incident because appropriate policies on driving were already in place for officers.
As for Klein, he “doesn’t receive $125,000 in his pocket,” according to Monroe city attorney Daniel Bartholf. “The agreement is he doesn’t get anything until medical liens, car damage liens, attorney fees ... are paid off.”
Bartholf did not represent the city in the case and said he didn’t know the breakdown of how much was allocated toward each expense. As part of the settlement agreement, Klein can’t re-file his lawsuit against the city.
“There’s no coming back to the city for anything else,” Bartholf said.
Personal injury lawyer Don Murphy, who represented Klein in the case, declined to discuss details of the settlement.
“I think he just wants this over with. It was a long haul, and he just wants to move on with his life,” Murphy said.
Klein initially filed a claim in October 2017 against a Monroe police officer and the city for $250,000, the highest amount recoverable by a person for damages against an officer or state employee under state law. He was denied.
He then filed the civil suit in Green County Circuit Court in July 2018. Like the denied claim, it was related to an accident that occurred May 12, 2016.
Brent Krebs, an officer at the time for the Monroe Police Department, was on duty and driving on 13th Avenue while responding to an ambulance call that afternoon. He did not have emergency lights or the car’s siren activated.
According to Kelley, Krebs pulled forward from the stop sign at the intersection with 19th Street, at which time he saw Klein driving an eastbound motorcycle on 19th Street and slammed on his brakes, coming to a stop or near stop. The two vehicles collided. Kelley said the motorcycle remained upright on its wheels and sustained only slight damage to its front fender, a bent tip.
But Klein claimed in court records that Krebs failed to yield the right-of-way at the stop sign, that the impact of the collision caused his bike to skid underneath the squad car and that the accident caused him injuries.
The Green County Sheriff’s Office was called in to investigate the accident. Neither Krebs nor Klein was cited for a traffic offense.
According to Kelley, Klein was repeatedly asked at the scene if he was injured and he said no.
“Later, he said he was,” including back and neck injuries, Kelley said.
Kelley said he believes the squad car’s “A” pillar, one of the vertical supports on either side of the windshield, blocked Krebs’ view from seeing Klein earlier.
Monroe police officers are instructed to drive carefully and defensively, Kelley said. That was the policy at the time of the accident, and it hasn’t changed.
“We talked to Krebs and said ‘Look, it was unfortunate. Next time you need to pay more attention to your surroundings,’” Kelley said.
He emphasized that because Klein’s lawsuit was dismissed and settled out of court, the facts of the case were never settled in front of a judge.
“There are claims that were never really hashed out and decided 100 percent,” Kelley said.
Krebs left the Monroe Police Department in April of last year and is now working for the state as a Radiological Emergency Preparedness (REP) Planner at Wisconsin Emergency Management. He is the brother of Times reporter Adam Krebs.