South Florida Injury Attorney Blog

Reality television personality and motorcycle builder Billy Lane will plead to criminal charges stemming from a fatal Florida motorcycle accident, Florida Today reported Feb. 10. Lane, star of the Discovery Channel’s “Biker Build-Off” and owner of Choppers Inc. in Melbourne, is accused of DUI manslaughter in the incident, but may plead guilty to vehicular manslaughter at in a plea bargain at his April 7 hearing. Either charge carries up to 15 years in prison. Police say Lane had a blood-alcohol concentration of more than twice the legal limit when he crossed into oncoming traffic and killed motorcyclist Gerald Morelock, 56, on Labor Day 2006.

A lot of attention in this case focuses on Lane’s celebrity, as well as the irony that a famous motorcyclist hit another rider. As a Florida motorcycle accident attorney and a motorcyclist interested in safety, I spend a lot of time defending motorcyclists who are hit by careless drivers, drunk or sober. That maybe even more true for a driver who is a rider himself. Motorcyclists may bear the brunt of drivers’ bad decisions more than they should, but we also have a responsibility to make good decisions ourselves. That includes choosing not to ride or drive while intoxicated, which is always dangerous.

My wife and I both ride, so I have a special interest in aggressively representing victims of serious motorcycle accidents. Motorcycle crashes cause very serious injuries, including wrongful deaths, broken bones, brain injuries and others that may lead to permanent, lifelong disability. In many cases, anti-motorcycle prejudice also means that motorcyclists have to fight insurance companies just to collect the compensation they’re entitled to. If you’re in this position after a Florida motorcycle wreck, you don’t have to put up with it. Our firm, Cohn, Smith & Cohn, can help. To learn more about your options at a free consultation, please contact us as soon as possible.