Feb 19 , 2003 | Douglas Melvold | Maquoketa Sentinel Press

The estate of a rural Bellevue Man who died in a car-motorcycle accident last year and his widow have been awarded a judgment of $180,000 following a trial in Jackson County District Court.

A six-man, two-woman jury awarded the damages to the estate of Galen Bahr and to Tracy A. Saeugling on Thursday, Feb. 13, following a 3-½-day civil trial before Judge Gary McKenrick.

The damages were brought against Stevie Rae Hudrlik and her father, Stevin Hudrlik of Andrew.

The wrongful death suit stemmed from the traffic accident, which occurred at about 2:15 a.m. May 27, 2001 at the junction of county road Y-61 and 200th Street approximately 3-½ miles north of Andrew.

Bahr, 43, and a friend, Pete Saeugling, were driving their motorcycles on north Y-61, were heading home after spending the evening with friends at a tavern in Andrew.

Stevie Hudrlik, who was 19 years old at the time, was driving west on 200th Street, on her way home from a party. She stopped for the stop sign at Y-61 and waited while the Saeugling motorcycle passed.

Thinking she had sufficient time to pull out onto Y-61 and turn left toward Andrew, she pulled into the northbound land in the path of the oncoming motorcycle driven by Bahr.

The Bahr 1989 modified Harley-Davidson motorcycle struck the driver’s side of Hudrlik auto. Bahr was thrown from the motorcycle and died at the scene. Hudrlik received minor injuries.

Bahr’s widow, who since has married Pete Saeugling, filed the suit on Nov. 20, 2001, charging Hudrlik with negligence. Her father was named because he was the owner of the 1989 Chevrolet Corsica she was driving.

The suit charged Stevie Hudrlik with failure to use ordinary caution and failing to yield to oncoming traffic. No citations were issued in the accident.

Testimony during the trial centered on how fast Bahr was traveling and whether or not he had sufficient time to take evasive action to avoid the accident after Hudrlik pulled onto the highway.

Armin Pavlovic, and accident reconstruction expert and engineer with a Madison, Wis., firm that was hired by Saeugling, testified that Bahr would not have had enough time to react, decide what to do and take evasive action to successfully avoid the collision.

In testimony, Pavlovic estimated the speed of Hudrlik’s auto at 14 to 17 miles an hour when the collision occurred and that of the motorcycle at 47 to 53 miles an hour.

Pavlovic said based on his calculations, Bahr had only 1.3 seconds to act, not enough time to avoid the impact.

“The accident was not avoidable on the part of the motorcycle,?Pavlovic testified. “Looking at the amount of time available to the motorcycle driver, there was insuffcient time to react by braking or turning.?/p>

Testimony from another motorist, whom Bahr had passed just before the accident, indicated, however, his speed was 65 to 75 miles an hour less than a mile from the accident scene.

Testimony also showed that Bahr had drunk 10 to 11 beers that night and was legally intoxicated at the time. Pavlovic testified, however, that a sober driver still would have been unable to avoid the collision.

Hadrlik had consumed no alcohol, a breath test showed.

The Hudrliks?attorney, Craig Levien of Davenport, suggested that the jury award the plaintiffs $50,000, which would reimburse Bahr’s family for $9,000 in funeral expenses and $41,000 for lost financial support and loss of consortium to Bahr’s spouse.

In its verdict, the jury determined that Hudrlik was 60 percent at fault for the accident and Bahr was 40 percent at fault.

The jury awarded $250,000 for the value of the lost financial support to his wife, $41,000 for the loss of consortium to his wife and $9,000 of lost interest on Bahr’s funeral expenses for a total award of $300,000.

That amount was reduced to $180,000, or 60 percent of the total stemming from the percentage of fault the jury assigned to the Hudrliks.

Former Maquoketa attorney Pressley Henningen, now with a Muscatine law firm, represented the Bahrs.