A sign on the Mill Mountain gate that has caused problems for cyclists indicates that the park opens at 6 a.m. When Sarah Lukens and Melissa Moses approached the gate at about 6:40 a.m. July 29, 2023, the gate was closed, according to court filings.
Laurence Hammack
A Roanoke judge has dismissed lawsuits filed by two bicyclists who were seriously injured when they ran into a closed gate across a Mill Mountain roadway that was not easily visible.
Sarah Lukens and Melissa Moses had sought combined damages of $2.5 million from the city of Roanoke. Their lawsuits accused city employees of failing to regularly open and close the gate, which was kept locked overnight to prevent traffic from reaching the top of the mountain.
The women were not expecting the hinged gate -- which was rust brown and not illuminated to make it more noticeable -- to be closed as they descended the mountain at about 6:40 a.m. July 29, 2023.
A sign posted on the gate said the city park, which includes the Mill Mountain Star and the Mill Mountain Zoo, opened each day at 6 a.m.
In a May 9 opinion, Roanoke Circuit Judge Leisa Ciaffone ruled that the city was protected by the doctrine of sovereign immunity, which generally shields public bodies and officials from civil liability when they are performing a governmental function.
"The gate served a governmental function, which was to control traffic and to keep the public from accessing spaces that had become subject to criminal activity in the evening hours," Ciaffone wrote.
City employees admitted they were responsible for closing the gate at 11 p.m. nightly and reopening it the next morning, the lawsuits alleged, and that those responsibilities were not always completed in a timely manner.
But because the regulation and control of traffic had been found by the Virginia Supreme Court to be a governmental function, Ciaffone ruled that the city should be protected by sovereign immunity.
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"The purpose of the gate, at least in part, was to try to stop the use of the Mill Mountain Star and Zoo as locations for drinking, drug use and illegal camping," the eight-page opinion stated.
Attorneys for the bicyclists had argued that the routine opening and closing of the gate required no discretion and therefore was not a governmental function.
According to the lawsuit, Lukens, Moses and other experienced cyclists climbed the old road up to the Mill Mountain Star on their road bikes, seeing no indication that the mountain's parks or roadways were closed.
The group then headed down Mill Mountain Spur, past the zoo and toward the JB Fishburn Parkway. A gate near the intersection of the spur and the parkway had "for years" been open at that time, the filings read.
Lukens slammed into the gate and "was launched over the bar, resulting in a fall of approximately 30 feet and severe injuries," the lawsuit reads. "Her injuries included a femoral fracture, a radial fracture, and a maxillary orbital fracture."
Moses "lost control of her bike trying to avoid the gate, falling on her left side, cracking her helmet," her filing reads. "Her injuries included multiple road rashes and abrasions, as well as some left hip pain."
Lukens spent several days in the hospital and began physical therapy the following November, but was still suffering complications months later. Moses sustained a concussion that caused headaches, light sensitivity, mood changes and vertigo.
In her opinion, Ciaffone wrote that sovereign immunity "serves many purposes" that include protecting the public purse, ensuring the proper functioning of governments, eliminating any public danger that may result from officials being fearful to act and discouraging groundless litigation.
Attorneys for the city and Lukens and Moses declined to comment Tuesday.
Laurence Hammack
(540) 981-3239
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