Village won’t pursue lawsuit in hydrant accident

Following the advice of the village attorney, the Saukville Village Board last week voted to settle a lawsuit against a Tennessee woman who in 2018 lost control of her car and crashed into a downtown fire hydrant, knocking it into a nearby building and damaging other equipment, costing the village $25,000 in damage.

“Going forward with a trial would cost the village more money in attorney’s fees and costs, as well as village staff time testifying at trial, without the reasonable probability of any significant, additional monetary recovery,” Village Attorney Eric Eberhardt wrote to village trustees.

According to an accident report from the Ozaukee County Sheriff’s Office, Kaitlyn Ragghianti, who was living in West Bend at the time, was heading east on Highway 33 and lost control of her 2006 Ford Fusion on a rain-slickened turn at Ulao Street in September 2018.

The car crashed into a hydrant, knocking it into a nearby building, causing her air bags to be deployed and damaging the front end of her car.

Ragghianti was transported by ambulance to a Grafton hospital. She was not cited.

According to a civil complaint filed by the village in Ozaukee County Circuit Court the cost to repair the hydrant was $25,000. However, Ragghianti’s liability car insurance provided only $10,000 of coverage, the minimum required by the state, which her insurance company offered to pay the village.

Ragghianti has since moved to Memphis, Tenn., where she works two part-time jobs as a waitress, Eberhardt told trustees.

Eberhardt said it’s unlikely the village could extract the additional $15,000 from Ragghianti through the civil case.

“Based on the financial information provided to date, it appears that Ragghianti may be ‘judgment proof,’ meaning that it appears she lacks sufficient wages to make garnishment of her earnings legally permissible or cost effective and she lacks property or assets that would be subject to attachment,” Eberhardt wrote.

Ragghianti’s out-of-state residency would also complicate the legal process and she could always file for bankruptcy, thus discharging whatever she owed to the village, he said.