The Nassau County Legislature approved the settlement to Roni Kota...

The Nassau County Legislature approved the settlement to Roni Kota four years after a jury rendered a $19 million judgment. Credit: Howard Schnapp

The Nassau County Legislature on Monday approved an $8.4 million settlement with a motorcycle rider who was seriously injured in a 2014 crash near a Port Washington intersection, four years after a jury rendered a $19 million judgment.

Roni Kota, of Port Washington, sued the county in 2015 after a motorist struck him near the intersection of Shore and Harbor roads in the Village of Port Washington North.

His attorney, David Dean, told Newsday in 2018 that Kota's leg had to be amputated as a result.

Dean argued at trial the county should have installed a traffic light at the intersection where the collision occurred.

Kota was riding north on Shore Road when he collided with a motorist  headed in the opposite direction, Dean said.

Kota, who lived in Port Washington, had been commuting to Manhattan on his motorcycle for a construction job.

The legislature's vote to approve the settlement was 19-0.

Nassau will pay the settlement using a special revenue fund, a county spokesman told Newsday.

"The county was found liable and the settlement is less than the verdict on damages. [The] settlement avoids having to pay substantially more in damages," Presiding Officer Richard Nicolello (R-New Hyde Park) said in a statement after the vote.

The legislature's approval "settles a years-old case and saves taxpayers millions of dollars that would have been owed but for the intervention of the county executive and county attorney," Chris Boyle, a county spokesman said.

In June 2019, a jury found Nassau and the driver liable in the case and awarded damages of $4 million for past pain, and $15 million for future pain and suffering.

A trial court upheld the judgment, but reduced the total  judgment to $11 million, court records show.

Dean did not respond to a request for comment Monday.

During the trial, Dean presented dozens of letters written over a three-decade period documenting complaints about what he and others called a poorly designed intersection.

In 2018, Dean told Newsday: "It's a real county screw-up, and the jury understood it right away."

Nassau had a backlog of more than 1,100 complaints about unsafe intersections and roadways throughout the county, Newsday reported in 2019.

Errick Allen not guilty … Water rates rise … Woman boxer back in the ring Credit: Newsday

NYPD officer's wake today ... Mets' home opener today ... Yanks win opener ... Feed Me: Wood-fired pizza

Errick Allen not guilty … Water rates rise … Woman boxer back in the ring Credit: Newsday

NYPD officer's wake today ... Mets' home opener today ... Yanks win opener ... Feed Me: Wood-fired pizza

Newsday LogoSUBSCRIBEUnlimited Digital AccessOnly 25¢for 5 months
ACT NOWSALE ENDS SOON | CANCEL ANYTIME