Jeffrey Garmany filed a civil lawsuit April 27 in Santa Clara County Superior Court, saying a June 9 crash on Fruitdale Avenue near Corlista Drive left him paralyzed from the neck down after a Honda Accord made an illegal U-turn into his motorcycle’s path. The complaint names the City of San Jose, Caltrans and Santa Clara County as defendants.

Garmany, 35, was riding a Triumph motorcycle when the crash happened, according to the lawsuit and his attorneys. They say he suffered a fractured spine, fractured neck, punctured lung and broken ribs, and was ejected from the bike in the collision. He spent 19 weeks in a hospital and is now seeking change and accountability.

The lawsuit says the Honda driver fled the scene without helping and later falsely reported the vehicle as stolen. San Jose Police Department officers arrested the suspected hit-and-run driver, whom police and the lawsuit identify as Misael Lara Moya of San Jose. The filing does not say what charges, if any, followed the arrest.

At the center of the case is the intersection of Corlista Drive and Fruitdale Avenue, which the complaint describes as a dangerous condition of public property. Garmany’s lawyers allege the city and other public entities failed to properly design, maintain and control the intersection, and did not install adequate signage, lighting or traffic control devices. Mary Alexander, one of his attorneys, said public agencies have a duty to make roadways safe and called the crash completely preventable.

“Our client did everything right,” Alexander said, adding that Garmany was riding safely and lawfully when what she called a dangerous roadway changed his life forever. Garmany said there are many ways to make roads safer and that these crashes can be prevented.

The city pushed back quickly. A City Manager’s Office spokesperson said, “This was an unfortunate incident. The City will defend its position that the fault does not lay with the City’s roadway design.” A Caltrans spokesperson said the agency cannot comment on matters involving ongoing litigation.

The suit lands in a city already measuring the cost of traffic violence. Eighteen people have died in crashes in San Jose in 2026, after 41 people were killed in traffic collisions in 2025. For Garmany, a former surfer, snowboarder and trail runner, the lawsuit says the June crash ended the active outdoor life he once had. What happens next now turns on whether the court finds the intersection was unsafe enough that the public agencies named in the case should have fixed it before someone like him was hurt.