Man sues state, says drunk driver got off too easy

Jan. 26--By Paul Woolverton

Former Fayetteville resident Jeremy Bruns and his wife, Jenny, are suing North Carolina because he thinks the drunken driver who took his legs and part of his hand did not spend enough time in prison.

He's also suing the driver, her husband, their son and their insurance company, USAA.

In court on Monday, lawyers for all the defendants asked Superior Court Judge Reuben Young to dismiss the lawsuit and take other actions to ameliorate it. Young said he will announce decisions on their requests no later than Monday of next week.

"It's not a multimillion dollar-lawsuit," Jeremy Bruns said in an interview Monday evening. "The intention is to get justice and to hold USAA accountable for their bad faith. Hold everybody accountable for what they did."

Jenny Bruns said the lawsuit is about principle, not money.

The couple said they could not find a lawyer willing to represent them, so they filed the case on their own.

The case stems from November 2012, when Jeremy Bruns was loading his truck, parked on the street in front of his house, with gear for a fishing trip.

Rhonda Renee Sutton Bryant of Fayetteville, drunk and high on cocaine, crashed into the back of the truck.

Jeremy Bruns was crushed between the vehicles.

Both of his legs had to be amputated above the knee. His right thumb was amputated and eventually his index finger had to be taken from his mangled hand.

At the time, Jeremy Bruns was a sergeant major in the Army with 22 years of service and nine overseas deployments. The injuries forced him to retire from the military.

Bruns and his wife moved to Washington, D.C. to be near Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for his ongoing treatment.

Bryant pleaded guilty in August 2014 to serious injury by vehicle -- a felony which is based on underlying guilt of driving drunk -- and driving left of center.

Bryant received the harshest prison sentence she qualified for: at least 16 months behind bars, but no more than 29 months. She was released after 16 months.

Jeremy and Jenny Bruns are outraged.

They think the prison system incorrectly gave Bryant credit that allowed her to go free at 16 months. That is one of the contentions they make in their lawsuit against the state.

They are suing Bryant for the crash, and suing Bryant's husband Dalton Bryant Sr. for allowing her to use his car -- the one she was driving in the crash -- alleging that he knew or should have known of his wife's drug and alcohol addictions and that she was a reckless driver.

Jeremy and Jenny Bruns are suing the Bryants' son, Dalton Bryant Jr., because they believe he vandalized their mailbox and burglarized their home after Rhonda Bryant was convicted. The couple acknowledged they have no evidence that directly ties the son to these crimes.

They are suing USAA because the insurance company initially offered only $30,000, and then in summer 2015 changed that to $60,000, of compensation from the Bryants' insurance policy.

USAA didn't offer payment for Jenny Bruns until after the couple filed a complaint against the company with the state Department of Insurance. Now, Jeremy Bruns said, he and his wife don't trust USAA to provide an accurate figure of what compensation they are due.

USAA's lawyer John Malone Jr. said in court on Monday that the $60,000 payment is $30,000 for Jeremy Bruns and $30,000 for Jenny Bruns. It is the maximum coverage that the Bryants' had in their policy, he said.

Assistant Attorney General Matt Woodward argued that some of the Bruns' allegations are policy matters that should be decided by the state legislature; not the courts.

Young, the judge, said he will study everyone's arguments and render decisions by 5 p.m. Monday.

Staff writer Paul Woolverton can be reached at woolvertonp@fayobserver.com and 910-486-3512.

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