Lawsuit filed against Bollea family by Graziano family

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

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Nick Bollea, his father and his mother and a friend are being sued as a result of an accident involving this Supra. (slideshow)

PINELLAS COUNTY (Bay News 9) -- The family of John Graziano has filed a lawsuit against Terry, Linda and Nick Bollea.

Graziano was seriously injured in an August car crash when the car Nick Bollea was driving crashed.

Graziano was a passenger in the car, and police say Bollea and his friend Daniel Jacobs were street racing.

Terry Bollea, also known as wrestler Hulk Hogan, faces three counts in the suit.

The first is for being the owner of the yellow Supra that Nick Bollea was driving and the silver Viper Jacobs was driving.
The second is for signing for the driver's license of Nick Bollea, who is a minor.
The third is for letting Bollea and Jacobs drive his cars the night of the crash.

One of Graziano's attorneys said Hogan's wife, Linda, could have done more to influence her son's driving. Nick Hogan had received several tickets in the months before the crash.

"She failed to take appropriate steps as a parent to control her minor son in not driving in that manner," said attorney Kimberly Kohn.

Terry Bollea's attorney, Sandy Weinberger, said a major issue in the civil case is going to be how much responsibility a jury believes Graziano has for his injures.

Graziano wasn't wearing a seat belt.

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Another one of Graziano's attorneys says his injuries are Nick Bollea's fault.

"He's racing. He's drinking," said attorney George Tragos. "He loses control; he hits a tree and John's in the hospital and going to suffer for it for the rest of his life. It had nothing to do with the fact that John wasn't wearing a seatbelt."

Jacobs is also named in the suit.

The lawsuit calls for damages exceeding $15,000, but Graziano's attorneys expect damages to be in the millions.

"We're sure it's going to be in the millions, because we already have bills that exceed a million," Tragos said.

Tragos said Graziano is going to need the money to treat his injuries for the rest of his life.

Tragos said Monday that doctors have removed part of Graziano's brain.

"A portion of his frontal lobe has had to be removed because of the accident," Tragos said. "He is, however, improving. He responds to stimuli - heat, touch, eye movement, blinking."

Tragos also said he continues to improve.

"There are times during his treatment where he is off the ventilator for long periods of time breathing on his own," he said.

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