This article by Jordan Cuddemi was published by the Valley News on Aug. 21.
WOODSTOCK — The administrator of a former South Royalton man’s estate has filed a negligence and wrongful death lawsuit against the town of Royalton, asserting that a broken guardrail caused the 38-year-old man’s death when the Toyota Corolla he was riding in crashed on Back River Road two years ago.
James Robert Arbuckle died on Aug. 4, 2017, when his childhood friend Jeremy Potwin crashed into the guardrail, which pierced through the vehicle and severed Arbuckle’s leg, according to police. Arbuckle died on scene.
The guardrail didn’t have an end treatment on it at the time. The treatment is designed to prevent a guardrail from piercing through a vehicle in the event of a collision, attorney Stefan Ricci wrote in the lawsuit filed last month in Windsor Superior Court in Woodstock.
The town of Royalton and its workers are responsible for installing and maintaining the guardrails on town roads, and the town and its workers were negligent in servicing that particular guardrail, Ricci wrote in the lawsuit, which was brought by Melissa Pratt, the administrator of Arbuckle’s estate.
“As a direct and proximate result, the untreated guardrail end on Back River Road pierced Jeremy Potwin’s vehicle when it collided with the guardrail head-on, and killed Mr. Arbuckle,” the suit, filed on July 15, states.
According to the lawsuit, the town’s highway policy states that guardrails should be constructed in accordance with standards set by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, which require that guardrails have end caps.
Pratt, who is the mother of Arbuckle’s son, according to his obituary, is suing on two counts of negligence and seeks an unspecific award for damages. Attempts to reach Pratt on Wednesday were unsuccessful. Ricci declined to comment at this time.
The town, which is represented by attorneys Brian Monaghan and Christian Chorba, has until Sept. 21 to respond, according to court documents. Monaghan was unavailable for comment on Wednesday; Chorba deferred to Monaghan on the case.
Potwin, who was 38 at the time and was fatally shot by police in Tunbridge in May during an armed standoff, pleaded guilty in January 2018 to negligent operation, leaving the scene of the accident and driving with a suspended license in connection with the crash. He had been convicted of driving under the influence at least twice before and fled the scene after the crash. Potwin was sentenced in March 2018 to three to eight years, all suspended, except for 240 days to serve on either home confinement or work crew.
At Potwin’s sentencing hearing, Windsor County State’s Attorney David Cahill said the guardrail piece hindered the prosecution of a harsher charge — gross negligent operation with a fatality resulting — in Potwin’s case.
“Although only Mr. Potwin is responsible for his decision to drive … he was not responsible for the fact that he crashed into a guardrail that had a missing end cap,” Cahill said in court at the time. “He drove into a guardrail that was primed to peel his car open like a can of sardines because it had a sharp end exposed.”
Cahill added at the time: “The splitting of hairs in terms of culpability led the parties to resolve (this).”
Because Potwin and Arbuckle were longtime friends, Arbuckle’s family didn’t want Potwin to serve time in a jail, Cahill had said.
Arbuckle, who went by J.R., attended Whitcomb High School in Bethel. He was a drywall installer who loved to “tinker” on things, according to his obituary.
