Attorney says survivors of crash linked to Rashee Rice may have to sue for medical bills
An attorney for one survivor of the Saturday crash in Dallas that has been linked to Kansas City Chiefs’ football player Rashee Rice is already preparing to file a lawsuit, though he says he hopes it isn’t necessary.
Marc Lenahan, an attorney based in Farmers Branch, said his client was in the back of a minivan when the crash happened. She was in an Uber heading to dinner when she saw a flash out of the corner of her eye, Lenahan said. Next thing she knew the vehicle was spinning. There were no airbags in the back of the vehicle. She’s now dealing with a concussion and is still having trouble finding words, the lawyer said.
[MORE: Who is Rashee Rice? What to know.]
Lenahan said right now he’s hoping insurance companies will reach out to him so his client can file claims. He doesn’t want to file a lawsuit.
“The desirable route would be to have everybody’s insurance reach out to us and try to do right,” Lenahan told the Star-Telegram on Wednesday. “That saves our clients time and money and all the wear and tear a lawsuit puts on a client’s soul.”
Lenahan said his client is planning to keep her name private as long as she can. It will likely be included in any police reports about the crash, and if she does file a lawsuit her name will become public there, too.
The crash Saturday evening saw four people injured, with two of them being sent to the hospital. Dallas police said two sports cars, a Lamborghini and a Corvette, were racing down North Central Expressway. The driver of the Lamborghini lost control on the left shoulder, hit the median wall and swerved out into traffic, causing a chain-reaction crash that damaged four vehicles that weren’t involved in the race, according to police.
Police said everyone in the two vehicles that were racing got out and walked on the highway to leave the scene. They didn’t stop to check if anybody was injured or provide insurance information.
Media reports have linked the crash to the Chiefs’ wide receiver through the vehicles. The Lamborghini was leased to Rice by a luxury car rental company in Dallas, Classic Lifestyle, which has said the contract stipulated that only Rice should drive the car. The Corvette was registered to Rice, according to a police document obtained by the Dallas Morning News.
Rice said in a statement on Instagram that he met with police on Wednesday and that he will take responsibility for his part in the crash, though he didn’t specify what that role was.
Police have not said whether Rice was in one of the cars. Their investigation is continuing and a spokesperson said no update was available Wednesday.
Lenahan told the Star-Telegram he expects photos from the crash scene to eventually identify Rice as one of the people present.
He also expects police to check the bar of a restaurant at Northpark Mall for a bar tab. Lenahan said a person contacted him anonymously and said he saw a black Lamborghini and a black Corvette in the valet line outside the restaurant Joey on Saturday. TMZ reached out to Lenahan looking for a copy of a bar tab for Rice and others who may have been in the cars, but he said he doesn’t have that yet.
A manager at Joey said he could “not confirm or deny” that Rice was at the restaurant and that the restaurant had no other comments. Rice’s attorney’s office did not respond to a request for comment or information.
Rice, who grew up in North Richland Hills and played football for Southern Methodist University and Richland High School, said in his Instagram post, “I take full responsibility for my part in this matter and will continue to cooperate with the necessary authorities. I sincerely apologize to everyone impacted in Saturday’s accident.”
Rice’s attorney released a previous statement Monday about the crash, saying that Rice was cooperating with police. The statement didn’t share any information on whether Rice was in either of the vehicles that were racing or if he was driving either of them.
Tennessee Walker, an attorney representing two more people injured in the crash, told the Star-Telegram in an interview that he hopes Rice and anybody else involved lives up to the statement Rice released on Instagram. He, too, said his clients are trying to remain anonymous as long as they can.
‘The actions up until now seem to cut against a real willingness to take responsibility, but that being said I do want to give him the benefit of the doubt,” Walker told the Star-Telegram. “I truly hope he and everyone else involved will stand behind those words and stand up and take responsibility. ... There’s a very big difference between saying you’re sorry and taking responsibility and making someone whole from what you’ve taken from them.”
Walker is representing a couple, a man and woman, who are still trying to figure out the extent of their injuries. The man is dealing with the symptoms of a concussion, like brain fog and sensitivity to light and sound, the attorney said.
The woman’s condition is visibly worse, Walker said. She had to have multiple stitches on her left eyelid, and her face is swollen and purple.
“It looks like she took a hit from a heavyweight boxer,” Walker said.
She also sustained injuries to her right foot and ankle, which is in a boot to keep it stable, according to Walker. The ankle is swollen to about the size of her calf.
She’s waiting on imaging and follow-up to determine the extent of the damage to her face and leg, including whether she has any fractures or breaks to her orbital bone, or eye socket, Walker said.
Lenahan said these kinds of incidents aren’t rare, they just usually don’t garner as much interest from the public.
“This is a case that has our attention because of the names involved, but tragedies ten times this size are happening every day because we aren’t being careful on the roads,” Lenahan said. “People think they’re strong enough to overcome the laws of physics and they’re not behind the wheel and they’re certainly not when they get hit.”
This story was originally published April 3, 2024 at 4:44 PM.