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"It was a\u00A0bitter-sweet victory for a man whose life was shattered, after a frightening fall from a gondola during the 2009 Balloon Fiesta.In 2009, Thomas Hurd plummeted 20 feet to the ground at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.The impact shattered his pelvis and broke his heel.Thursday afternoon, a jury awarded Hurd $3.86 million for his injuries.\"Good people, came out with the right decision,\" Hurd said after the verdict.\u00A0 \"(The Jury) meant well, they did well. And I thank them for it.\"The verdict validates Hurd's argument:\u00A0 that pilot Timmerly Eklund was reckless that day.\"The evidence was that Ms. Eklund was coming into a competition at 15 feet off the ground, which was 60 feet below where she should have been,\" explained attorney Terry Guebert.Jurors also decided that the Balloon Fiesta Organization was negligent in not enforcing the minimum height restriction of 75 feet.Eklund was trying to win a flying competition where she had to drop a bean bag.''She never got that far,\"\u00A0 Guebert said.\u00A0 \"Instead, she dropped Mr. Hurd.\"As for Eklund, her attorney told Action 7 News, she may never fly a hot air balloon again.\"She has been harder on herself than anyone ever will be because of what happened,\" said Ned Shepherd.\u00A0\u00A0 \"She feels so bad about it 'cause she knows it was her mistakes that caused (hurd's injuries).\"Hurd and his wife Carolyn said their medical bills are more than half their income.This verdict means they will not have to sell the home they built for retirement, after all.Before their flight back to Florida, the Hurds stopped at University of New Mexico Hospital to visit the Trauma Center doctors who saved Thomas' life.An attorney for the Balloon Fiesta Organization said, they are disappointed with the verdict.They don't believe they were negligent, and may appeal the verdict."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.koat.com/article/jury-balloon-fiesta-negligent-pilot-reckless/5043915>