Lawsuit over AIDS Ride death dismissed

A U.S. district judge in Virginia has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the family of a woman who died during the June 2000 Washington, D.C., AIDS Ride, claiming that there were no legal grounds to sue the event's organizers, The Washington Post reports. The family of Eve Jaffe filed suit against Pallotta TeamWorks and R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center of Baltimore, claiming that the companies failed to properly care for the woman after she complained of nausea and dizziness during the ride. The hospital determined that Jaffe died of a brain hemorrhage, but Jaffe's family claims she suffered a misdiagnosed heart attack. Jaffe's family initially filed a $10 million lawsuit against Pallotta TeamWorks in May 2002 and amended it in February 2003 to include the shock trauma center. Judge Rosemary Collyer ruled that some of the suit's claims were invalid because the lawsuit was not filed within the statute of limitations and that a voluntary waiver Jaffe signed before participating in the event overrode many of the allegations. About 1,600 riders participated in the four-day, 330-mile bicycle ride from Raleigh, N.C., to Washington.