Three weeks after a freak and horrific accident that left him with traumatic brain injury, Texas trial lawyer Steve Susman transferred yesterday from neuro-intensive care in hospital to the nearby Memorial Hermann – TIRR rehabilitation center in Houston.
The move came after Susman, who had been comatose for a time, became able, among other things, to respond to stimuli by uttering a word or two. He had been at Memorial Hermann – Texas Medical Center since he crashed on his bike when the front wheel caught in an expansion joint in the concrete roadway. An avid cyclist, Susman, 79, regularly takes rides of 30 miles or more casually or in organized events, including seven times on the two-day, 150-mile trek in the Bike MS: Texas MS150 to raise money for multiple sclerosis research.
At TIRR (the letters stand for “The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research”) Susman will receive more intensive rehabilitation in its Brain Injury Research Center. The acclaimed facility in 2011 treated then-U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona after she was shot in the head by an assailant in a Tucson suburb. Susman’s wife Ellen Susman Ellen recently spoke with Mark Kelly, Gabby Gifford’s husband, about the experience at TIRR.
Susman was visited at the hospital this week by his wife, daughter Stacy Susman Kuhn, and his son Harry, who is his law partner at Susman Godfrey. Because of Covid-19 policies, it was their first in-person visit since the crash.
The family provides updates on Steve Susman’s page at Caringbridge.org/visit/stevesusman
Earlier Susman Coverage…
(May 4) — After being comatose for 11 days following a freak cycling accident, Texas trial lawyer Steve Susman opened his eyes Sunday and, on command, lifted a finger, according his brother.
“The very big news is that there is a little news,” said Tom Susman, of Washington, D.C. “Something’s happening, and that’s really important – he’s showing responses.”
The famed, feared and revered trial lawyer who is the force and founder of Susman & Godfrey was being visited by his wife and other family members via Zoom Sunday afternoon when he signaled that he is conscious. His eyes were finally open and when asked to lift a finger he did so, says his brother, who was not on the Zoom visit, which was done in lieu of in-person contact because of COVID-19 policy and concerns.
Previously, the only good news had come last week when Susman, 79, while in the coma, moved his arms and legs on both sides, but not in response to requests to do so.
The cycling accident occurred in Houston on April 22, and Susman is in the neuro-intensive care unit at Memorial Hermann – Texas Medical Center in Houston. He has been passionate about bicycling, having completed countless long-distance rides around the U.S. and in Europe, including the two-day, 150-mile trek from Houston to Austin in the Bike MS: Texas MS 150, raising money for multiple sclerosis research.
Susman was on a morning ride in the Old Braeswood area of Houston eight days ago with four other lawyers from the firm. His front wheel got caught in an expansion joint in the concrete roadway, locking the wheel and throwing Susman over the handlebars, says Neal S. Manne, Susman Godfrey’s managing partner.
“It was a beautiful day and he was biking with some lawyers from our firm, virtually an everyday thing for him,” says Manne. “He rode more days of the week than not.”
No other vehicle or bike was involved in the accident, says Manne, and the scene was not far from the hospital.
Susman lives in both Houston and New York City, working back and forth between the firm’s offices in those cities. He has been a primal influence in the movement of commercial litigators working on contingency – more risk, more money.
“He works hard, he rides hard and he tries cases hard,” says Tom Susman, who is strategic adviser to the American Bar Association’s Governmental Affairs Office in Washington, and its former director. The Friday before the accident the two brothers and their wives had a cocktail party via Zoom, “And all he talked about is biking. He loves it.”
That passion extends to the point of getting a Peloton stationary bike and subscription for online workouts at home with trainers and live-streaming classes, says Tom, who has joined his brother on the Houston-to-Austin rides a couple of times, and on rides near Steve’s place in Napa Valley, Calif.
“Everything Steve does is competitive,” says Terry W. Oxford, a Susman Godfrey partner who says he has “worked for” Susman longer than any other lawyer there. They’d run marathons together in the late 1970s and early 80s, and apparently Susman moved to cycling on Oxford’s example.
Their families have taken several cycling trips together in Europe, with multiple daily routes provided by outfitters. “Steve always insists on the longer one,” Oxford says, including one in France for 62 miles.
Susman has ridden in the Texas MS 150 seven times, beginning in 2011, when he joined an increasingly large group from the firm involved in the fundraiser for research. He brought in top dollar three years in a row, including $650,000 in 2015.
He planned to ride again this year in the MS 150, which had been scheduled for May 2-3 but was postponed and reset for Sept. 26-27.