Motorcycles and sex are often thrown together in marketing and everyday marketing. But it was the darker side of that combination that earned a rider $7.5 million in a recent court case.

A former sailor and at the time, newlywed, won the staggering damages over a car crash in California that shortened his penis by an inch and a half. The accident occurred in 2007 when Matthew Wall , 27, was riding his motorcycle to work at the US Navy submarine base in San Diego when he was struck by a shuttle bus from a nearby car showroom.

The circumstances will sound gravely familiar to riders with any time in the saddle. The jury heard that the van turned left in front of Wall who was unable to avoid the collision.

According to information presented by Wall’s attorney, the van’s driver, Pedro Flores Miramontes, was a non-U.S. citizen who had an expired driver’s license and had never been trained as a shuttle driver.

Matthew Wall was thrown off his motorcycle and suffered a fracture of his pubic ramus bone and a crushing injury to his penis and damage to the nerve and arteries of the penis. The 27-year-old underwent reconstructive surgery that left his penis an inch and half shorter than before the accident.

Since the accident, Wall has left the Navy and is now divorced.

'It’s going to affect his relationships and his self-esteem in the future,' Mr. Wall's lawyer Nicholas Rowley told the San Diego Union Tribune, discussing the accident.

Wall’s attorney has stated that it was uncertain if his client would be able to have children because of the injury.

Navy soldiers and sailors enjoy safety motorcycle training

The jury in El Cajon, California, awarded him $7,553,000 in damages as compensation for pain, suffering, medical bills and loss of income.

A spokesman with the defending automotive group says they plan to appeal the verdict.