Auto/Negligence

Minor Passenger Killed In Dad's Tractor-Trailer - Ran Into Defendant's Pickup Truck - Dad Claimed Improper Movement - Liability Issue - $1.175 Million Arbitration Award

Brief Statement of Claim: The decedent, a five-year-old boy, was killed as a passenger in a tractor-trailer truck operated by his father which collided with the rear of a pickup truck, causing the tractor-trailer to overturn. The decedent's parents claimed they suffered emotional distress as the result of witnessing their son's death.

Principal Injuries (in order of severity): Death of son; emotional distress to parents

Special Damages: Funeral expenses of approximately $7,000; father's medical and psychiatric treatment expenses of $2,259

Tried or settled: Tried before arbitration panel

County where tried or settled: Pitt

Case Name and number: Hardison v. Grice (Pitt County Superior Court; 96 CVS 157)

Date Concluded: Feb. 5, 1998

Name of Judge: Arbitration panel

Amount: $1,175,102 ($825,102 for the death claim; $150,000 for father's emotional distress; $200,000 for mother's emotional distress)

Insurance Carrier: N/A

Expert Witnesses and areas of expertise: Michael Sutton, accident reconstruction; David Brown, accident reconstruction

Attorney for Plaintiff: A. Charles Ellis of Ward and Smith, P.A., and Joseph T. Edwards of Edwards and Edwards, L.L.P., Greenville

Other Useful Info: The liability issue was hotly contested. The decedent's father claimed that the pickup driver, who was in front of him, made a right turn on a side road, circled around a median and then re-entered in front of his tractor-trailer truck. The pickup driver claimed that he never turned right and that the tractor-trailer collided with the rear of his truck as he attempted a left turn. The physical facts supported either driver's version, although an accident reconstructionist for the state highway patrol opined that the pickup driver's version was more likely to have occurred, according to the plaintiff's counsel.

» From the February 8, 1999 North Carolina Lawyers Weekly.

Note: Each individual case is unique with its own set of facts and complexities. These reported cases cannot be used as a basis for predicting results in future cases because each case must be evaluated and judged on its own particular set of facts and circumstances.