A Nassau County jury has awarded $141.5 million to people injured in a logging truck accident involving a man whose employer later labeled him “unfit to drive” the tractor-trailer.
“This jury wanted to send a message, and they did it,” attorney Curry Pajcic said of the verdict, which included $125 million in damages for the lawsuit against driver Ellis Trollinger; his employer, K&N Logging LLC; and Candi Legree, the truck’s owner.
A company attorney admitted in a lawsuit that Trollinger had a history that included charges of driving under the influence, possession of methamphetamine, careless driving, speeding in a company vehicle and causing an accident.
The company “was grossly negligent in hiring, training, supervising, employing and entrusting Trollinger as a truck driver,” according to a document called a preliminary determination that K&N attorney John Moffitt Howell and an attorney from Pajcic’s firm had recently filed with the court. month, before the trial was sent to a jury.
The stipulation left the jury to decide what payment was due for the wreck, in which the £80,000 logging truck, traveling an estimated 67 miles per hour, struck the rear of a two-door Toyota, starting a five-vehicle wreck in backed up traffic .
The driver of the Toyota, Angel Rodriguez-Santiago, suffered injuries to his head, neck, back and shoulder, while his 5-year-old niece in a booster seat behind him suffered serious damage, including traumatic brain injuries and other head, neck and spine injuries. injuries, Pajcic’s firm argued in a lawsuit for that family and for Michael Miller, whose car was in front of the Toyota and was totaled. Miller also suffered serious back and leg injuries, the suit said.
Trollinger was cited for failure to maintain a safe distance and careless driving, but Pajcic said the crash highlighted a danger common in growing Nassau County, where trucks haul logs from the swampy forests of North Florida and South Georgia to the U.S. 1 and Florida 200 transport to pulp and wood. paper mills.
Trucks that do that work are subject to extensive federal regulations, but Pajcic said Legree — listed in state records as the manager and representative of the now-defunct K&N Logging — said in a statement that she never violated Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations from the government and knew nothing about them.
He said evidence in the case showed Trollinger was paid in cash when he took truck rides, and that Legree said she did not check his driving record or arrest history before putting him to work.
Pajcic said people in Nassau County deserve to see trucking companies follow federal codes, and said having to pay for large judgments is a way to motivate companies, or their insurers, to pay more attention to the rules.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Nassau County judgment: $141 million for people injured by ‘unfit’ truck driver
