North Carolina Lawyers Weekly
The plaintiff’s intestate was a deputy sheriff who was on duty working a traffic collision that had occurred in an area of dense smoke and fog during hours of darkness.
He was struck by the defendant’s tractor-trailer, which had attempted to pass through the area of smoke and fog. The truck struck both the plaintiff’s intestate and a volunteer firefighter who was assisting at the previous accident.
Both the plaintiff’s intestate and the firefighter were instantly killed, and two people were injured in addition to damage done to a number of vehicles.
The plaintiff’s intestate was survived by his wife and his 12-year-old son.
A reconstruction engineer retained within days of the collision was able to download the black box on the truck and establish that the cruise control had been set at 72 mph, and that the first braking action occurred less than 10 seconds before impact.
The truck was insured through a primary single-limit policy of $1 million, with two single-limit excess policies each in the amount of $1 million.
The entire coverage was paid out in a settlement of multiple claims, including the two wrongful-death claims.
The case was settled during a pre-suit mediation, with Renee Ellis as the mediator. In addition to the reconstruction engineer’s investigation, the State Highway Patrol did a thorough reconstruction of the collision.
Verdict Report
Type of action: Wrongful death
Injuries alleged: Instant death from trauma
Case name: Confidential
Case number: Confidential
Court: Confidential
Judge: Hon. Charles H. Henry
Verdict or settlement: Settlement (mediation)
Mediator: Renee Ellis
Dates: Dec. 9, 2009 (court approval) and Jan. 25, 2010 (distribution approved by Industrial Commission)
Amount: $1.76 million
Insurers: Crumm & Forrester Indemnity Company, Admiral Insurance Company and General Star Indemnity Company
Experts: Howard Rigsby, reconstruction engineer, Accident Reconstruction Analysis Company (Raleigh); Gary Albrecht, Ph.D, economist (Winston-Salem)
Plaintiff’s attorneys: John Drew Warlick and Robert A. Warlick of Law Offices of John Drew Warlick (Jacksonville)
Editor’s note: The information in Lawyers Weekly’s verdicts and settlements reports was submitted by the counsel for the prevailing party and represents the attorney’s characterization of the case.
