Truck driver killed, estate settles for $1M

The estate of a truck driver killed after being T-boned by another motorist has settled its case for $1 million, a plaintiff’s attorney has reported.

According to Gregory Whitley of MacRae, Perry, MacRae & Whitley in Fayetteville, 46-year-old Darrick Carter on Sept. 22, 2015, was driving a 1985 International truck south on State Road 1831 in Cumberland County, approaching an intersection.

Defendant Sheila Taylor was heading west in a 2011 Chevrolet SUV, approaching the same intersection. According to Whitley, Taylor ran a stop sign and crashed into Carter’s truck. News reports said that the truck flipped on its side, ejecting and killing Carter.

Taylor claims not to have seen the stop signs.

Whitley said that Carter left behind a wife of three years and four adult children, and believes a good settlement was reached based on all the circumstances surrounding the case.

“We were confronted with some serious issues in verifying the decedent’s income and lost wages,” Whitley said. “Thankfully, and in spite of those issues, the defense’s economist generated projected earnings figures not too far off from those our economist projected, so that helped get us in the same ballpark.”

SETTLEMENT REPORT – WRONGFUL DEATH

Amount: $1 million

Case name: Bradford Scott Hancox, Administrator of the Estate of Darrick D. Carter, v. Sheila E. Taylor and Jason M. Taylor

Court: Cumberland County Superior Court

Case No. 16 CVS 2910

Mediator: Sam Carlisle

Date of settlement: Jan. 19

Plaintiff’s attorneys: James MacRae Jr. and Gregory T. Whitley of MacRae Perry MacRae & Whitley in Fayetteville, and Reed Noble of the Noble Law Firm in Chapel Hill

Defendants’ attorney: O. Drew Grice Jr. of Walker Allen in Goldsboro    

Follow Heath Hamacher on Twitter @NCLWHamacher