Verdicts & Settlements November 28, 2011: Mo. family wins $7M in semitrailer crash [Missouri Lawyers Media]

A Missouri family won a $7 million verdict from a federal jury over a tractor-trailer crash that killed a man.

The crash -- and the trial -- were in northern Arkansas. One of the family's attorneys explained the collision this way:

A tractor-trailer operated by a driver for Dunaway Timber Co. was headed west on U.S. 62 in September 2008 when he approached a curve. The driver, Morgan Quisenberry, was already hours beyond the maximum hours allowed daily under federal trucking rules, said attorney J. Kent Emison, of Langdon & Emison in Lexington.

Meanwhile, Roger Reagan, of Farmington, was driving another semitrailer headed east on the same highway near Yellville, Ark. Quisenberry crossed the centerline and hit two other vehicles before striking Reagan's truck, the plaintiffs alleged. Reagan was able to get out but was injured and trapped under the truck, surrounded by fire. He was pulled free but died en route to the hospital, Emison said.

A few days before the trial was to start, Dunaway Timber filed a motion seeking dismissal of the case. The Kentucky-based company argued that because it admitted responsibility for the Dunaway driver under the respondeat superior doctrine, under Arkansas law the plaintiffs -- Reagan's widow and two children and the trucking company for which he was driving -- shouldn't be allowed to bring claims of negligent hiring and entrustment.

The judge denied the motion to dismiss but limited the evidence plaintiffs could use during the main trial. U.S. District Judge P.K. Holmes III in the order also chastised the defense lawyers for raising the issue so close to trial. Even so, the plaintiffs' attorneys said, during trial Dunaway's attorneys brought up the defendant's driving history, so the plaintiffs were able to present evidence arguing the company's hiring process was negligent for allowing such a person to get on the road. But they didn't make a separate claim on that ground to the jury.

Co-lead counsel for the Reagan family was Robert Sullivan, of Sullivan, Morgan & Chronic in Kansas City.

The plaintiffs alleged Quisenberry was overtired, wasn't qualified, wasn't trained and had two previous license revocations that should've prevented him from getting the job. The crash occurred less than three weeks after the company hired Quisenberry.

In their answer filed with the court, the defendants denied liability for the crash and claimed other parties they didn't control were responsible for the injuries.

The defendants brought a third-party claim against the driver of another vehicle involved in the crash, Barry McCoy, arguing his car crossed the centerline and caused the semitrailers to collide.

Gill Rogers, a Little Rock, Ark., attorney for Dunaway Timber and Quisenberry, didn't return a call or email seeking comment by press time.

Sullivan said proving which vehicle caused the accident was the biggest hurdle in the case because the company's conduct in hiring the driver was pretty damaging. The defendant succeeded in bringing in a state trooper who wrote in his report from the scene that he believed McCoy's car had crossed into the oncoming lane.

"The real battle in the case in the simple sense was to prove who's at fault," he said. "He can be the worst driver in the world, but if we can't prove he's at fault, we can't win."

Sullivan said the trooper wasn't trained in accident reconstruction and he saw his testimony as grounds for a potential appeal, but ultimately the jury didn't assign McCoy any fault.

The trial lasted five days, with jurors returning a verdict of $7 million -- all compensatory damages -- on Nov. 10. The jury found the company bore 75 percent of the fault, and Quisenberry bore the rest.

According to the court judgment, Dunaway also had agreed to pay Maverick Transportation, which owned the truck Reagan was driving, $93,302 for the truck's value if jurors found Dunaway negligent, so the total judgment was nearly $7.1 million.

"They broke every rule in the book with respect to safety and safe driving," Emison said.

The attorneys said the sides actually reached a confidential settlement just after the jury returned, so the case is finished.

$7 million verdict

Wrongful death, motor vehicle collision

Venue: U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas (Harrison)

Case Number/Date: 10-cv-03016/Nov. 10, 2011

Judge: P.K. Holmes III

Plaintiffs' Experts: Philip J. Smith, Scottsdale, Ariz. (trucking); Mariusz Ziejewski, Fargo, N.D. (accident reconstruction); Jay Marsh, Little Rock, Ark. (economics)

Defendants' Expert: Steve Jackson, Hot Springs, Ark. (accident reconstruction)

Allocation of Fault: 75 percent to Dunaway, 25 percent to Quisenberry

Special Damages: About $1 million in economic loss alleged

Last Pretrial Demand: $5 million

Last Pretrial Offer: $2.7 million

Insurer: Indiana Lumbermens Mutual Insurance Co.

Caption: Teri Reagan, individually and as personal representative of the estate of Roger Reagan, and Maverick Transportation LLC v. Dunaway Timber Co. and Morgan Quisenberry v. Barry McCoy

Plaintiffs' Attorneys: J. Kent Emison and Mark Emison, Langdon & Emison, Lexington, and Robert Sullivan and George "Jed" Chronic, Sullivan, Morgan & Chronic, Kansas City, for Reagan family; Amy Tracy and Bruce Munson, Munson, Rowlett, Moore & Boone, Little Rock, Ark., for Maverick

Defendants' Attorneys: Gill Rogers and Kendra Webb, Larkowski and Rogers, Little Rock, Ark., and Richard Holiman, Holiman Law Firm, Little Rock, Ark., for Dunaway and Quisenberry; Chandler Gregg, Strong Garner Bauer, Springfield, and Mitch H. Cash, Marshall, Ark., for McCoy