Jury returns verdict for family in a 4-car collision

A California state jury awarded $3.7 million in damages to a family that suffered injuries during a crash involving vehicles owned by Harris Ranch Beef Co. and FedEx Ground Package System Inc. The jury found that California-based Harris Ranch should pay 80% of the damages and that Pittsburgh-based FedEx Ground, the trucking division of shipping giant FedEx Corp., should pay 20%. A husband, wife, and their 11-year-old son sued FedEx Group and Harris Ranch after the 2003 accident. The Harris Ranch tractor-trailer rear-ended the FedEx Ground delivery van, which crossed the double yellow line and hit a Toyota Tacoma before crashing into the plaintiffs’ 1999 Doge Durango. The wife had to be airlifted to a hospital, where she underwent emergency abdominal surgery for severe internal injuries. The damages included $2.5 million for the woman’s “physical pain and mental suffering.”

Source: National Law Journal