$8.2 Million Dollar Verdict

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DOTD Ordered To Pay $8.25 Million

Reprinted From: Morning Advocate, May 7, 1991
Florida Parishes Bureau

LIVINGSTON - An $8.25 million court award against the state Department of Transportation and Development was issued Thursday by Judge Edward Brent Dufreche in 21st Judicial District Court.

Testimony was completed last fall in the case brought by Laurie Jenkins, 29, of Denham Springs after an accident on La. 42 near Port Vincent in April 1988.

The court found that the state was responsible for defects in the roadway, for the elevation of its surface and for a double curve in the road, according to Baton Rouge attorney Jerry McKernan, who represented Jenkins.

The highway had recently been overlayed and there was a drop-off of more than five inches from the road surface to the shoulder. No signs warned of the drop-off or the curve, McKernan said.

According to the attorney, Jenkins was a passenger in a car that was east-bound on La. 42 when the wheels on one side went off the roadway and the driver was unable to get the car back onto the road. The car hit an embankment and Jenkins was ejected. She will be a quadriplegic for the rest of her life because of the injuries, McKernan said.

In addition to the $8.25 million award to Jenkins, Dufreche ordered that her 6-year-old son receive $100,000 for loss of relationship, McKernan said.

McKernan said the state usually appeals such verdicts.

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