Settlement Reached In Highway 84 East Accident
Reprinted From: Leader-Call, December 18, 1998
By: Shawn Wansley, Managing Editor

An out-of-court settlement has been reached in the case of a Sept. 10.1996 accident that claimed the lives of three Jones County residents.

William and Belinda Scott, and their daughter, Bridgett, of Mill Creek were killed in the accident when their vehicle was rear-ended by an 18-wheeler near the intersection off Highway 84 East and Highway 184.

Gordon McKernan and his father, Jerry, of McKernan Law Firm of Ba­ton Rouge, La., said that an agreement of $3.85 million against T&L Trucking and the driver, George Fulenwider, was reached on behalf of Josh Scott, the sole and surviving heir of the Scott family. Josh Scott, 22, and his wife now reside in Bay Minette, Ala.

Local counsel was Bob Gholson, while the trucking firm was represented by Steven Wright of Wright and Mercier Law Firm in Jackson.

The accident occurred when city of Laurel police cars were blocking traffic for a funeral to proceed across the highway. The 18-wheeler topped the hill, headed west, and rammed the Scott's car from behind. Two city police cars, two 18-wheelers and two other vehicles were involved in the accident.

McKernan said a thorough investigation by his firm revealed that the truck driver and T&L Trucking were solely responsible for the accident.

"We had sued the city of Laurel at first," he said. "But our investigation revealed that the city of Laurel did not have any responsibility for the accident. I know there was some concern at first over why they were outside of their jurisdiction. But we want the people of Laurel to know that their police department did not have to pay any money and did not have any fault in the accident.”

"We alleged that the eighteen-wheeler driver, Mr. Fulenwider from the crest of this hill until the point of where the accident occurred, had approximately 1,000 feet of unobstructed line of sight in which he could have stopped. We had experts ready to testify that he only needed 250-300 feet to stop his rig at 55 miles per hour.

McKernan added that through videotapes and demonstrations of the ac­cident it was determined that the rig was going approximately 47 miles per hour when it impacted the Scott's vehicle, which was stationary in the right lane.  

"After months of investigation and discovery it is our belief that the driver was fatigued:' McKernan said. "After forcing the defendants to turn over their logs and files to us, we were able to reconstruct this driver's route, where he had been and how much he had been sleeping."

"It is our contention that Mr. Fulenwider was fatigued. He was driving in excess of the number of hours he should have been. At the time of the accident, he was at 77 hours work time over the last eight days, when you are only supposed to work 70 hours over eight days,"

McKernan said Fulenwider had approximately 800 feet to stop, but did not.  He said the driver was guilty of what is called “highway hypnosis” or “highway microsleep.”

"We believe the company had knowledge that their drivers were engaged in activities like this,” McKernan said.

The lawsuit was filed for loss of relationship that Josh had with each one of the family members, the loss of care and nurturing and guidance his father would have provided, wrongful deaths, and for punitive damages for the reckless and wanton conduct of the driver.

"We're very satisfied with the amount of the settlement,” McKernan said. "We actually went through two different mediations. The first happened just four or five months after the accident and the initial offer was for just under $1 million, But through our efforts, we were able to increase that initial amount. Needless to say, Josh was happy that we were able to point out to the defendants their own wrongdoings and why they should adequately compensate him.”

McKernan added that the money will be placed in a struc­tured settlement that Josh Scott will receive monthly for the rest of his life.

"Although this is a small victory, it is a victory for motorists that drive the highways and have to worry about some of these large trucks rumbling down the highways and whether or not they're going to exercise caution and follow the law with regard to the amount of hours they drive," McKernan said. "It's our hope that next time T&L will be more diligent when supervising their employees when it comes to number of hours driven.”

Click here to return to the listing of verdicts & settlements.