Shelton, Adm’r. v. Slurry Pavers, Inc. – $3.2M

This was a wrongful death case arising out of a motor vehicle accident. The deceased was traveling to her job with a co-worker on Interstate 64. A vehicle in front of her vehicle hit a bag of cement that had fallen in the roadway from a utility trailer owned by the defendant, Slurry Pavers, Inc. A cloud of dust shot approximately 40 feet high and across all three lanes of Interstate 64 such that the deceased’s driver entered the cloud of dust, could not see, and hit her brakes. The vehicle was then rear ended by a tractor trailer. Plaintiff claimed Slurry Pavers was negligent in failing to secure the load of cement bags which were improperly loaded and stacked on a utility trailer pulled behind the Slurry vehicle. The decedent left a husband and four adult children, two of whom still lived in her household.