A jury has awarded a New Orleans woman $51.5 million in damages from Daimler Trucks North America, which manufactured an 18-wheeler truck that ran the woman over in 2012, leaving her with a severe brain injury.
Baton Rouge attorney Tony Clayton, who, along with New Orleans attorney Caleb Didriksen represented the family, says the verdict was returned against DTNA, which manufactures trucks for Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner and other brands, late Tuesday.
A spokesperson at Daimler Trucks’ Portland, Oregon, headquarters could not be reached before deadline.
William “Bill” Jones and Engelique Jones sued the company and others on behalf of their mother, Connie Jones Marable, in Orleans Parish Civil District Court.
Marable was injured in a Lowe’s Home Improvement parking lot in New Orleans East when her husband’s 2007 Freightliner truck unexpectedly rolled forward while the truck’s parking brake was engaged, Clayton says. Marable’s husband, Wayne, exited the truck with the emergency brake on while it was still running, and the truck suddenly rolled forward, according to court filings. Clayton says Marable’s husband told her to help stop the truck.
In an attempt to do so, Marable ended up pinned under the truck’s wheels and sustained physical injuries, including a severe brain injury, according to court documents. She’s now in need of 24-hour care.
Clayton says the defense team argued that the truck should have had an extra set of emergency spring brakes to prevent it from moving while the brakes were engaged.
The jury decided DTNA is responsible for 90% of the damages awarded, finding that the truck was “reasonably dangerous in design.” The jury assigned the remaining 10% of the damages to Marable’s husband, who instructed her to run after the runaway truck.
—Alexandria Burris
