Jury hits KLLM for $6.87 million
The nine-day jury trial stemmed from an accident in August 2000 that killed Lindsey Garretson. Her mother, Diane Coggins, filed the civil lawsuit against Bastrop, LA-based Vernon Sawyer Transportation, a subsidiary of KLLM, because the company driver involved in the accident had a history of moving violations that should have disqualified him from employment.
Coggins' law firm, Dallas-based Rose Walker, L.L.P, said in the trial that the driver Stuart Foy had six moving violations in the three years prior to being hired at Vernon Sawyer as a contract driver. That record should have disqualified him from employment with KLLM based on its driver requirement policies, the firm said.
In the months leading up to the fatal accident on I-40 outside of Nashville, TN, the Rose Walker firm said Foy had two additional minor accidents and another four tickets, incidents the lawyers said in court that should have resulted in his being fired.
There was no information on whether KLLM plans to appeal the award.