This is part 2 of “Despite Million Dollar Verdicts, Log Trucks Still A Dark And Deadly Menace.” To read part 1, click here.
Some things have changed in North Florida since Bruce’s trial. But some things have not changed. Dimly lit log trucks continue to prowl the predawn rural highways, killing and maiming young men and women in avoidable truck accidents.
Nassau County, $12.9 Million Verdict
An insurance company refused to pay its $2 million policy limits a few years ago when 18-year-old “Turtle” Huckleby hit a log truck on U.S. 1 just north of Hilliard.
The log truck had been caught trying to bypass the Hilliard weigh station. When the truck left the weigh station it was headed the wrong way, so the truck tried making a u-turn a mile north of the station.
Turtle suffered a catastrophic brain injury when her car slammed into the side of the log truck about an hour before sunrise. Turtle recovered enough to superficially look and seem normal and to complete her senior year at Hilliard Senior High, but the crash left her with diminished capacity for judgment and the need for around the clock supervision of her activities.
The insurance company for the log truck declined to pay its policy limits on demand, and The Law Firm of Pajcic & Pajcic, filed suit. After a three week trial in March 2011, a Nassau County jury returned a verdict of $12.9 million.
Turtle did not get all of that because the jury did assign some blame to her and some to the FDOT. Nevertheless, she ended up with far more than the logging company’s insurance limits. With the recovery, Turtle and her family plan to build Turtle her own house on the family’s 100 acres in the backwoods near the weigh station and help her open a consignment store in downtown Hilliard.
This is part 2 of “Despite Million Dollar Verdicts, Log Trucks Still A Dark And Deadly Menace.” To read part 1, click here.
Some things have changed in North Florida since Bruce’s trial. But some things have not changed. Dimly lit log trucks continue to prowl the predawn rural highways, killing and maiming young men and women in avoidable truck accidents.
Nassau County, $12.9 Million Verdict
An insurance company refused to pay its $2 million policy limits a few years ago when 18-year-old “Turtle” Huckleby hit a log truck on U.S. 1 just north of Hilliard.
The log truck had been caught trying to bypass the Hilliard weigh station. When the truck left the weigh station it was headed the wrong way, so the truck tried making a u-turn a mile north of the station.
Turtle suffered a catastrophic brain injury when her car slammed into the side of the log truck about an hour before sunrise. Turtle recovered enough to superficially look and seem normal and to complete her senior year at Hilliard Senior High, but the crash left her with diminished capacity for judgment and the need for around the clock supervision of her activities.
The insurance company for the log truck declined to pay its policy limits on demand, and The Law Firm of Pajcic & Pajcic, filed suit. After a three week trial in March 2011, a Nassau County jury returned a verdict of $12.9 million.
Turtle did not get all of that because the jury did assign some blame to her and some to the FDOT. Nevertheless, she ended up with far more than the logging company’s insurance limits. With the recovery, Turtle and her family plan to build Turtle her own house on the family’s 100 acres in the backwoods near the weigh station and help her open a consignment store in downtown Hilliard.