Last Friday a Bryan County Jury in Georgia granted Megan Richards a unanimous verdict of $15 million for damages resulting from a deadly 18-wheeler wreck that occurred in April of 2015.
The wreck occurred when John Wayne Johnson, an 18-wheeler driver, failed to properly apply his brakes while traveling 70 MPH on a highway, causing him to crash into 6 other vehicles that were stopped for traffic. Of the 6 women in the vehicle with Richards, 5 were killed: Emily Clark, 20, Morgan Bass, 20, Abbie Deloach, 21, Catherine Pittman, 21, and Caitlyn Baggett, 21. Megan Richards was the only survivor. All six of the women were nursing students at Georgia Southern University, and were driving on their way to their last day of clinical rotations at a hospital in Savannah.
The jury only deliberated for four hours before coming to a verdict. The trucking company, Total Transportation of Mississippi, and its owner, U.S. Express, will be responsible for paying the $15 million verdict.
This verdict was awarded through a trial in the civil court system. Johnson also previously plead guilty to five criminal counts of first-degree vehicular homicide, among other charges, in July of 2016. Johnson reached a plea deal on these charges for five years of prison to be followed with five years of probation.
Richards’ attorney initially argued for “no less than $25 million” on this case, while the attorneys for the truck driver and trucking companies initially agreed at a minimum to pay for her medical expenses. Richards’ stated that though she was released from the hospital the day following the accident, she was transferred to another facility, and still to this day deals with a traumatic brain injury.
The trucking company did settle with the families of the deceased victims last April, for an undisclosed amount.
