Miles, Sears & Eanni attorneys Richard Watters and Lyndsie Russell represented Daquan Jones for an trucking accident that occurred in July of 2018 in the City of Firebaugh.
Daquan Jones, a long haul truck driver, picked up a load from Firebaugh, California. While waiting for instructions from dispatch, Jones drove down M Street, a dead end without warning signs. Ten cement barricades were placed along the end of M Street narrowing the roadway and funneling him onto the property of Hiller Aircraft. Even after receiving permission from a Hiller employee, Jones was stopped by the manager as he attempted to exit. The manager started a physical alteration and Jones was held down as his co-driver attempted to drive the truck off the property, running him over.
Plaintiff Daquan Jones was hospitalized for four months following the incident at Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno, and then for an additional two months at Magee Rehabilitation Center in Philadelphia. He suffered a moderate traumatic brain injury, neck and shoulder fractures, significant injuries to his left knee and a catastrophic degloving of his left buttock. He was left with permanent loss of earning capacity.
In the first civil jury trial held in Fresno County Superior Court since the lifting of coronavirus restrictions, the jury awarded $9,328,323 against Hiller Aircraft Corporation and the City of Firebaugh. The jury found the City of Firebaugh 25% responsible for Jones’s damages for having a dangerous condition of public property in the form of the concrete barricades on City property, at the edges of M Street, which funneled trucks onto the Hiller property. The jury found the City had actual and constructive notice of the presence of the barricades, which had been placed there by Hiller employees approximately one year before the subject incident and had been inspected by a Code Enforcement Officer roughly two weeks before the incident.
The verdict was rendered May 4, 2021 after a three-week jury trial.
To read the Fresno Bee’s coverage of the trial, please click here.
