Jackson County Jury Awards $40 Million to Family of Man Killed by Impaired Driver at Red Light
After trial: Judgment was entered on the verdict plus $4,359,452.05 in prejudgment interest. The defendant appealed only the interest, and the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, affirmed it in October 2024 (No.
Won by Dollar, Burns, Becker & Hershewe.
A Jackson County jury awarded $40 million on Nov. 1, 2023, to the family of Charles Mabie, a 52-year-old man killed when a driver on PCP, traveling over 100 mph, struck his car from behind at a red light in Independence, Missouri. The defendant had admitted liability before trial, so the jury decided only damages. The award rested on the loss of Mabie's relationship with his wife and two children.
What happened
On September 12, 2020, Charles Mabie, 52, was stopped at a red light on Noland Road in Independence, Missouri, about three miles from his home. Samona Mason, driving over 100 miles per hour with PCP in her system, struck his vehicle from behind. Mabie died in the crash.
Mabie was married to Jill Mabie and had two children. Earlier that afternoon, around 12:30 or 1, he had sent his wife a text that read, 'hey, I love you babe.' She answered, 'love you more.' It was the last exchange between them, and plaintiffs' attorney Tim Dollar told Missouri Lawyers Media that the jury heard it at trial.
Mason did not contest fault. Before trial she admitted liability and admitted that she had used PCP. In July 2023 she also pleaded guilty in the criminal case to first-degree involuntary manslaughter and second-degree assault. With responsibility settled, the civil trial in Jackson County Circuit Court before Judge Cory Atkins turned on a single question: what the family had lost.
Tim Dollar and Jordan Dollar of Dollar, Burns, Becker & Hershewe in Kansas City represented the Mabie family. Todd Moulder of Morrow Willnauer Church in Kansas City defended Mason. No punitive damages were submitted to the jury, and the plaintiffs did not build the case around a calculation of economic loss. The case was built on the relationship the children and their mother had with Mabie and would no longer have.
On November 1, 2023, the jury returned a verdict of $40 million. Judgment was entered on that verdict together with prejudgment interest of $4,359,452.05. Mason appealed only the interest award, and the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, affirmed it in October 2024. The appeals court held that the family had properly sent its pre-trial settlement offer to the defense lawyer retained by the insurer, which satisfied the Missouri statute on prejudgment interest, and that an employment authorization form listing Mabie's employer met the statute's requirement for a list of employers. The verdict itself was not reduced and was not part of the appeal.
After the verdict, Dollar said he intended to pursue a bad faith refusal to settle claim against Mason's insurer, Farmers. The sources do not report whether the judgment has been collected.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.Missouri Lawyers Media, 'Jury awards $40M to family of man killed in stop light crash', Nov. 3, 2023·Archived copy
- 2.Mabie v. Mason, Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, No. WD86861, Oct. 29, 2024
- 3.FindLaw, Mabie v. Mason, Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, Oct. 29, 2024·Archived copy
More proven verdicts from Dollar, Burns, Becker & Hershewe
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