Truck Strikes Backhoe on Nebraska Bridge, Jury Awards $11.46 Million After Leg Amputation
After trial: The defendants' motion for a new trial was denied on April 29, 2024, and the $11,464,000 verdict stands as entered. The appeal that followed was the McCartneys' own and concerned only the separate summary judgment rulings for two other companies connected to the crash; the Nebraska Court of Appeals recorded that the McCartneys did not appeal from the trial verdict entered against the trucking defendants, and that verdict was not before it. The Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment for the bridge subcontractor but reversed and remanded the claim against the cooperative that loaded the tractor-trailer, and petitions for further review were denied on January 15, 2026, so that portion of the underlying case remains active. Whether the $11,464,000 award has been paid is not publicly reported.
Won by Fraser Stryker PC LLO.
On May 5, 2020, Michael L. McCartney was driving a John Deere backhoe across the Indian Creek bridge on U.S. Highway 136 west of Red Cloud, Nebraska, where a construction closure had narrowed the road to one lane and removed a guardrail. A tractor-trailer driven by Lenard D. Zurcher, hauling corn for Scott Kort Trucking, ran into the back of the backhoe, carrying both vehicles into the bridge's concrete barriers and overturning them. McCartney's right leg was amputated below the knee and part of his left foot was also removed. A Webster County jury awarded McCartney $8,464,000 and awarded his wife, Sharon G. McCartney, $3,000,000 for loss of consortium after 49 years of marriage, a combined verdict of $11,464,000. The trial court denied the defendants' motion for a new trial, and the verdict against Zurcher and Scott Kort Trucking was not part of the appeal that followed.
What happened
On May 5, 2020, Michael L. McCartney was operating a John Deere backhoe eastbound on U.S. Highway 136, crossing the Indian Creek bridge west of Red Cloud, Nebraska. Bridge reconstruction had narrowed the highway to a single lane and removed a guardrail that had previously stood at the site. Lenard D. Zurcher was driving a tractor-trailer loaded with corn between Cooperative Producers facilities in Franklin and Red Cloud. He was traveling between 40 and 45 miles per hour when he passed the sign warning of the narrow bridge half a mile ahead, and the evidence at trial conflicted over how much the tractor-trailer slowed before it ran into the back of McCartney's backhoe. The impact carried both vehicles across the bridge and into its concrete protection barriers, where they overturned.
McCartney, then 63 and a roughly 40-year employee of the Nebraska Bostwick Irrigation District, suffered injuries severe enough that his right leg was amputated below the knee and part of his left foot was also removed. He now relies on prosthetics.
McCartney and his wife, Sharon G. McCartney, sued Zurcher and his employer, Scott A. Kort, doing business as Scott Kort Trucking, in the District Court for Webster County. Bostwick Irrigation District, McCartney's employer, was also joined in the case solely so the court could resolve its workers' compensation subrogation interest, not as a party accused of wrongdoing.
The case went to trial before Judge Morgan R. Farquhar. The jury returned a verdict of $8,464,000 for Michael McCartney and $3,000,000 for Sharon McCartney on her loss of consortium claim, tied to the couple's 49 years of marriage, for a combined $11,464,000. The defendants moved for a new trial, arguing in part that plaintiff's counsel had improperly urged jurors during closing argument to 'go out and make history.' Judge Farquhar overruled that motion on April 29, 2024.
The verdict against Zurcher and Scott Kort Trucking stands as entered. The McCartneys separately appealed a related ruling that had granted summary judgment to two other companies involved in the case, the bridge subcontractor and the cooperative that loaded Zurcher's truck, and the Court of Appeals recorded that they did not appeal from the trial verdict entered against the trucking defendants. In a decision filed November 4, 2025, the Nebraska Court of Appeals affirmed the summary judgment for the bridge subcontractor but reversed and remanded the claim against the loading cooperative for its own negligence in loading the tractor-trailer, allowing that portion of the case to continue. Petitions asking the Nebraska Supreme Court to review that decision were denied on January 15, 2026. Michael F. Coyle and Jordan W. Adam of Fraser Stryker, P.C., L.L.O. represented the McCartneys at trial and on appeal.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.Nebraska Court of Appeals, McCartney v. Zurcher, No. A-24-342, opinion filed 4 Nov 2025: counsel block reading 'Michael F. Coyle and Jordan W. Adam, of Fraser Stryker, P.C., L.L.O., for appellants', Webster County trial judge Morgan R. Farquhar, the crash facts and injuries, the parties, and the statement that the McCartneys did not appeal from the trial verdict entered against the trucking defendants
- 2.Hastings Tribune, April 2024: verdict amounts, crash facts, McCartney's age and years at the Bostwick Irrigation District, the couple's 49 years of marriage, and Michael Coyle of the Omaha firm Fraser Stryker identified as co-counsel who represented the McCartneys at trial
- 3.Lincoln Journal Star, April 2024: the $8,464,000 and $3,000,000 awards, the overloaded corn load, the amputations, and Michael F. Coyle and Jordan W. Adam of Fraser Stryker PC LLO named as the McCartneys' attorneys
- 4.Hastings Tribune: denial of the defendants' motion for a new trial on 29 April 2024
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