Kansas Teen Paralyzed in Rear-End Crash Wins $38.5 Million Jury Verdict

On April 9, 2014, Kara Hansen, a 16-year-old student at Riverton High School, was stopped in her 1966 Ford Mustang on Highway 69 Alternate in Cherokee County, Kansas, waiting to turn left into her family's driveway. Corbin Hamilton, then 23 and living in Pittsburg, Kansas, ran into the back of her car. The impact pushed the Mustang into the oncoming lane, where a second vehicle struck it broadside. The vintage car had a lap belt but no shoulder belt; the back of Hansen's seat broke, and her head hit the windshield.

Hansen suffered a broken neck and was left paralyzed from the chest down. She spent 345 days in rehabilitation hospitals learning to use the limited function she retained in her hands and arms, and now requires around-the-clock care. She lives with her best friend, who also works as her caregiver.

A Cherokee County sheriff's deputy testified that Hamilton had been following too closely and was not paying adequate attention. At the five-day trial in Cherokee County District Court, Hamilton, by then 26 and living in California, argued that Hansen and the driver of the second car, a Columbus teacher named Marty Atnip, shared the blame. He testified that Hansen had turned in front of Atnip and was struck by Atnip's car before Hamilton hit her, that Atnip had been on his phone, and that a used-car dealer had sold him a vehicle with faulty brakes. Jurors did not accept the argument and assigned Hamilton 100 percent of the fault.

On Feb. 2, 2018, the jury awarded Hansen $38.5 million: $1.2 million for past medical expenses, $18 million for future medical and life-care costs, $1.3 million for future lost earnings, and $18 million for past and future noneconomic damages. Hansen's attorney, Roger Johnson, told the Joplin Globe that an essay Hansen wrote about her recovery, presented to the jury as an exhibit, resonated with jurors and helped drive the size of the verdict. In it, Hansen wrote that 'the truth is you aren't promised tomorrow.'

Kansas law in effect when Hansen was hurt, K.S.A. 60-19a02, capped noneconomic damages in a personal injury case at $250,000 for claims arising before July 1, 2014 and directed that judgment be entered at that figure for all noneconomic loss. The Kansas Supreme Court did not strike the cap down until Hilburn v. Enerpipe Ltd. on June 14, 2019, about sixteen months after this trial. Applied to Hansen's case, that cap would hold her noneconomic recovery to $250,000, putting the total judgment that could actually be entered at roughly $20.75 million rather than the jury's $38.5 million figure. News coverage of the verdict did not report whether the trial court applied the cap.

Collecting even the reduced amount was uncertain for a separate reason: Hamilton carried only a small liability insurance policy. Johnson said Hansen might be able to pursue a bad-faith claim against Hamilton's insurer if Hamilton agreed to assign his rights under the policy in exchange for Hansen's promise not to pursue his personal assets or future wages, but no such arrangement had been reached. 'This is a real sad case for a very sweet young lady,' Johnson said.