Below-the-Knee Amputation After Tractor-Trailer Blocks Highway in the Rain
After trial: Lane's Equipment Rental appealed, the Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment, and the Georgia Supreme Court denied certiorari in 2022. A 2022 order from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, in a later coverage case between the trucking company and its insurer, records that history and states that the judgment is final. Georgia does not cap compensatory damages in a case of this kind, so no reduction applied. The verdict exceeded the liability coverage available to the trucking company, and whether the judgment has since been paid is not publicly confirmed. We could not independently confirm the appellate docket numbers, so they are not stated here.
Won by Law & Moran, Attorneys at Law.
Donald Monroe lost his left leg below the knee when a pickup truck swerving to avoid a tractor-trailer that had blocked a North Georgia highway struck him instead. A Whitfield County jury found the trucking company and its driver 99.99 percent at fault and awarded Monroe $20 million and his wife, Rhonda, $1.6 million, for a total verdict of $21.6 million. The jury rejected the family's claims for punitive damages and attorney fees. The Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment, and the Georgia Supreme Court denied certiorari in 2022, leaving the verdict final.
What happened
On a rainy February 3, 2016, Donald Monroe had just finished loading a tractor-trailer at the scrap metal company where he worked in Dalton, Georgia, when a tractor-trailer owned by Lane's Equipment Rental, Inc. pulled out onto South Dixie Highway and blocked both lanes of traffic. The driver, Daniel McGuffee, moved into the road without confirming it was clear. A pickup truck driven by Greefus Patterson swerved to avoid the tractor-trailer and struck Monroe instead.
Monroe's left leg was amputated below the knee. His right leg required multiple surgeries. Monroe and his wife, Rhonda, sued Lane's Equipment Rental, McGuffee, and Patterson in the Superior Court of Whitfield County, and the case went to trial there from May 6 to May 10, 2019.
Monroe's attorneys, Pete Law and E. Michael Moran of Law & Moran, told the jury that McGuffee never should have pulled onto the highway without knowing it was safe, arguing that if you don't know, you don't go. McGuffee's attorney, Stuart James, argued that Patterson bore the real responsibility because a cataract in his left eye kept him from seeing the tractor-trailer from 700 feet away. Patterson's attorney, Angela Kopet, rejected that theory, telling jurors that a cherry red pickup truck with its headlights on was plainly visible and that McGuffee simply failed to yield the highway. McGuffee and Lane's Equipment Rental were also represented by David Ward of Michel and Ward, while Brian Spitler joined Kopet on Patterson's defense.
The jury deliberated for less than two hours. It found Lane's Equipment Rental and McGuffee 99.99 percent at fault for the crash and assigned Patterson 0.01 percent. Jurors awarded Donald Monroe $20 million and awarded Rhonda Monroe $1.6 million on her claim for the loss of her husband's care and companionship, for a combined verdict of $21.6 million. They rejected the family's request for punitive damages and attorney fees.
Lane's Equipment Rental appealed to the Georgia Court of Appeals, which affirmed the judgment. The Georgia Supreme Court then denied the company's petition for certiorari in 2022, closing off further review. A federal judge in the Northern District of Georgia, presiding over a later coverage fight between Lane's Equipment Rental and its insurer, recorded that history in a 2022 order and wrote that the judgment is final. The jury's award was far larger than the liability coverage the trucking company carried, which is what put the insurer and its own insured on opposite sides in that second case.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.Courtroom View Network, May 2019: verdict amount and breakdown ($20M to Donald Monroe, $1.6M to Rhonda Monroe), fault apportionment (99.99% Lane's Equipment Rental/McGuffee, 0.01% Patterson), Monroe's injuries, jury deliberation time, denial of punitive damages, and counsel for all parties
- 2.Courtroom View Network: case caption (Monroe v. Lane's Equipment Rental, Inc. et al.), venue, trial dates, crash facts, and Pete Law/E. Michael Moran as plaintiffs' counsel
- 3.Courtroom View Network: opening-statement arguments from plaintiff's counsel Pete Law and defense counsel Stuart James and Angela Kopet, crash date and injuries
- 4.U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, order of October 7, 2022 in Acuity v. Lane's Equipment Rental, Inc., No. 4:22-cv-00101 (published on govinfo): confirms the February 3, 2016 crash involving a truck owned by Lane's Equipment Rental and driven by Daniel McGuffee, the pedestrian's May 2016 suit in the Superior Court of Whitfield County, the May 2019 jury award of over $21,000,000, the Georgia Court of Appeals affirmance, the Georgia Supreme Court's denial of certiorari, and that the judgment is final
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