International Paper Pays $5.2 Million to Georgia Mother Who Lost Her Arm in Crash With Employee on Company Cell Phone
Won by McArthur Law Firm.
A widowed mother of four lost her arm nearly to the shoulder after an International Paper employee, talking on a company-supplied cell phone with her cruise control set at 77 mph, rear-ended her on Interstate 16 near Dublin, Georgia. The paper company settled in mid-December 2007, ahead of a March 17, 2008 trial date. The settlement was $5.2 million.
What happened
Debra Ford was driving on Interstate 16 near Dublin, Georgia, when a car driven by Vanessa C. McGrogan struck hers from behind. McGrogan worked for International Paper Company and was driving with a cell phone the company had supplied. Her cruise control was set at 77 mph in a 70 mph zone.
The impact pushed Ford's car into a ditch, where it overturned. The driver's side came down on the roadway and slid, and Ford's arm was trapped between the door and the pavement. She was a widowed mother of four.
The crush injury led to medical complications, and Ford's arm was eventually amputated almost to the shoulder.
Ford sued McGrogan and International Paper for negligence in Fulton County Superior Court in 2006. Katherine L. McArthur of The Law Firm of Kathy McArthur in Macon represented her. C. Michael Evert Jr. and Christopher G. Conley of Evert Weathersby Houff defended.
The central dispute was the phone. A witness testified that he saw McGrogan with the phone to her ear at the time of the collision. McGrogan testified that she had used it before she entered the interstate, nearly two miles before the crash. McArthur pointed to Georgia law on distracted driving, saying the state has a cell phone statute that tells drivers not to do things that are distracting. The defense also argued that Ford's smoking had damaged her vascular system and slowed her healing. Ford's physician and an independent medical expert both rejected that claim.
McArthur said the company was concerned about how a jury would react to learning that the driver had been on a cell phone. International Paper's first offer was well below where the case ended, and a mediator had put the case at a figure less than half of the final settlement. The parties settled in mid-December 2007 for $5.2 million, with the trial set to begin on March 17, 2008. Janet L. Conley reported the settlement in the Daily Report in February 2008.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
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