$9.3 Million Verdict for Truck Driver Run Over After Being Trapped on Hiller Aircraft Property

On July 2, 2018, Daquan Jones, a 24-year-old long-haul truck driver from Philadelphia, drove into Firebaugh, California, to pick up a load of tomatoes. He and his co-driver mistakenly turned onto M Street, a section of road the City of Firebaugh had officially abandoned three decades earlier but left without any signage marking it as a dead end. Concrete barricades blocked any turnaround. The only way forward led through an open gate onto the private property of Hiller Aircraft Corporation, a helicopter manufacturer.

Once on the property, a Hiller employee initially told Jones he could use the lot to turn around. But before he could leave, a Hiller general manager shut the gate and demanded $50 for passage. Jones refused. The confrontation escalated into a physical altercation: Jones was placed in a headlock and thrown to the ground. As Jones lay on the pavement, his co-driver attempted to drive the rig out and accidentally ran over him.

Jones's injuries were severe and permanent. He sustained a fractured neck, a fractured pelvis, internal injuries, traumatic brain injuries, and a major injury to his left side requiring reconstruction and skin grafts. He spent four months in the hospital and underwent roughly 30 surgeries, followed by two additional months of rehabilitation. His earning capacity as a working driver was permanently destroyed.

Richard C. Watters and Lyndsie N. Russell of Miles, Sears and Eanni represented Jones at trial. Watters argued that Hiller had effectively engineered a trap: the company's own placement of barriers on M Street pushed lost truckers onto the property, where employees then extorted fees from drivers with nowhere else to go. The case was the first civil jury trial held in Fresno County Superior Court after the lifting of pandemic restrictions.

After a three-week trial, the jury found Hiller Aircraft 70 percent at fault for maintaining a dangerous condition on its private property and for the conduct of its general manager. The City of Firebaugh was held 25 percent responsible for the long-abandoned street with no warning signage. The co-driver bore 5 percent. Jones was assigned no contributory fault. The jury returned a verdict of $9.3 million. No reduction or remittitur was reported in available coverage.