Iowa Supreme Court Affirms $26.1 Million Judgment In Fog-Related Truck Underride Crash
After trial: The jury returned $35,793,475 in June 2024, and the district court reduced it under Iowa's comparative-fault statute to $26,129,236.80 after the jury found McQuillen 27 percent at fault. West Side Transport and Takes appealed, and the Iowa Supreme Court affirmed the judgment in full on April 3, 2026. The McQuillens argued the appeal was moot because the parties had settled, but the court found the letters they submitted showed only an arrangement for the defendants' insurers to make payments on the judgment, not a complete settlement, so it decided the appeal on the merits. The judgment is insurer-backed on the strength of that payment arrangement, but public records do not confirm whether it has been paid in full since the affirmance.
Won by Pickens, Barnes & Abernathy.
On March 19, 2020, an eighteen-wheel semitrailer driven by Clifford Takes for West Side Transport made an unprotected left turn across fog-shrouded Highway 151 near Anamosa, Iowa, and Margaret McQuillen's southbound car slid under the trailer. McQuillen, then 18, lost her pulse before paramedics arrived and was later found to have suffered a traumatic brain injury and roughly 100 skull fractures. A Linn County jury found Takes and West Side Transport 73 percent at fault and McQuillen 27 percent at fault, and set her damages at $35,793,475 in June 2024; the district court entered judgment for $26,129,236.80 after the comparative-fault reduction. West Side Transport and Takes appealed over closing-argument and damages-argument rulings, and the Iowa Supreme Court affirmed the judgment on April 3, 2026.
What happened
On the afternoon of March 19, 2020, dense fog settled over Highway 151 near Anamosa, Iowa. Margaret McQuillen, 18, was driving south when Clifford Takes, driving an eighteen-wheel Freightliner semitrailer for West Side Transport, made an unprotected left turn across the southbound lane to reach a side street where he planned to park. Unprotected meant there was no stoplight or other traffic device holding the oncoming southbound traffic, which had the right of way. McQuillen's car struck the side of the trailer and slid underneath it, shearing off the roof, pillars, and windows. The Iowa State Patrol cited Takes for failing to yield on the turn, and he pleaded guilty to the citation.
McQuillen's heart and breathing stopped before an ambulance reached the scene, and she was resuscitated at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics only after prolonged CPR; a treating physician said she had been medically dead. She suffered a traumatic brain injury and roughly one hundred fractures to her skull, underwent a facial reconstruction surgery lasting more than 16 hours, and spent weeks in brain injury rehabilitation at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago. Evidence at trial showed she will face permanent neurological deficits. She has since graduated from the University of Iowa and works as a personal trainer.
McQuillen's parents, Matthew and Elizabeth McQuillen, sued Takes and West Side Transport in 2022 as her limited co-guardians and co-conservators. Trial began on May 28, 2024 in the Iowa District Court for Linn County, where Judge Justin Lightfoot later entered the judgment. The jury heard seven days of evidence on claims that Takes failed to yield the right of way, failed to keep a proper lookout, and failed to stop driving once fog made conditions hazardous; West Side Transport was held vicariously liable for his conduct. The defense argued McQuillen contributed to the crash by driving without her headlights on in the fog and by failing to keep a lookout because she was on her phone, and called a digital forensics examiner who testified that a message had been read on her phone about 42 seconds before the collision. On rebuttal, the childhood friend who had sent that message testified that the app's location-sharing feature still showed McQuillen's last location at home, which meant she had not been using the app when the crash happened.
In June 2024, the jury assigned 73 percent of the fault to Takes and West Side Transport and 27 percent to McQuillen, and set her total damages at $35,793,475, made up of more than $10.9 million in future medical costs, $6 million for lost future earning capacity, $3 million for permanent disfigurement and scarring, and $15.8 million for loss of full mind and body plus pain and suffering. Applying the comparative-fault reduction, the district court entered judgment for the McQuillens of $26,129,236.80. The court temporarily suspended enforcement of the award while West Side Transport pursued a motion for a new trial.
West Side Transport and Takes appealed, arguing that plaintiff's counsel made improper statements during closing argument and that the trial court had wrongly limited a defense argument about the time value of money. Matthew G. Novak and Bradley J. Kaspar of Pickens, Barnes & Abernathy, together with Joel T. Andreesen of Rodriguez & Associates, represented the McQuillens on appeal. The Iowa Supreme Court rejected the McQuillens' own motion to dismiss the appeal, finding that letters between the parties addressed only how the defendants' insurers would pay the judgment rather than a full settlement of the case. Finding no abuse of discretion in the trial court's rulings, the court affirmed the judgment on April 3, 2026.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.Iowa Supreme Court, McQuillen v. West Side Transport, Inc., No. 24-1669 (filed April 3, 2026): counsel of record block naming Matthew G. Novak and Bradley J. Kaspar of Pickens, Barnes & Abernathy for appellees, the verdict and judgment amounts, fault percentages, injuries, and the affirmance.
- 2.The Gazette: quotes Matt Novak of Pickens, Barnes & Abernathy as plaintiff's counsel; describes McQuillen's injuries and rehabilitation, the comparative-fault reduction to over $26.1 million, and the temporary suspension of the award pending post-trial motions.
- 3.Iowa State Bar Association Jury Verdicts Reporter: Linn County verdict entry naming Matthew Novak as plaintiff's counsel and itemizing the $35,793,475 jury verdict.
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