Farm Tractor Driver's Brain Injury Judgment Affirmed at $3.5 Million
After trial: Kansas's statutory cap on non-economic damages (then $250,000) and Ross's 35 percent share of comparative fault cut the jury's $6.3 million verdict to $2,785,000 in compensatory damages, and the $750,000 in punitive damages assessed after a separate hearing brought the judgment to $3,535,000. Jeschke Ag Service appealed on personal jurisdiction, the punitive damages instruction, and alleged juror quotient-verdict misconduct; the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District affirmed the judgment in full on May 1, 2018, with no further reduction. Rehearing and transfer were denied on May 29, 2018, and the Missouri Supreme Court denied transfer on August 21, 2018. Whether the judgment was ultimately paid is not public record.
Won by The Accurso Law Firm, P.C..
Roger Ross was driving a farm tractor north on K-7 Highway in Doniphan County, Kansas in March 2014 when a Jeschke Ag Service tractor-trailer driven by Donald Shaw tried to pass in a no-passing zone as Ross began a left turn. The truck struck Ross's tractor mid-turn and threw him from it, causing a traumatic brain injury, a fractured skull, a fractured pelvis, and a cerebral hemorrhage that left him with permanent memory loss. A Jackson County, Missouri jury assessed Jeschke 65 percent at fault and Ross 35 percent at fault, and awarded $3.9 million in economic damages and $2.4 million in non-economic damages. After Kansas's cap on non-economic damages and Ross's share of fault were applied, and punitive damages were added, the court entered judgment for $3,535,000, which the Missouri Court of Appeals affirmed in full in 2018.
What happened
In March 2014, Roger Ross was driving his farm tractor north on K-7 Highway at 225th Street outside Troy, Kansas, in Doniphan County. A tractor-trailer owned by Jeschke Ag Service and driven by Donald Shaw was traveling the same direction behind him. As Ross began a left turn, Shaw tried to pass him in a marked no-passing zone. The truck struck Ross's tractor mid-turn and threw him from the seat.
Ross suffered a traumatic brain injury, a fractured skull, a fractured pelvis, and a cerebral hemorrhage. The brain injury left him with permanent memory loss, on top of the extended recovery needed for the skull and pelvic fractures.
Ross sued Jeschke Ag Service and Shaw for negligence. The case was tried in the Circuit Court of Jackson County, Missouri, applying Kansas law to the underlying crash. At trial in October 2016, a jury assessed Jeschke and Shaw 65 percent at fault for the collision and Ross 35 percent at fault, and awarded $3.9 million in economic damages and $2.4 million in non-economic damages, a total of $6.3 million.
Kansas law at the time capped non-economic damages in personal injury cases at $250,000, and Ross's comparative fault reduced his economic award to $2,535,000. The court also assessed $750,000 in punitive damages against Jeschke. Combined, the judgment entered against Jeschke Ag Service came to $3,535,000. Louis Accurso, Clayton Gillette, Burton Haigh, and Andrew McCue represented Ross at trial and on appeal.
Jeschke appealed to the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, arguing the trial court lacked personal jurisdiction over it, that the punitive damages instruction was improper, and that the jury had reached its verdict through an improper quotient method rather than genuine deliberation. On May 1, 2018, the appellate court rejected all three arguments and affirmed the judgment in full. It found Jeschke had waived its jurisdictional objection, that its challenge to the punitive damages instruction had not been preserved for review, and that the record did not support a finding that the jury had prearranged a quotient verdict.
The $3,535,000 judgment stood as entered, with no further reduction on appeal.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.Missouri Lawyers Media, 2016-10-17: staffed article on the October 2016 trial, the crash mechanics, Ross's injuries, the jury's $6.3 million verdict and its economic/non-economic breakdown, the 65/35 fault split, and naming Louis Accurso as Ross's trial counsel
- 2.Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District opinion, Ross v. Jeschke Ag Service, LLC, 552 S.W.3d 719 (2018), via FindLaw: final judgment amounts after the cap and comparative fault reduction, the punitive damages award, the full affirmance, and Louis C. Accurso, Clayton E. Gillette, Burton Haigh, and Andrew H. McCue named as Ross's counsel of record
- 3.Leagle.com hosting of the same Missouri Court of Appeals opinion (decision inmoco20180501224): independently confirms the May 1, 2018 decision date, the judgment amounts, and the same four attorneys as Ross's counsel of record
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