In December 2007, a 19-year-old Florida State University student left Tallahassee for the holiday break a day earlier than he had planned to surprise his parents in Palm Beach County on his birthday.
But plans for his birthday, tragically tuned into plans for a funeral.
While he was on the Turnpike near Fort Pierce, three vehicles crashed in front of him. Our client pulled over to the side of the road to avoid hitting the crashed cars in the roadway. While he was on the shoulder, a semi truck, owned by All American Express, rear-ended his car. The force pushed the car nearly 1400 feet along the guardrail. The initial crash resulted in a six-car pileup that shut down the southbound lanes of the Turnpike for more than four hours. When his parents got the phone all about the crash, they didn’t even know that their son was on the road. They weren’t expecting him until the following day.
The young man was airlifted to St. Mary’s Hospital in West Palm Beach where he died from his injuries.
Florida accident attorney David C. Prather settled the case with All American Express for $2.85 million.