Joseph Fried delivers his closing argument at trial against a trucking company accused of responsibility for the crash-related death of a 17-year old. Watch the trial.
Newport News, VA— Jurors Thursday handed down a $2.25 million verdict after finding a trucking company and one of its drivers responsible for the crash that killed a Virginia teenager. Etheridge v. USA Truck, LLC, et al., CL2304235H-00.
The Virginia (7th Circuit) State Court jury’s verdict capped a six-day trial against USA Truck and its driver Leonard Couplin over the March 2023 crash that killed 17-year-old Keon Couch.
The award includes $950,000 to each of Couch’s two siblings and $350,000 to Couch’s mother. Jurors declined to award punitive damages in the case.
The crash occurred after Couplin parked his big rig in the right lane of Jefferson Avenue in Newport News, Virginia, and entered a local fast food restaurant. Couch’s family contends the defendants are responsible for the wreck by blocking the lane of travel and creating a deadly hazard.
At the time of the wreck, Couch was a passenger in a car driven by Carlos Palmer, then 16. As Palmer’s car approached the big rig, it struck two other vehicles before careening into the tractor-trailer and the collision that ultimately killed Couch.
Defendants concede the big rig was improperly parked, but contend it did not cause the wreck, turning much of the the focus of the trial to causation. During Wednesday’s closings, Moran Reeves Conn’s Ashley Winsky, representing the defense, walked jurors through evidence she said showed that Palmer’s driving, rather than the unattended big rig, actually caused the wreck.
Winsky reminded jurors that witnesses testified the tractor-trailer was visible, with its hazard lights flashing, immediately before the crash. On the other hand, she said Palmer was speeding, tailgating, and made a blind lane change, which she said led to the wreck.
“Our argument is that the sole proximate cause… of this accident was Carlos Palmer’s reckless driving,” Winsky said. “He didn’t look. He just made a blind lane change when his whole view was blocked.”
But Fried Goldberg’s Joseph Fried, representing Couch’s family, pointed to evidence he said showed that the tractor-trailer’s improper stoppage caused the fatal wreck.
Fried told jurors Couplin violated training and a range of rules by stopping his truck in the roadway and leaving it unattended to enter the restaurant. And while Palmer’s car may have collided with other vehicles, Fried noted that it was the collision with the parked tractor-trailer that was fatal.
“Part of our problem with the [tractor-trailer] parking out there is because it adds so much more risk,“ Fried said, before requesting between roughly $34-38 million in compensatory damages, plus a finding punitives were warranted. “It was the configuration of that trailer. If this had been almost anything else [the vehicle collided with]… we wouldn’t be here today.”
In a statement to CVN after the verdict, Fried wrote “I am extremely proud of the case that we tried, even though the verdict was less than we hoped to achieve. It was a very hard fought case on both liability and damages.”
Fried wrote that he believed the ultimate award was the result of the complex relationship that Couch and his mother had. “The challenge for me was to explain that, despite these facts, the relationship was a special one and warranted a substantial verdict under Virginia law. This was made particularly challenging because we could not get family members or others to testify on behalf of the Mom. I still felt that it was right to fight for the Mom and for Keon and give the jury an opportunity to look beyond the challenges,” Fried said. “I am happy with the award to the siblings.”
In a statement to CVN after the verdict, Winsky wrote “This was a truly sad case that involved the tragic loss of a young teenager. The jury was attentive throughout the trial and returned a fair verdict that was consistent with our valuation of the case.”
Winsky added that the defense took the case to trial because they believed the financial claim was excessive. “The transportation industry, and the motoring public, suffers from nuclear verdicts that are not tied to reality,” Winsky wrote. “We are proud to play a small part in combatting the overreaching that plagues our industry.”
Email Arlin Crisco at acrisco@cvn.com.
Related information
Not a subscriber?
Learn how you can access an unrivaled trial video library.