Marietta personal injury attorneys Darl H. Champion Jr. and Eric B. Funt of The Champion Firm represented the families of Judith Vincent and Ronnie White after the pair died in a head-on collision along Interstate 16 near Savannah in June 2016.

But what began as a settlement pursuit with at-fault driver Aundrey Douglas' liability insurer soon morphed into a broader complaint assessing additional liability against Douglas' employer, Coastal Moving & Storage Inc.

Champion said he came across a news article that included statements from Dot Mobley, the mother of a passenger in Douglas' vehicle. Before he died in the collision, Mobley reported her son, Devon, and two co-workers had "driven through the night" to return home to Georgia after completing a moving job in Virginia, per plaintiff counsel.

"She stated that her son had called and stated that his co-worker was drowsy and was about to have an accident," Champion said.

Champion said plaintiff counsel leveraged that intel to assert a vicarious liability claim against Coastal as the at-fault driver's employer.

In the plaintiff complaint, counsel alleged Douglas had been "drowsy because he had worked excessive hours, driven excessive hours, and been on duty for an excessive amount of time, all in violation of the applicable Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations."

Plaintiff counsel contended that when "Douglas drove across the median and crashed head on into the vehicle carrying Judith Vincent and Ronnie White," he'd been "driving in the course and scope of his employment" for his employer, Coastal.

"As a result, defendant is vicariously liable for the negligent acts and omissions of its employee under the doctrine of respondeat superior," the complaint alleged.

Read the full complaint

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The Strategy

Brunswick attorneys Garret W. Meader and Ann H. Searcy of Drew Eckl & Farnham represented Coastal but did not respond to a Daily Report request for comment.

After conducting multiple depositions and expert discovery, plaintiff counsel said Coastal filed a motion for summary judgment last July, arguing it lacked liability for the fatal collision since Douglas had been off duty and driving his personal vehicle.

But Champion said plaintiff counsel countered that because Douglas had been required to find and pay his own labor as a Coastal employee, he'd been on duty transporting his labor home as part of his job responsibilities.

"We also argued that Coastal was liable for its driver's on-duty negligence in being on duty for 23 hours straight. Based on the hours-of-service regulations, the Coastal driver was not permitted to drive past 8:30 p.m. the night prior to the wreck," Champion said. "The wreck that occurred the following morning, just minutes after getting in his personal vehicle, was the foreseeable consequence of that on-duty negligence in driving over his hours of service."

In addition to alleging the on-duty hours of service violations proximately caused the off-duty wreck, plaintiff counsel contended Coastal bore liability for "negligently hiring, training and supervising its driver."

While conducting discovery, Champion said he uncovered multiple violations of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety regulations in the months leading up to the wreck. By using pay records and GPS logs, plaintiff counsel said they revealed Douglas had often "fabricated his logbooks [and] worked beyond the hours of service permitted under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations."

"[He] would arrive back in Georgia well past midnight," Champion said. "In just the six months prior to the wreck, there were at least 26 examples of the driver violating federal regulations on hours of service."

'Drew Eckl Did a Great Job'

Before Chatham County State Court Judge Derek White had an opportunity to rule on the defendant's motion for summary judgment, plaintiff counsel said Coastal's insurer agreed to pay the full policy limits of $1 million per person to the families of both The Champion Firm's clients. The defendant's insurer also offered the same settlement to Mobley, who'd been represented by Doug Dumont of Ausband & Dumont in Stockbridge.

Douglas C. Dumont of Ausband & Dumont. (Photo: John Disney/ALM)

"So many families, especially in rural Georgia, are kind of taken advantage of by the system. These people were working for a moving company, getting 1099 [employment] and getting paid almost nothing for physical labor," Dumont said. "It's nice to see at least a little bit of recovery for them and for their families when something tragic like this happens."

Dumont applauded defense counsel for their litigation of the matter, but said their decision to settle had been sage.

"Drew Eckl did a great job defending the case, and were very wise to not take their chances on making bad law and potentially having a multimillion-dollar judgment if this case got past summary judgment," Dumont said.

'Sometimes, It Pays Off'

The trio of litigators attributed the cumulative $3 million settlement to their commitment to showing Coastal's negligent supervision of its employee contributed to the deadly collision. They credited Mobley's intel obtained from her conversation with her son prior to his death for corroborating their vicarious liability claim against the defendant.

"This took us years to put together. We did research in all 50 states to try to come up with a cause of action, or theory of recovery, in this case," Dumont said. "If you're patient and you work hard, sometimes, it pays off."

Champion agreed.

"This result all started with a news article that then led to extensive legal research, thorough discovery and novel legal arguments. As a result, we were able to convert a routine policy limits settlement of $25,000 per person into a million-dollar settlement for each client," he said. "This case demonstrates the importance of ensuring a thorough investigation is done, especially when there are serious injuries or a fatality is involved."