By: The Associated Press
Times-Picayune, March 30th, 2003
BATON ROUGE- A jury has awarded $15.5 million in damages to a man who suffered brain damage and other injuries when an 18 wheeler rear-ended his pickup truck.
The jury awarded another $1 million to Shane Collins' parents, Sam and Barbara Collins, for loss of consortium with their son after the Jan. 4, 2000, accident.
The $15.5 million award, issued late Thursday, covers Collins' future medical expenses and care, loss of enjoyment of life, physical disabilities, lost wages and earning capacity, pain and suffering and other damages.
A hearing will be held to determine how much each of the defendant's - Mike's Trucking Co. of Grosse Tete, Star Insurance Co., Nutmeg Insurance Co. and Twin City Fire Insurance Co. - will pay, an attorney for the plaintiffs said.
"This is a horribly tragic case," said Locke Meredith, one of the attorneys for the Collins family, which sued in state District Court in Baton Rouge. "These were devastating injuries. His life as an adult was terminated. He is like a child that will never grow up."
Collins now has the mental capacity of an 8-year-old, Meredith said. He also suffered paralysis of the right side of his body and injuries to his spine, eyes, shoulder and mouth, the plaintiffs said.
