Congratulations to Tim O’Connor of Schneider & Onofry, P.C. whose case was featured in “Arizona Civil Verdicts 2010” in the June 2011 Issue of Arizona Attorney. The claimed damages were high, but he defended successfully.
Mary Cameron v. John Christner Trucking, Kathryn Westbrook, Royal Express, Inc. and Paul Horta, Jr. Maricopa County Superior Court, CV2006-011915
This case arose from a multi-vehicle crash in a dust storm. Kathryn Westbrook was driving a tractor-trailer for John Christner Trucking on interstate 10 on Aug. 11, 2004. A dust storm came through, and she stopped her truck in the road without its lights on. Martin Cameron was driving behind the truck with his wife Mary Cameron as a passenger. The Cameron car rear-ended the tractor-trailer. Mary Cameron was getting out of the car when it was sideswiped by another tractor-trailer and then rear-ended by Paul Horta, Jr., who was driving a tractor-trailer for Royal Express. The Cameron car then caught on fire. Martin Cameron was killed by the collision and fire, and Mary Cameron fractured her ankle and foot and had degloving injuries to her leg. The Camerons claimed that Westbrook and Horta were negligent for their part in the crash. They asked the jury for more than S6 million. Westbrook, Horta and their companies argued that all of the drivers had reduced visibility due to the dust storm and that they acted reasonably. Arizonans must be sympathetic to dust storm havoc, because we also noted a significant defense verdict in 2006 that arose from similar facts.