Michael Ruppersburg secured a $1,400,000 settlement with the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) and another driver over an accident that caused the death of Casey Cole, a mother of five. The accident was caused by GDOT’s failure to repair a dangerous low shoulder that caused the fatal crash.
The Accident
Casey Cole was driving on Route 138 near Conyers, Georgia. A driver going the opposite direction drifted off onto the shoulder of the road and hit a low shoulder that was at least five inches deep. A picture of the low shoulder taken by GDOT shortly after the wreck is below:
The driver tried to get back onto the road but the low shoulder made her overcorrect. She crossed over into oncoming traffic and hit Mrs. Cole’s car. Mrs. Cole died instantly in the wreck.
She was only 39 years old and a mother of five and was on her way to work as a nurse when the crash happened.
The Investigation
During our investigation and the lawsuit, we proved that:
- Edge of pavement drop-offs (EOPD) are hazardous road conditions: The typical driver who encounters one of these steep drop-offs is incapable of safely returning to the road. This usually causes over-correcting and crossing into oncoming traffic. Sadly, this is exactly what occurred in this case.
- GDOT rules consider any EOPD more than two inches to be unsafe: Here, the EOPD was at least seven to nine inches. Several GDOT employees confirmed in testimony that the drop-off that caused this accident was unsafe.
- GDOT has a policy to repair EOPD “as soon as possible after discovery”: GDOT employees had worked on this stretch of highway at least 12 times in the four months before the accident, and a maintenance foreman was responsible for identifying road defects like this one. Yet the dangerous drop-off was never repaired.
- An assistant district maintenance manager also should have discovered the defect: GDOT should have assigned a maintenance manager to inspect this highway regularly. But the position was vacant when the accident happened and it is likely these inspections were never performed.
We also discovered a Facebook comment made by a witness on a news story about the wreck.
The witness wrote that she reported the low shoulder to GDOT the day before the wreck. We contacted the witness and she still had the email where she reported it to GDOT. She and her husband both said that the low shoulder had been in that dangerous condition for at least several months. 
The Law
When a negligent party causes injury or death to someone else, the victim or the victim’s family can file a lawsuit to recover compensation for losses stemming from the injury or death. This applies even when the at-fault party is a governmental entity such as GDOT. However, different rules apply when suing the government for personal injury or wrongful death.
In general, people cannot bring claims or lawsuits against the government because of a legal doctrine called sovereign immunity. However, Georgia has a law called the State Tort Claims Act that allows victims to sue the state in certain cases like this one. The State Torts Claims Act includes multiple requirements that must be met or the case will be dismissed. For instance, you must give the state notice of your claim within 12 months of the accident or you cannot file a lawsuit. The law calls this an ante litem notice and it must include specific information about where and when the accident happened, how the state was negligent, information about the injured person’s injuries and financial losses, and how much the person is asking for in settlement.
How We Helped the Victim’s Family
We filed a lawsuit against GDOT and the other driver. We took multiple depositions of GDOT employees and the other driver. We secured affidavits from the witness who reported the low shoulder and her husband, both of whom were prepared to testify if necessary.
We secured a $1,000,000 settlement with GDOT for Mrs. C’s life, which was the maximum amount allowed under the State Tort Claims Act. We also secured a $300,000 settlement for her fright and shock in the seconds leading up to the wreck, which the law calls “pre-impact shock and fright.” We also secured $100,000 from the other driver’s insurance, which was the maximum amount available under the policy, bringing the total amount of the settlement to $1,400,000.
Our firm is pleased to have assisted Mrs. C. family. Her family hopes this case will be a wake-up call to GDOT and other agencies to take better care in maintaining the state’s roads and highways so accidents like this do not happen again.