$3 Million Verdict Against DOT

Attorneys Ralph Scoccimaro and former nemesis, Jessie Bowles Ill, have won a $3 million judgement against the Georgia Department of Transportation (DOT).
Scoccimaro and Bowles represented the family of Emory C. Hill, deceased, and his wife, Linda, in a wrongful death and catastrophic injury case.
A jury awarded Linda Hill and surviving family members $3,023,000 in damages after a trial that lasted seven days.
The lawsuit claimed the DOT was negligent due to faulty design of the intersection and therefore partly liable for the Hills’ injuries.
According to the lawsuit, there have been 6 accidents with serious injuries and six deaths since the intersection of Georgia Highway 50 (U.S. 82) and Georgia Highway 1 (U.S. 27) was constructed in 1995.
Shortly after filing the lawsuit against the DOT, significant construction changes were made at the intersection in question, including lowering embankments which prevented drivers from seeing oncoming vehicles.
Emory Hill and his wife, Linda, were traveling westbound on U.S. 82 from Albany to Randolph County when their pickup truck was struck by a tractor-trailer being driven by Sinatra Bernium.
Emory Hill was airlifted to Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany from the site of the accident, but died four hours later. Linda Hill suffered extensive injuries as a result of the crash, including irreversible brain damage.
Linda Hill’s medical expenses for multiple surgeries have totaled nearly one half million dollars so far, Due to her incapacitated medical condition, expenses for Mrs. Hill’s care will continue to mount for the remainder of her life.
The $3 million award will be reduced to $1 million for each case due to Georgia’s Tort Claim Act for a total of $2 million.