$11 Million Settlement After Highway Mowing Crew Stopped Traffic and a Log Truck Rolled Over a Traveling Couple

On the morning of April 22, 2019, Herman and Beverly Jones were traveling on Georgia Highway 4 in Charlton County on their way back from a family trip to Disney World. A crew working for Lovin Contracting had been hired by the Georgia Department of Transportation to mow the shoulders and median of the four-lane road. Rather than keeping the operation moving, the crew brought both lanes of traffic to a complete stop.

With the road suddenly blocked, the Joneses and other drivers were forced to halt. A tractor-trailer hauling a loaded log truck came up behind the stopped vehicles and could not stop in time. The driver lost control, the truck jackknifed, and the rig rolled over on top of the Joneses' vehicle. Herman Jones died at the scene. Beverly Jones survived with severe injuries.

Fried Goldberg attorneys Joseph Fried, Briant Mildenhall, and Nathan Gaffney took the case. An early investigation uncovered a critical contract provision: Lovin Contracting's agreement with GDOT explicitly required mowing crews to keep moving and prohibited stopping traffic. The crew had violated that requirement, and the attorneys argued that violation was the direct cause of the fatal pileup.

The firm first negotiated a settlement with the log truck's carrier for an undisclosed amount. The investigation then turned to Lovin Contracting itself. Armed with the GDOT contract language and evidence of how the crew operated that morning, the attorneys sent Lovin's insurer a demand for the contractor's full policy limits of $11 million. The insurer agreed to pay.

The $11 million settlement from Lovin Contracting was reported by the Daily Report in March 2022 as representing the contractor's policy limits, and no reduction on appeal has been reported in connection with the settlement.