$35 Million Verdict Against City of Milton After Yale Student Dies Striking Planter on Road Shoulder

On the evening of November 19, 2016, Joshua Chang was driving along Batesville Road in Milton, Georgia, heading home for Thanksgiving break from Yale University. His car left the paved surface, possibly while swerving to avoid a deer, and struck a large decorative concrete planter sitting on the road shoulder. The impact caused the vehicle to flip. Chang, 21, died from blunt-force trauma. Police found no evidence of speeding, reckless driving, or cellphone use.

The planter had been placed on the shoulder as a decorative feature near a private event venue, Little River Farms. It had sat there for years, predating the City of Milton's incorporation. During road repair work in 2012, city workers had been in the area without removing it. The Chang family's legal team at Harris Lowry Manton, led by Jeffrey Harris and Jed Manton, argued that Milton had violated its own ordinances by allowing a dangerous object to remain on the public right-of-way and that the city had constructive notice of the hazard.

The case reached a Fulton County jury in June 2023, nearly seven years after the crash. Jurors heard testimony about the ordinances the city had breached, the visibility of the planter to city crews, and the devastating loss suffered by Chang's parents. The jury found the City of Milton 93% at fault and assigned 7% comparative fault to Chang, producing a net verdict of $32.5 million. The gross award was $35 million.

The city appealed. On September 16, 2024, the Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed the verdict in City of Milton v. Chang, 373 Ga. App. 667, 906 S.E.2d 784. The appellate court held that the city had a ministerial duty to maintain safe road conditions that extended to the shoulder area where the planter sat, and that the insurance-based and ministerial-duty waivers of sovereign immunity are separate doctrines.

The city then sought review from the Georgia Supreme Court. On March 12, 2026, the Supreme Court vacated the Court of Appeals decision and remanded the case for further proceedings. The high court held that the ministerial duty to keep streets safe under OCGA Section 36-33-1(b) applies only to areas of a road intended for ordinary travel, not to the shoulder or right-of-way more than six feet from the paved surface. The case was sent back to the Court of Appeals to be reconsidered under that standard. The final outcome for the Chang family remains pending.