$5 Million Judgment After HVAC Company's Driver With Seven Prior DUIs Killed Cheryl Miller

On December 13, 2017, Cheryl Miller of Dietrich, Idaho, was driving north on U.S. Highway 93 in Jerome County, returning home from Christmas shopping for her grandchildren. At around 7 p.m., a company truck operated by Larry Halbert, an employee of BSR Ventures doing business as Advanced Heating and Cooling, crossed the highway's center line and struck Miller's vehicle head-on. Miller died at the scene.

Halbert's blood alcohol content that evening exceeded .25, more than three times the legal limit. He subsequently pleaded guilty to felony vehicular manslaughter and felony driving under the influence. What the criminal case did not address was how Halbert came to be behind the wheel of a company vehicle in the first place.

John Kluksdal and Kurt Holzer of Hepworth Holzer, LLP represented Miller's four adult daughters. The complaint alleged that Advanced Heating and Cooling's leadership was aware of Halbert's history before the crash. He had accumulated seven prior DUI convictions, two of them felonies, before being hired and entrusted with a company truck. The family's legal team argued the company negligently entrusted Halbert with a vehicle it knew he would operate while impaired, placing the public at risk.

Facing those facts, BSR Ventures, Advanced Heating and Cooling, and Halbert reached an agreement on December 30, 2019. Fourth District Court Judge Lynn Norton entered the judgment on January 3, 2020, awarding the Miller daughters $5 million under Idaho Code section 12-301.

No reduction or remittitur of the judgment has been reported.