$32.5 Million Settlement for Widow and Four Daughters of Army Veteran Killed When His Car Wedged Under a Tyson Foods Trailer

Shortly after 5 a.m. on December 7, 2021, Christopher Crump was driving north on State Route 300 in Mitchell County, Georgia, heading to work. A tractor-trailer contractor hauling a fully loaded Tyson Foods trailer pulled out of the company's processing plant directly into his path. Crump's car slid underneath the trailer. He was 32 years old, a U.S. Army veteran, and the father of four daughters.

The liability case centered on two overlapping failures. The retroreflective tape running along the side of the Tyson trailer was damaged, worn, and peeling, placing it in violation of Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. Combined with the pre-dawn conditions, the trailer was effectively invisible to oncoming traffic. The tractor itself had not received its required annual inspection for nearly two years. And the driver operating the rig did not hold a commercial driver's license. According to court records, the owner of the contracting company, G.R.E.L. Trucking LLC, admitted that no background check had been run on the driver before he was put behind the wheel.

Defendants named in the suit included Tyson Foods Inc., Tyson Farms Inc., G.R.E.L. Trucking LLC, the driver, and two insurance companies. Despite the settlement, the defendants denied wrongdoing.

Ronnie Mabra of Mabra Law, working alongside Brandon Peak and Chris McDaniel of Peak Wooten McDaniel and Colwell LLP, represented Shakayla Crump and her four daughters. The case settled before trial following court-ordered mediation. The settlement, approved January 9, 2024, totaled $32.5 million and was reported as Georgia's largest pre-trial wrongful death settlement for a single plaintiff at the time.