A Humboldt County jury yesterday awarded $56.5 million to a 26-year-old Shasta County man who was struck by a vehicle while working at a Caltrans construction project on Eureka’s Broadway Street in August 2011.

The man – Kyle Anderson – had brought suit against Caltrans for “creating a dangerous condition” that led to the collision, which left him quadriplegic and unable to communicate. According to Redding attorney Russell Reiner, who represented the plaintiff, Anderson’s parents have taken care of their son since the incident that all but cost him his life.

In an interview with the Outpost this morning, Reiner praised the jury for their service during the two-and-a-half month trial. He also praised jurors for their verdict, which resulted in what is believed to be the largest award ever given to a single plaintiff in Humboldt County history.

“The family only had one chance to come before their peers,” Reiner said. “Justice was served in this case.”

The ditch in the right-hand shoulder of Broadway where Anderson was working as he was struck, taken shortly after the incident. Photo provided by Reiner, Slaughter and McCartney.

In the early morning hours of Aug. 30, 2011, Anderson’s employer — All Phase Excavating, also out of Shasta County — had been scheduled to do some digging in the right-hand shoulder of southbound Broadway, right in front of Mr. Fish. The company had placed a request to close the right-hand lane to traffic so that the work could be completed safely.

Just before work was to begin, a Caltrans engineer canceled the lane closure request. With no lane closure to separate the shoulder, where they were working, from through traffic, All Phase employees parked a backhoe in the shoulder, in front of the trench in the shoulder they were working in – a safety measure, Reiner told the Outpost today, that they were legally allowed to take.

But according to evidence presented at trial, a different Caltrans engineer stopped by the site as work was underway – in the dead of night, during the new moon – and ordered the backhoe moved, leaving only safety cones marking the boundary between the roadway and the construction site. This engineer also ordered the construction lights turned so that they faced more toward oncoming traffic.

A few minutes later, Anderson was working in the trench, reconnecting some conduit pipe. A passing driver – distracted by the lights, according to testimony presented at trial – drove directly through the trench and over Anderson, dragging him some 60 feet before coming to a stop, according to Reiner.

Had the right-hand lane been shut down as planned, the plaintiffs argued, the accident would not have happened. Had the backhoe been left in place, experts testified, it would have stopped the oncoming car before it ran into and over Anderson.

Recreation of the scene as it was before the backhoe was ordered moved. Photo provided by Reiner, Slaughter and McCartney.

After two and a half months of trial in the courtroom of Judge Dale Reinholtsen, the jury found Caltrans 100 percent responsible for the harm caused to Anderson, exonerating both the driver of the car and All Phase Excavating. Jurors awarded Anderson nearly $20 million for medical expenses, around $1.6 million to compensate for lost earnings and $35 million for “non-economic loss,” including paralysis, difficulty communicating and other factors contributing to the “loss of quality and enjoyment [of] life.” (See the jury’s full verdict questionnaire here.)

Reiner said that he hoped that the jury’s large award would occasion some soul-searching at Caltrans, hopefully resulting in a greater assurance of safety for road construction workers and others. In a written statement handed to the Outpost, he deplored the agency’s response to the incident.

“Following this tragic event, Caltrans closed their file within seven hours, never held safety meetings for lessons learned, and no one from Caltrans was reprimanded for their actions,” Reiner wrote.

The jury also awarded some $2.7 million to another All Phase employee who had suffered trauma after witnessing the accident.

Caltrans District One has provided the Outpost with the following statement on the case:

On the night of August 30, 2011, an errant driver entered a Caltrans work zone and struck a construction worker, seriously injuring him. The event changed the lives of many people, including the Caltrans employees who dealt with the immediate aftermath of this event. We are disappointed by the recent jury decision to assign 100 percent liability to Caltrans for this unfortunate event, and we are reviewing all of our options going forward.

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