FRESNO, CA – Here’s a reason to make sure your loads are secure.

A California court awarded $11.5 million to a woman who was injured by a piece of iron that flew off a flatbed in Sept., 2010.
The truck was operating for Selma-CA., -based Lion Raisins and was on highway 99.

The flatbed was carrying empty wooden bins held in place by cables. At one point, the load shifted and one of the iron corners from one of the bins flew off the trailer and into the windshield of a 2009 Acura, driven by Susan Reyes, who at the time was a 41-year-old teacher.

According to local media reports, her attorney said the verdict is one of the largest he can recall in 40 years of legal work.
Court heard that Reyes has no memory of the event and has lost her driver’s license and has been unable to continue her job as a special-assignment teacher.

The award was divided into money for past and future medical expenses, past and future earnings losses, and pain and suffering. The jury also awarded $350,000 to her husband, for damages.

In other recent big-money settlements, another Fresno woman was awarded $10.5 million in 2008 for brain injuries suffered after her car crashed with a dump truck whose driver later proved to be impaired.

And in 2010, two motorists who were seriously injured in a 2008 rear-end collision were awarded more than $9 million in damages.