Florida Mining settles highway fatality claim

Alex Finkelstein

Florida Mining and Materials Corp. has settled a highway fatality claim with an Orlando family for $2.3 million after a Hillsborough County jury recommended a $2.39 million award in the May 10, 1995, death of Peggy J. Johnson.

The jury originally awarded $1.35 million to Michael Johnson, 41, the 40-year-old victim's husband; $519,000 to the victim's son, Timothy Johnson, 21; and $524,000 to Stacy Johnson, 17, the victim's daughter.

The June 12, 1995, lawsuit alleges Alvin Gerome Harley, 40, of Monticello "negligently operated or maintained" a six-axle, 1994 Peterbilt cement mixer truck that struck a 1993 Ford Temp GL four-door sedan head on during a mid-afternoon rain on State Road 261 in Tallahassee.

Harley is a truck driver for Houston-based Florida Mining, which also has an Orlando office. Harley suffered minor injuries and was charged by the Florida Highway Patrol with careless driving in the accident.

Benjamin Jay Carpenter, 29, of Plant City was driving Peggy Johnson to the Tallahassee Municipal Airport where she had booked a flight to her Orlando home. Carpenter also was killed.

Johnson, a May University of Central Florida accounting graduate, had received her CPA certification a week before her death. She was returning to Orlando after spending a one-week training period with the Florida Division of Motor Vehicles, where she had been newly hired as an auditor. Carpenter also worked at the Division of Motor Vehicles. The car was owned by the state.

In answering the suit, Louisiana-based Southdown Inc., the parent of Florida Mining, argued the damages should be reduced because Johnson "failed to wear an available and fully operational safety belt."

But a 28-page investigative report by FHP Cpl. Leslie C. Herold found both victims were wearing a safety harness at the time of the crash; neither of the vehicles were mechanically defective; and neither the truck driver nor the victims had alcohol in their blood systems.

Russell Troutman Sr. of Troutman, Williams, Irvin, Green & Helms of Orlando represented the Johnson family (Hillsborough Circuit Court Case No. 95-3871-P).

From:
Orlando Business Journal
June 13-19. 1997

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