Missouri Man Hurt When Big Rig Backs Up on I-35 Awarded $2M in Lawsuit

Jurors have awarded more than $2 million to a Missouri man who was injured when a driver threw a tractor-trailer in reverse on Interstate 35 in Kansas.

The Kansas City Star reports that Michael Whitt, of the Kansas City suburb of Riverside, Missouri, was headed to his office in nearby Lenexa, Kansas, during a July 2015 thunderstorm when he saw the rig’s taillights. Whitt was hit despite stopping. He said his injuries forced him to close his clinical social work business.

Newly released court documents show that jurors found last month that truck driver, David Caton, of Boonville, Indiana, and the company he worked for, G.D.S. Express Inc. of Chicago, were at fault. They argued that the storm severely affected visibility, causing drivers to slow and stop on the highway.