GNS In The News

Lawsuit Settled In Boy's Death Driver, Trucking Firm To Pay $1 Million

MICHELLE R. DAVIS, Staff Writer

A lawsuit over a van and truck accident that killed a 6-year-old Heathwood Hall Episcopal School student has been settled for what one attorney on Tuesday called "the largest known settlement in the history of the state in the death of a child."

Trucking company Milner Super Gas Inc. of Aiken and truck driver Stephen Mark Jones will pay $1 million to the parents of Jacob Strebler. The boy was killed when Jones ran a red light in July 1994 at Beltline Boulevard and Bluff Road and drove his tanker truck into a Heathwood Hall van carrying nine children.

Heathwood Hall and Pulliam Ford Co., which sold the van to the school, have paid an undisclosed amount to settle the $22 million lawsuit the Streblers filed in December 1994.

Federal law requires that only yellow school buses be used to transport students.

Attorney Richard Gergel, representing Jacob's parents, Michael and Lisa Strebler, said his clients want to deter other schools from using vans to transport children and dealers from selling them to schools.

"If they can't bring Jacob back, maybe they can save another child," Gergel said.

As part of the settlement, Heathwood pledged not to use vans to transport children. Pulliam Ford pledged not to sell vans to schools unless they have a signed statement saying they will not be used to transport students.

Although the details of many settlements of lawsuits are not made public, Gergel thinks this one is larger than any other in the state regarding a child's death.

University of South Carolina Distinguished Professor of Law David Owen, an expert in tort law and punitive damages, called it a "very substantial recovery."

In this case, there was the potential for high punitive damages to be awarded against the trucking company and driver, Owen said. The driver ran a red light and had eight speeding tickets between 1984 and 1988.

"The trucking company might have had a punitive damages judgment of several million dollars levied against it," Owen said, "especially because of the sympathy value of a small child."

Gergel said the Streblers will take out advertisements in national publications warning people of the risks that come with using vans to transport children.

In depositions, Pulliam Ford president Bob Pulliam told attorneys he discovered the law against selling a van to a school to transport children after the sale of the $20,000 vehicle. He contacted Heathwood officials several times to tell them of the problem, including one day before the accident that killed Jacob Strebler.

Heathwood officials had opted to buy vans from Pulliam Ford instead of yellow school buses that cost about $30,000 each.

Michelle Davis covers the state judicial system. She can be reached at 771-8484.

Reprinted from The State newspaper
June 25, 1997