The widow and four daughters of a U.S. Army veteran killed in a truck crash outside the Tyson Foods processing plant in Mitchell County have been paid $32.5 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit against the meat supplier and others.
Christopher Crump, 32, died after his car became wedged under a fully loaded Tyson trailer while he was driving to work on State Route 300 shortly after 5 a.m. on Dec. 7, 2021. The truck driver hauling the trailer pulled out of the Tyson processing plant and in front of Crump, who was driving north, case records show.
The lights on the Tyson-owned trailer were not working properly and most of the reflective tape along the trailer’s sides had worn off, Crump’s widow, Shakayla Crump, alleged in a 2022 lawsuit. She also claimed that the truck driver, employed by Georgia company G.R.E.L. Trucking LLC, did not have a commercial driver’s license.
“It really was a perfect storm,” Brandon L. Peak, the lead attorney for Shakayla Crump, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “You had a driver who should never have been behind the wheel to begin with, and he was driving a tractor that was in out-of-service condition, pulling a trailer that should never have been on the roadway.”
Dawson-based G.R.E.L. was a defendant in the case alongside Tyson Foods Inc., Tyson Farms Inc., a Tyson subsidiary, two insurance companies and the truck driver. A representative of the trucking company declined to comment on Monday. Tyson did not immediately respond to questions about the case.
In her complaint, Shakayla Crump said the Tyson trailer was cited for multiple violations of state and federal motor carrier safety regulations and declared by the Georgia Department of Public Safety to be in out-of-service condition. She also alleged that Tyson hadn’t installed any lighting where tractor-trailers pulled in and out of its Mitchell County plant.
The settlement was recently paid to the Georgia-based Crump family by insurers though the defendants denied any wrongdoing or liability in the case, Peak said Monday. He said the $32.5 million payout includes litigation costs and attorney fees based on a contingency fee agreement of less than 40%.
A Gwinnett County judge ordered the parties into mediation in October. She approved the settlement agreement on Jan. 9.
Peak said the settlement is believed to be the largest of its kind reached before trial in a single-victim wrongful death case in Georgia. He said he hopes it will encourage trucking companies and affiliates to ensure that their drivers are qualified and their vehicles are safe.
The owner of G.R.E.L. admitted during his deposition in the case that no background check was done on the driver involved in the crash that killed Christopher Crump, Peak said. He said the trucking company owner also acknowledged that had a background check been done, the driver would not have been hired.
“A lot of these smaller carriers are taking chances hiring drivers who have questionable records in terms of driving safety,” Peak said. “The reason this case ended up like it did is the conduct was just so bad.”
At the time of the crash, the G.R.E.L. tractor had not undergone a required annual inspection in almost two years, Shakayla Crump’s attorneys said in a Feb. 5 press release. They said the coiled hose supplying power to the trailer was defective, and that Christopher Crump was unable to see or avoid the tractor-trailer when it pulled out in front of him.
“The defendants have now implemented processes to ensure the equipment they use is safe and does not expose other motorists to unnecessary hazards,” Shakayla Crump’s attorneys said in the press release.
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