Patricia Heller had just arrived in Atlanta and was on her way to her new employer when her taxi spun out of control on I-85 and smashed into a stand of trees. The 51-year-old health care consultant was killed instantly.
Shortly after the accident, her husband, Ed Heller, was stunned to learn there had been bald tires on the taxi cab that hydroplaned off the interstate that rainy morning and that the cab had passed a city inspection the day before the crash.
"I was upset that some fairly obvious things that were not in keeping with standard practice, rules and regulations were allowed to be so far out of compliance that they would cause my wife's death," Heller, a doctor from Weston, Mass., said in a recent interview. "I was outraged."
Heller filed suit over the Jan. 29, 2003, accident, contending it could have been prevented. On Monday, a Fulton County jury will get to decide whether a city of Atlanta inspector, the state Department of Transportation and the taxi cab company should be found liable. Heller's suit also accused the state DOT of not cutting down trees that were too close to the interstate and of faulty design because that section of the highway had been the site of numerous accidents.
Heller's lawyer, Jim Potts, said his client wants to make sure that no one else has to suffer the way he and his family have suffered.
"This case is important because thousands of people every week come to Atlanta and put their lives in the hands of taxi cab companies and their drivers," Potts said. "These taxis have a sticker on them assuring they’ve been inspected for safety. They leave our airport and pass by the exact location where Patricia Heller was killed."
Heller is seeking his wife's lost wages and damages for her pain and suffering. Just days before the crash, Patricia Heller had just been hired by BearingPoint at a salary of $500,000 and had flown into Atlanta to discuss plans to open an office in Boston.
Ed Heller said he knew something was wrong when the company called and asked if he knew where his normally punctual wife was. A short while later, Heller learned he had abruptly become a single parent to a 23-year-old daughter and a 13-year-old son.
The lawsuit initially included the city of Atlanta, accusing it of running a shoddy inspection program. But claims against the city were dismissed.
Greg Shepard, the inspector who approved the cab the day before the accident, no longer works for the city, his lawyer, Joshua Millican, said.
According to court records, Shepard wrote "pass" on the inspection form but did not check "yes" or "no" on any of the boxes, including the one marked "tires," to indicate whether they were in proper condition.
"Mr. Shepard inspected the taxi cab at issue the way he was trained to do so by the city of Atlanta," Millican said. "It was an unfortunate, horrible accident, but it's our position his inspection had nothing to do with the accident."
The suit also accuses United Express Cab Co. of failing to inspect its own taxi cab, as required by city ordinance, before presenting it to the city for inspection. A United Express employee referred inquiries about the case to the company's lawyer, David Groff, who did not return phone calls or an e-mail seeking comment.
In August 2005, the United Express cab driver, Abdallah Adem, pleaded guilty to second-degree vehicular homicide as a result of the fatal accident. He admitted to driving too fast for conditions and having unsafe tires. Adem, who is now deceased, was sentenced to probation and ordered to complete a defensive driving course.
The case has taken years to get to trial because the state DOT has vigorously sought to get the case against it dismissed. But it lost a series of rulings by the state Court of Appeals and Supreme Court.
Three weeks ago, however, State Court Judge Susan Edlein, found that because the fatal accident happened within the Hapeville city limits, the DOT had no duty to maintain the area where the crash occurred and cannot be held liable for failing to do so. The only remaining claim against DOT is that the agency was negligent in its design of the highway where the accident occurred.
At trial, the DOT "will vigorously argue that there was no negligence in the design of the roadway,” Russ Willard, a state attorney general's office spokesman, said.
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