The daughter of a homeless woman who was killed in the early morning hours of August 26, 2019, when a Sanipac garbage truck backed over her while she slept in a
Eugene alleyway, won a $360,000 verdict in Lane County Circuit Court Friday afternoon, Sept. 15, from the corporation that owns Sanipac.
Annette Montero, 57, passed away quickly when the back wheels of the truck squashed her head as she lay sleeping in a brilliant red sleeping bag beside a garbage container near 12th Avenue and Oak Street.
Lorraine Baldi, Montero's daughter, submitted the wrongful death suit as the personal agent of her mom's estate on March 2, 2022. The case went to trial on Sept. 6.
Kevin Yolken, an attorney who represented the daughter in court, says the jury's decision established that Waste Connections U.S., a Texas corporation that is the third biggest garbage hauler in North America, bore most of the obligation for Montero's death. "Their motorist was negligent in stopping working to keep a lookout," he says, adding that Montero was "plainly noticeable" for 7 seconds in the truck's back-up electronic camera prior to she was run over.
The jury decided that Montero, who had actually suffered for several years from mental disorder, bore 28 percent of the obligation for her own death, hence minimizing the initial $500,000 award to $360,000, Yolken states.
The attorney includes that Waste Connections might have decreased the award had it acknowledged liability from the beginning. "Just acknowledging they were at fault would have gone a long method," he states.
Yolken said there was no sign of malice or ill will on the motorist's part. "The liability is really on the company," he says.
Editor's note: The late Art Johnson, one of the owners of
Eugene Weekly, and his kid Derek Johnson are principals in Johnson Lucas & & Middleton, where Kevin Yolken is an associate.
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