(PORTLAND, ORE. – June 3, 2019) – Tom D’Amore, Managing Partner and owner of D’Amore Law Group, is pleased to announce that on May 10, 2019, an Oregon federal jury returned a $26.4 million verdict against two transportation companies and their drivers for their prolonged bout of “road rage” with one another that caused a head-on accident with a car, killing a 30-year old woman and severely injuring her 27-year old husband. The case is Allison et al. v. Smoot Enterprises Inc. et al., case number 2:17-cv-01598, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon.
D’Amore and his associates Douglas P. Oh-Keith and Amy Bruning represented the husband Matthew Allison and the estate of his wife Sara Allison against RV-transportation company Horizon Transport Inc. driver Jonathan Hogaboom and trucking company Smoot Brothers Transportation drivers James Decou and Peter Barnes. “The significant jury verdict sends a message to the trucking industry,” said D’Amore.
The jury deliberated for nearly six hours following a nine-day trial and found that the concerted negligence of the defendants caused the fatal June 2016 crash. The jury awarded Matthew Allison $600,000 in economic damages and $7 million in noneconomic damages, and his wife’s estate $2.38 million in economic damages and $10 million in noneconomic damages. The jury also decided on $1.5 million in punitive damages against Smoot and $5 million in punitive damages against Horizon.
D’Amore added, “Professional or commercially licensed drivers are supposed to be trained to avoid and never engage in road rage, and yet the four drivers in this case traveled in a pack for over 90 miles engaging in racing, speeding, illegal passing, flipping each other off, blaring air horns, brake checking, as well as trapping passing semi-trucks in the oncoming lane by speeding up and slowing down to prevent passes. Trucking companies need to pay attention to these dangerous behaviors and implement training and policies that protect the public.”
An attorney for more than 25 years, Tom D’Amore is licensed to practice law in Oregon, Washington and California, and is a board-certified civil trial attorney with the National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA). D’Amore is also board-certified in trucking injury law by the NBTA. Actively engaged in the plaintiff’s trial bar, D’Amore is a national Board Member, Executive Committee member, and past Budget and Audit Chair of the American Association for Justice (AAJ) in Washington, D.C., Past President of the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association and an Eagle member of the Washington State Association for Justice (WSAJ). D’Amore was selected by his peers as a Top 50 lawyer in the state of Oregon by Super Lawyers.
ABOUT D’AMORE LAW GROUP
Since 1992, the D’Amore Law Group has represented thousands of injury victims and their loved ones in Oregon, Washington and California in various complex and catastrophic personal injury matters. Founder Tom D’Amore is dedicated to asserting the rights of clients who have been seriously injured by the negligence and intentional conduct of individual and corporate wrongdoers. The firm handles a wide variety of personal injury and wrongful death cases, in areas including automobile and trucking accidents, motorcycle and bicycle accidents, nursing home and medical negligence, unsafe and defective products, sexual abuse, construction accidents and job site injuries, class action suits and bad faith insurance practices. The firm has locations for meeting clients in Portland, Lake Oswego, and Bend, Oregon, as well as in Vancouver, Washington. For more information, please visit www.damorelaw.com or email help@damorelaw.com.
