A Colorado jury has awarded $65 million to a 14-year-old boy whose mother was killed in a tragic bridge accident four years ago, making it a record-setting wrongful death verdict in the state’s trucking crash cases.
Megan Arneson, a preschool teacher and single mother, died on August 8, 2022, after a chunk of concrete crashed through her windshield and struck her head.
Her son, then 10, was sitting in the back of the car. They had been returning home after Arneson took the day off to surprise him with a trip to Water World in Denver.
As Arneson drove beneath the bridge, a semi-truck operated by Darnell Yingling of Import Towing & Recovery was traveling ahead while hauling an excavator.
The excavator’s raised arm hit the bridge, knocking loose the concrete fragment that struck Arneson and sending her vehicle veering off the roadway.
Arneson died inside the car. Her son sustained minor injuries and tried to get emergency assistance, according to attorneys representing the family.
The family later sued Yingling and Import Towing & Recovery, accusing the driver and company of negligence and reckless conduct. Kari Jones Dulin and Travis Young of Dulin McQuinn Young, LLP, represented them in the case.
In a news release issued Tuesday, the law firm said the jury awarded Arneson’s son $65 million in wrongful death damages. The firm described it as the largest jury verdict ever awarded in a Colorado trucking crash case.
Preschool teacher and single mother Megan Arneson died in 2022 after a section of bridge concrete fell through her windshield.
Arneson was killed while her 10-year-old son was riding in the backseat. An excavator arm being transported by a semi-truck had struck and damaged the bridge.
Arneson was killed while her 10-year-old son was riding in the backseat. The bridge was hit by an excavator arm being hauled by a semi-truck.
Attorney Dulin told Our News Outlet by phone that the legal team was “incredibly grateful” to the Larimer County jurors who carefully reviewed the evidence and took the time to hear the family’s account.
She said the family felt blessed that the jury had listened to them, adding that they hoped the verdict would encourage changes capable of preventing future injuries and deaths on Colorado roads.
Above all, Dulin said, the family believed the decision delivered justice for Megan and her son.
The jury reached its unanimous decision after a five-day trial, according to the statement from Dulin McQuinn Young.
Dulin said the jury assigned 52 percent of responsibility for the wrongful death damages to Yingling and 46 percent to his employer.
Under that division, Yingling is expected to cover $33.8 million of the award, while Import Towing & Recovery is expected to pay $29.9 million.
Colorado law generally limits non-economic damages in wrongful death lawsuits to roughly $2 million. However, Arneson’s attorneys obtained a judicial finding that the defendants’ actions were so serious they amounted to “felonious killing.”
That finding removed the usual damages cap, allowing the jury’s unprecedented $65 million award to stand.
Jurors assigned 52 percent of the responsibility to the driver and 46 percent to his employer. The excavator involved in the bridge collision is shown after the crash.
According to the law firm, Colorado State Patrol investigated the accident after the crash and confirmed that the excavator had been improperly loaded onto the trailer, which caused its arm to exceed the maximum clearance height of the bridge.
Yingling had just obtained his unrestricted Commercial Driver’s License that allowed him to tow the excavator four days earlier, the law firm stated.
He pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide-reckless driving in November 2023. The driver was sentenced to four years in community corrections and ordered to conduct 300 hours of community service.
Community corrections is a kind of ‘halfway house’ that ‘provides a sentencing or placement alternative, in lieu of prison incarceration, for felony offenders,’ according to the Colorado Department of Corrections.
In a statement to Our News Outlet, the law office representing Import Towing & Recovery called Arneson’s death a tragic accident and said it was the only one in the company’s 35-year history.
Our News Outlet has reached out to the company for further comment.
Arneson’s son is now in the care of his grandparents.
