Verdicts & Settlements
Company to Pay $5.2M Settlement in Cell Phone Crash Case
International Paper Co. has agreed to pay $5.2 million to a driver who lost her arm in a crash caused by an employee who had been talking on a cell phone.
The injured driver, Debra Ford, had alleged she was rear-ended when the employee was talking on a company-supplied cell phone, according to the Fulton County Daily Report. The employee, Vanessa McGrogan, said she had finished using the phone before she drove onto the interstate highway and crashed into Ford’s car.
Ford’s lawyer, Katherine McArthur of Macon, Ga., said the cell phone allegations had a “huge impact” on the settlement amount. McArthur said International Paper was “concerned the effect this would have on a jury, to know the driver was on a cell phone.”
