Dade and Broward County Injury News

Family Awarded $1.7 Million for the Death of Woman Killed by Metal Plate on I-95


Posted on Oct 01, 2008

The children of Claudia Avila were awarded $1.7 million for the death of their mother.  The 43-year-old woman from Pompano Beach was killed in 2004 when a 34-pound metal plate crashed through the car windshield on Interstate 95 in Delray Beach.

Claudia Avila was the passenger in her boyfriend’s car on her way to meet her adult daughter for lunch.  A 2-foot-square plate flew through the windshield on February 17, 2004 as the vehicle, which was heading southbound, approached the Congress Avenue exit.  Avila suffered serious head injuries and was comatose for more than a month in the hospital.  Doctors eventually disconnected her life support.

Avila’s family tried to find out more information about the accident, which received extensive coverage on television and in newspapers.  The Florida Highway Patrol also investigated the accident, but finally closed the case without issuing any criminal charges.

It was later discovered that Tarmac America had packaged for shipment, thousands of metal plates at its Melbourne plant and had loaded the package onto several flat-bed semi trailers that headed south to Fort Lauderdale.  Tarmac sold the metal plates to IGM, a Fort Lauderdale scrap metal company, which ended up hiring EM Transfer, a Miami trucking company, to transport the cargo.

Avila’s children filed a wrongful death lawsuit against all three companies in connection with the death.  IGM and EM Transfer settled with the family outside of court.  The case against Tarmac went to trial.

The plaintiff’s attorney argued that Tarmac was negligent in failing to properly package the metal plates for shipment, either by failing to secure the metal plates to the wooden pallets on which they were stacked or by securing the plates with banding that wasn’t strong enough to hold the plates during transport.

The jury found Tarmac to be 28 percent responsible for Avila’s death.  A verdict was reached of $6.1 million, with $1.7 million (28 percent) equaling the amount that Tarmac was required to pay.

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