A Valparaiso man who suffered a crushed hip when a fatigued truck driver smashed into him three years ago while he was working as a welding inspector in Wyoming will receive a $1 million settlement, his attorney said.
Jason Spears, 39, who lived in Lake Station at the time of the accident, is receiving the highest amount ever paid in Wyoming for a broken hip, said his attorney, Kenneth J. Allen.
The crash that injured Spears occurred while his pickup truck was disabled and was being winched by a tow truck. Allen said a fatigued trucker crashed into the roadside vehicles, killing the tow truck driver and injuring Spears.
Allen said the key to securing the large settlement was proving that the trucker, Ronda Winebarger, 56, of North Carolina, falsified his log book and was actually deprived of sleep at the time.
Allen said the GPS and black box records confirmed the log books were falsified, and a Harvard sleep expert was hired to show the effects of chronic sleep deprivation.
