Trial Magazine

Skyler Seward, 15, was a passenger in her friend’s vehicle when the driver overcorrected while traveling on a highway near an overpass. The car slid along a mound of dirt called an earth berm—which had been installed around the overpass pillars by the Washington State Department of Transportation—and struck one of the pillars. Seward suffered injuries that led to quadriplegia.

She sued the state of Washington, alleging it negligently failed to install Jersey barriers around the overpass pillars. The plaintiff argued that the earth berms that the state had installed were below national safety standards and ineffective at preventing a car from hitting the overpass pillars. She also alleged that the defendant failed to replace the earth berm with Jersey barriers despite the legislature’s allocation of funds for the project.

The plaintiff also sued the driver of the vehicle.

The state settled on the eve of trial for $28 million. The driver settled for $50,000.

Citation: Seward v. State, No. 16-2-12788-1 (Wash. Super. Ct. Pierce Cnty. 
Oct. 12, 2018).

Plaintiff counsel: AAJ members Keith L. Kessler and Garth L. Jones, both of Hoquiam, Wash.; and AAJ members Brad J. Moore and Brian F. Ladenburg, both of Seattle.