06/28/2010 // West Palm Beach, FL, USA // Tara Monks // Tara Monks
Prince George’s County, MD – The family of a Maryland man who was killed in 2007 while picking up trash as part of an inmate work detail was awarded over $2 million by a civil jury on Thursday, June 24, 2010, as reported by The Washington Post.
A two week trial that faulted the Maryland state corrections, highway officials and a private dump truck driver resulted in a $2.025 million award for family members of Rodney Jennings.
On August 23, 2007, Jennings was picking up trash on the Capital Beltway in the Landover area under the supervision of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. He was struck by a truck on the inner loop of at the Route 202 exit as he and other inmates were making their way across the exit ramp.
According to the Baltimore Sun, the attorney for Jennings’ family claimed the state failed to properly evaluate traffic conditions near the exit ramp where the accident occurred. The prosecution said the state should have required the inmates to cross the highway by van, as it does now.
The jury did not specify how much of the damages would be paid by each party.
Maryland law caps many civil jury awards at $680,000 for noneconomic damages.
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