The Georgia Court of Appeals has reversed a $1.6 million verdict for the widow of a man who was walking home from jail when he was hit by a Chevrolet Tahoe and then run over by a Mack truck.
A three-judge panel ruled that Gwinnett County State Court Judge John Doran Jr. erred by not granting the defense a directed verdict or, failing that, a judgment notwithstanding verdict. Judge Elizabeth Branch wrote for the panel that the case should never have gone to the jury in the 2014 trial because the man who was killed, Danny Daniel, could not be seen by drivers as he walked alone along a dark Highway 316 ramp before dawn in the rain. He was wearing dark green shorts and a black T-shirt, and the ramp had no streetlights, Branch wrote. Presiding Judge Gary Andrews and Judge M. Yvette Miller concurred.
