Jury awards $2M in dump truck crash

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Action: Negligence

Injuries alleged: Facet joint injuries with radiofrequency ablations, cervical disc injury likely requiring future cervical arthroplasty

Case name: Mickel v. Burgess and Royal Fam Trucking

Court/case no.: 2024CP0700650

Judge: Marvin Dukes

Demand: $1 million

Highest offer: $100,000

Amount: $2 million

Date: Feb. 5, 2026

Attorney: Jim Biggart, Jonathan Graham, and Cooper Klaasmeyer of Morgan & Morgan in Charleston (for the plaintiff)

Plaintiff Dalton Mickel was injured when a dump truck owned by Royal Fam Trucking ran a red light due to defective brakes and struck his work vehicle. Mickel treated through physical therapy and other conservative treatment for several months before being discharged. After three months of continued pain, he sought a second opinion from a neurosurgeon and was recommended for a radiofrequency ablation, which he received. Past medical expenses were approximately $63,000 and future medical care was estimated at approximately $900,000. Defendants argued that Mickel was not injured, because he appeared fine in bodycam footage from the scene of the crash and the imaging of his spine from the emergency room that day did not show any acute fractures or breaks. The jury returned a compensatory verdict of $500,000 and a punitive verdict of $1.5 million as to Royal Fam Trucking only.