A Tennessee jury awarded $6.65 million in damages last week to the mother of a 17-year-old girl who died in a tractor-trailer accident. Lindsey Garretson was killed August 8, 2000 when a truck driven by Stuart Foy slammed into the back of her car on Interstate 40. Foy failed to slow the tractor-trailer, owned by KLLM Transport Services Inc., when vehicles began braking to avoid a mattress that had fallen off another truck.

Plaintiff attorneys argued that Foy should never have been employed by KLLM due to his record of reckless driving and several accidents. The jury awarded $1.25 million for Garretson's pain and suffering, $2 million to the victim's mother for her loss, $2.4 million in punitive damages, $1 million for loss of future earnings and $250,000 for Garretson's noncustodial father.