An Illinois jury awarded $63.4 million recently to the victims of a horrific auto accident involving a tractor-trailer dump truck. On July 29, 2000, Robert Walton, an employee of Carter's Excavating and Grading in Chicago, accidentally left the 80,000-pound dump hauler section of the truck he was driving upright instead of safely lowered. The hauler subsequently collided with an overpass while Walton was driving on the Dan Ryan Expressway. The hauler separated from the tractor-trailer, slamming into a cargo van. Two passengers were killed and three others suffered severe injuries in the accident. Plaintiff attorneys argued Walton and Carter's were responsible because they had failed to lower the dump hauler before traveling.