A Virginia jury awarded $1.8 million last week to the family of a woman killed in a horrific tractor-trailer accident. Martin Andrews was driving his truck in the rain along state Route 47, a two-lane road, near Farmville in 2001 when he suddenly came upon a line of stopped vehicles waiting for a car to make a left turn. To avoid rear-ending the car in front of him, Andrews swerved into the opposite lane and slammed head-on into Norma and Robert Locke's vehicle, killing Mrs. Locke instantly.

Locke's family sued Andrews and the two trucking firms he was employed with, RLT Trucking Co. and Curtis Tharpe Trucking. The tractor-trailer wrongful-death award is one of the largest in Henrico County history.