Caltrans to Pay $37 Million to Worker Paralyzed, Unable to Move or Speak After NorCal Freeway Accident

Construction workers walk on the empty southbound lanes of the 405 Freeway as they prepare to re-open a 10-mile stretch of the freeway that was closed for construction on July 17, 2011, in Los Angeles. (Credit: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

by: Los Angeles Times

Posted: Jul 9, 2019 / 01:54 PM PDT

Updated: Jul 9, 2019 / 01:54 PM PDT

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The California Department of Transportation has agreed to pay $37 million to a man who was paralyzed while working on a freeway project nearly a decade ago, an attorney for the family said.

Kyle Anderson was 20 years old in 2011 when he was working for a contractor on Highway 101 in Eureka. He was crouched in a trench when a driver crossed onto the shoulder and struck him, according to his legal team.

The impact left Anderson, now 28, quadriplegic and with “locked-in” syndrome, which means he is conscious but can’t move or communicate, attorney Russell Reiner of the firm Reiner, Slaughter and Frankel said.

The decision comes about two years after a Humboldt County Superior Court jury decided Caltrans was entirely responsible for Anderson’s injuries.

Read the full story at LATimes.com.