Escambia Woman Awarded $4.25 Million In Cantonment Wreck Suit

May 14, 2014

An Escambia County jury has awarded $4.25 million to a local woman for a 2009 accident that claimed the life of her 4-year old son.

According to the Highway Patrol, a 1999 Saturn driven by Theresa M. Guy, failed to stop at a stop sign at the intersection of Kingsfield Road and County Road 97. The Saturn was struck by a 2003 Dodge 2500 pickup driven by Samuel Seeley of Cantonment. Seely and his passenger, Beverly Seeley of Cantonment, were transported to West Florida Hospital in critical condition.

Guy’s passenger, Glen D. Ashby (pictured left), 39, of Navarre, was pronounced dead at the scene. Her son, Nathien Guy, later died at a Pensacola hospital.

According to the lawswuit, Roads, Inc. was installing a turn lane on the right side of the road and had removed a stop sign to a point off the road. Guy’s view of the stop sign was blocked by heavy equipment, and as a result she didn’t stop before entering the intersection.

The jury found that Roads, Inc. was 90% at fault for the accident and awarded damages of $4.25 million in a wrongful death lawsuit.

Comments

9 Responses to “Escambia Woman Awarded $4.25 Million In Cantonment Wreck Suit”

  1. sorry for your loss on May 14th, 2014 3:17 pm

    I am so sorry for the mother’s loss of her young son. And even though no amount of money can ever replace her child, the money can help her to deal with the loss over time. The burden of losing a small, helpless child at that stage of motherhood is something that will never be forgotten. The emotional condition will affect her from now on, possibly even the ability to hold a job. The money won’t bring back the child, but it will help the mother to live her life without the additional pressures that life brings us. The company responsible for the money hopefully will also learn a lesson to better train their employees to be mindful of the surroundings they work in. If only one worker had thought of any driver being unable to see that stop sign and either removed and replaced the stop sign, or the worker had moved the heavy equipment to not block the view of the sign (if that was part of the issue) then it would have saved the life of the child. Good luck to the mom and her family.

  2. John on May 14th, 2014 3:03 pm

    Wonder if this lady had ever been at this intersection before ?????

  3. chris on May 14th, 2014 11:47 am

    Juries love to give other peoples money away.
    Of course the lawyers love it.

  4. So sorry for her loss on May 14th, 2014 11:11 am

    I know that amount of money, or no amount of money, can replace the life of any child. But the mom will now have to carry this the rest of her life. So why should she also have to worry about bills, life, and care? The burden of the lost child is already damaged this poor mom and that worry will affect every aspect of her life, including her ability to hold a job in the future. And, she probably will never see the entire amount of money. Only a portion will most likely be paid out. The money is also serving a lesson to the company to train their people to be more cautious and to be more mindful of possible disasters/tragedies. It would have only taken one conscientious person to have noticed that the stop sign could not have been seen from the line of sight of the driver to make a change that could have saved that family from this tragedy and that little boy’s life. Good luck to the mom and I hope the money can ease the other burdens of her life so she can handle the death of her child over time.

  5. haley on May 14th, 2014 11:04 am

    Sad story.

  6. Marla on May 14th, 2014 10:46 am

    No amount of money will bring back the child, but it is the only thing businesses understand. If a construction company knows that no matter what they do they will never have to pay any money for the consequence then we would have misplaced stop signs all over town. I am glad a jury recognized this mother’s pain and suffering. A child’s life is invaluable but the mother’s pain and suffering has a value. Her child was killed in an accident that never should have happened. Plus I’m sure there was insurance that paid the money.

  7. My2Cents on May 14th, 2014 8:43 am

    I can completely understand that Roads, Inc may have been at fault, but 4.25 million dollars, REALLY? No amount of money will ever take the pain away from losing a child, nor will it ever make a person forget what took place that tragic day, or bring back Nathien’s precious life.

    I can only pray that the money that was awarded will be well spent and make the Lord guide in the use of it. Personally I could never put a price on any one of my son’s life. I pray to God that this family finds peace, comfort, and forgiveness. Otherwise the whole law suit will been for nothing….just my opinion.

  8. Jane on May 14th, 2014 6:12 am

    Money can not make up for the loss of a child. There are so many traffic accidents here and it is so sad that this happened.

  9. Janice Stafford on May 14th, 2014 5:50 am

    This intersection is a bad one.. The stop sign is still not seen until you almost get up on it.. There are accidents all the time there.. So sorry for this family.. Thank you to all the first responders who help with all the crashes.