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FLORIDA RECORD

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Injured tow truck driver has a right to damages, Florida Supreme Court said

Lawsuits
Floridasupreme

Florida Supreme Court | Wikimedia Commons

A tow truck driver, who was injured by battery acid spilled on a highway in 2011, has been approved to pursue damages.

The Florida Supreme Court has unanimously overturned a lower court ruling, stating that Charles Lieupo’s personal injury claims are viable under a Florida 1983 pollution statute. Lieupo spent more than 14 hours clearing a big rig accident that had spilled more than 800 car batteries on a highway.

The tractor-trailer driver suffered a fatal heart attack when he was behind the wheel, causing the crash. As a result, highly corrosive battery acid was strewn over the highway and burst into flames. Firefighters doused the fires with thousands of gallons of water, spreading the toxic acid, which eventually destroyed Lieupo’s clothes and blistered his skin with chemical burns, resulting in severe pain and injuries. Lieupo had to undergo 37 skin grafts and months of rehab. 

In his first attempt to sue Simon’s Trucking Inc. for personal injuries, Lieupo was awarded $5.2 million in damages after a jury trial in Hamilton County. 

The trucking company then appealed to Florida’s First District Court of Appeals, citing a 1970 environmental law. The Court of Appeal found in the trucking company’s favor, invalidating the lower court’s award. Lieupo then took his case to the Florida Supreme Court, which found in his favor in December, stating that Lieupo’s original case rightly cited Florida's Water Quality Assurance Act, a 1983 law designed to protect groundwater quality.   

"Because Lieupo filed his cause of action under section 376.313(3) of the 1983 act, the 'all damages' language of the 1983 act applies, not the more restrictive definition of the 1970 act that expressly only applies to the 1970 act," the Florida Supreme Court opinion read. "The plain meaning of 'all damages' includes personal injury damages."

The case will now go back to the lower court. Lieupo is represented by Michael J. Damaso II and Jackson W. Adams of Wooten Kimbrough PA and Peter D. Webster of Carlton Fields.

Florida Supreme Court case number SC18-657

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