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Settlement reached in Neb. crash lawsuit

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By The Associated Press

Tuesday, Jul 08, 2008 - 03:47:47 pm CDT

NORTH PLATTE — A settlement has been reached in a lawsuit that said dust from a western Nebraska ranch helped cause an interstate pileup that killed three people.

Terms of the settlement were not released.

The families of two Colorado women killed in the 2005 crash on Interstate 80 sued the U-Cross Ranch, which is near Hershey, in Lincoln County District Court in 2006. The lawsuit said the ranch did not take proper steps to prevent dust from blowing across the interstate and creating a driving hazard.

U-Cross owners countersued last year, calling the families’ lawsuit frivolous.

Authorities had said Jeanne Kerechanin, 54, and Pamela Hartman, 46, of Manitou Springs, Colo., were killed on March 10, 2005. Investigators say Kerechanin was driving the car carrying the two women when she slowed on I-80 to avoid semitrailers in front of her and was rear-ended by another semi. The semi driver, 70-year-old John Latham of Springfield, Neb., also died in the crash.

Messages left Tuesday by The Associated Press for Dan Chesire of Omaha, attorney for the ranch, and Martin Troshynski of North Platte, the attorney for the Colorado families, were not immediately returned.

Three trucking companies and their drivers have also been sued in the matter, but were not part of the settlement announced Tuesday.

The lawsuit was scheduled to go to trial Tuesday but was settled before it began.


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What wrote on July 8, 2008 4:26 pm:
" This is ridiculous! What is this world coming to? When are people going to accept responsibility for their own actions instead of filing a lawsuit against a farmer or ranch for dust blowing? Hello? Drivers need to expect the unexpected. When road conditions warrant, pull over. But to sue a rancher for dust blowing is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of. What's next? Are people going to start suing for snow blowing over the road? "

 Dust in the wind wrote on July 8, 2008 4:43 pm:
" Why does every tragedy have to come down to trying to get money out of someone? It is sad that three people lost their lives but can you really blame the land owner because the dirt on the ground blew onto the highway, how do you prove it was his dirt in the first place and not dirt from a ranch 5 miles away that just happened to take a short break on his ranch before moving on? The loss of life is sad but the lawsuit is an even more sad reflection of how we as a society seem to be driven by greed anymore. "

 tom issaquah wrote on July 8, 2008 5:34 pm:
" What a tragedy! And the only ones that win are the lawyers that salivate when presented an opportunity for one of these lawsuits! That dirt that was on the highway could have been from my yard and I live 600 miles from there. "

 DR wrote on July 8, 2008 5:58 pm:
" Smart lawyers, don't you agree? They found out how much the insurance company for the ranch was willing to pay to end their open ended risk and settle before the trial. Only the premium payers to the insuirance companies lose. Wait a minute....that is you and me! If I were a judge I would never allow a lawsuit for more than the people privately insured their lives. If the deceased didn't think they were valuable to their famililies while living how did they get so valuable after death? "

 Kater wrote on July 8, 2008 7:25 pm:
" We don't know the trial details here, let's not jump to assuming that it was the maximum settlement possible. From reading the other article, neither driver was determined to be at fault by the officers. As you have alluded to, someone was negligent for causing almost every accident. I'm sure there was a reason to look to the land owner when the claim could not be made to the other driver.

A lot of times, insurance companies even hire attorneys to help settle claims that are unusual or high dollar. It may not be that the attorney was salivating, but doing his job. There are many things that I wouldn't need an attorney to help me with, but if someone in my life had died in a car accident, I'd seek legal counsel myself. It's not an easy thing to sort thru on your own "

 Frivilous wrote on July 8, 2008 9:04 pm:
" Is what this lawsuit is against the land owner.

This is obscene.

My sympathies to the families in their grief. Making "someone" pay will not solve their sorrow. "

 Haha wrote on July 9, 2008 8:32 am:
" Let's sue God for the wind that made the dust blow across the highway! Rediculous... "

 Blue Knight wrote on July 9, 2008 10:34 am:
" When it comes time to decide on retaining the judge who made this decision, remember this story. If these judges were not retained, maybe they would get the message that we are sick and tired of decisions like this. "

 White Knight wrote on July 9, 2008 5:38 pm:
" Ummm -- Blue Knight, please read the full story. Neither a judge nor a jury rendered a decision in this case. The parties reached a settlement on their own prior to trial (see the last paragraph of the story). The story does not provide details on the settlement (and the parties probably won't disclose it), so we can't know who paid what. You can't slam a judge for a decision that he or she didn't make. "

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