Car Crash Lawsuit against Brother Results in $15.6 Million Jury Award

By Mary Mitchell

Published on March 19, 2007

Stephen was 15 and Kyle was 17 at the time of the crash. Kyle lost control of the car on an icy patch of road, and police reported that he was driving too fast for road conditions. Stephen suffered severe and permanent head injuries. He is partially paralyzed, unable to communicate, and will need lifelong medical care.

The Lawrence County jury's verdict came down on March 15 before Judge Tom Piccione. The jury specified that $8.3 million of the award was for Stephen's future medical care. The Shenango Township family's attorney, Dallas Hartman, noted that although Kyle is responsible to pay the verdict's amount to his brother, the family hopes that their car insurance provider, Erie Insurance, will also pay some of the amount. A spokesman for Erie Insurance acknowledged that the company is the insurer of the defendant Kyle Piper. However, Erie Insurance was not named as a defendant in this lawsuit.

An attorney provided by Erie Insurance represented Kyle Piper in court. There are multiple other ongoing lawsuits involving the Piper family and Erie Insurance regarding the accident. Attorney Hartman noted that there are no hard feelings among the family members, and that Kyle, who is now in college, understood the reason for the lawsuit. Hartman said that the verdict money will go into a trust to be used only for Stephen's care.

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