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Jury asked to lay blame for crash in Hunter's GreenBy SUSAN THURSTON © St. Petersburg Times, published March 29, 2001 TAMPA -- Two weeks of technical and sometimes emotional testimony in a civil trial about an accident that killed a girl and permanently injured another ended Wednesday with both sides pleading with jurors to assign the correct blame. Debra and Tom Jackson say the developer and community association of Hunter's Green should be held liable for the crash along Bruce B. Downs Boulevard that forever changed their family. The defendants say the fault rests with Harold Vann, who was convicted of driving drunk at the time of the wreck. A six-person jury will decide who was negligent and what damages, if any, the Jacksons should receive. Deliberations start this morning in Hillsborough Circuit Court. The Jacksons are seeking an estimated $14.5-million to cover the medical expenses of their daughter Elizabeth, who was permanently brain damaged. They also want justice for their daughter Katherine, who died in the Feb. 6, 1997, accident. "The amount must be equal to the magnitude of the loss, and the losses here are of immense proportion," said Henry Valenzuela, an attorney for the Jacksons, who still live in Hunter's Green. During closing arguments, Valenzuela described Elizabeth, now 11, as a once healthy, beautiful girl who adored her family and had a bright future ahead. Instead of blossoming into a woman, she will be a prisoner in a disabled body, he said. "What a shame. What a waste," Valenzuela said. "She's a daily reminder of what can happen when people disregard their safety obligations." The lawsuit contends that Markborough Development Co., which created Hunter's Green, planted trees and shrubs in the median of Bruce B. Downs that blocked drivers' view when they turned into the subdivision. The Hunter's Green Community Association, in turn, failed to properly maintain them, the suit said. The Jacksons say Debra Jackson never saw Vann coming because the developer planted the wrong trees in the wrong spots. Their witnesses included landscape experts who testified that the trees and shrubs did not meet visibility standards. The defense argued that the landscaping had nothing to do with the accident and called its own experts to vouch for the plantings. Vann simply was intoxicated, they said, and ran a red light. "No one deserves to have what happened to this family . . . but it was caused by a drunk driver," said attorney Joel Adler, who represented both defendants. Their case focused on testimony that no one in the 2,000-home subdivision complained about the landscaping from the time it was planted in late 1994 to the night of the accident. "There would have been letters. There would have been complaints. There would have been opposition," he said. "But no one had a problem with that turn." The defense also said Markborough worked closely with the county throughout the project. The county approved the plans and later signed off on the work. Although the developer and association maintain they are not at fault, they said any damages awarded to the Jacksons should be substantially less than the plaintiffs' request. They calculated Elizabeth's medical costs at $3.5-million to $4.2-million and compensation for their losses at $1-million to $2-million. - Susan Thurston can be reached at (813) 226-3463 or thurston@sptimes.com.
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