Woman whose car hit dead horse gets $2.7 million from driver who killed it

A Jefferson County jury has awarded $2.7 million to a Chimacum woman who was severely injured in 2001 when her car struck a horse that had been killed earlier when it was hit by a telephone-company truck.

The jury last week determined the truck driver, John Burston, failed to alert other motorists after he struck the horse. Instead, he left the scene and gave conflicting reasons for not alerting other drivers with the safety equipment he had on his truck, according to Bill McGonagle, attorney for the plaintiff, Nanette Aurdal.

The phone company, United Telephone Co. of the Northwest, a Sprint company, was one of two defendants in the trial, but only the telephone company was found responsible for the crash. The other defendant was the person who had been caring for the horse when it got loose and ran onto the road.

Defense attorney Matthew Boyle, who represented Burston and United Telephone, said Wednesday that he was not authorized to comment on the case.

The accident happened on a night in December 2001 as Aurdal, 44, was driving home from work on Center Road in Jefferson County. Another motorist had spotted the dead horse, before Aurdal struck it, and had gone to find the owner.

The other motorist saw Aurdal's 1994 Ford Explorer strike the dead horse.

McGonagle said Aurdal "sustained a full-body whiplash" and suffers from constant pain.

McGonagle said that Burston left the scene and gave conflicting reasons for not alerting other drivers of the dead horse by using safety equipment that was in the truck, including traffic cones, reflective triangles and flares.

Burston testified that he did not stop after hitting the horse, saying that it would have been dangerous for him to get out of the truck, McGonagle said. He testified that he was unable to back up the vehicle because a side-view mirror was broken in the accident and that it was more practical to stop down the road instead.

"He had the last opportunity to prevent the accident," McGonagle said.

During the trial, McGonagle submitted evidence outlining the company's protocol after accidents, which requires stopping and taking steps to prevent further accidents.

Before the accident, Aurdal worked about 60 hours a week for her family-owned gas station, which closed largely in part to her inability to work those hours, he said.

Lauren C. Williams: 206-464-3195 or lwilliams@seattletimes.com