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Jury awards $21.6 million in suit over deadly Sawgrass crash
By Missy Diaz
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted June 22 2007
WEST PALM BEACH -- A stay-at-home dad from Parkland was awarded $21.6 million Thursday for the violent wreck that killed his wife, after a jury found a driver negligent for either talking on her cell phone or some other distraction
Stephen Beers was overcome with emotion after the verdict.
"It's weird," he repeated when asked about his state of mind after learning the verdict. "I'm really overwhelmed right now. I'm probably going to sleep a lot tonight."
After almost two weeks of trial testimony, it came down to this: Did former Boca Raton resident Sheila Hulick's failure to focus on the busy Sawgrass Expressway during morning rush hour in 2004 cause a horrific series of crashes that killed Lesley Beers, the 32-year-old mother of two toddlers?
Stephen Beers' lawyers blamed Hulick's inattention on the cell phone, for which they presented evidence and testimony to show that Hulick was speaking to her husband at the time of the impact.
Yes, she caused the wreck, Hulick's lawyer told the jury on Thursday, but not because she was on the phone.
Hulick, a personal assistant to former Miami Dolphin Dan Marino, made a mistake, plain and simple, attorney Peter Molinelli said. For whatever reason, her Ford Taurus barreled into the back of Beers' Honda Accord as the two traveled south on the Broward County toll road about a half-mile north of the Atlantic Boulevard exit.
She doesn't remember what happened afterward, he said.
But was her mistake the legal cause of Beers' death? Yes, the four-woman, six-man jury decided after two hours of deliberations. And did it justify the $32.6 million that lawyers for Beers' husband said he's entitled to? Almost.
Beers filed a wrongful death suit against Hulick and the corporation that owned the company car she was driving. He sought damages to cover his wife's lost wages, medical and funeral expenses as well as the loss of her support and services and the pain and suffering inflicted on his family.
In an 11th-floor courtroom of the Palm Beach County Courthouse, a big screen flashed pictures of the joyful couple on their wedding day, followed by snapshots of the happy family, which grew to include a son, Zachary, now 6, and 4-year-old Olivia.
Beers' attorneys, Jack Scarola and Chris Searcy, recounted the anguish that is now the family's daily reality: chronic nightmares by Stephen, a temporary loss of speech by Olivia and continuing emotional problems with Zachary. All of them need therapy. All because of Hulick's negligence, the lawyers argued.
"[Hulick's] failure to pay attention sentenced Lesley Beers to death and sentenced [her husband and children] to live every day of the rest of their lives with a jagged, gaping hole in their hearts that only Lesley Beers ever had filled or could fill," Scarola said.
The impact of the crash sent Beers' car careening across the median and into northbound traffic, colliding head-on with another vehicle.
During more than three hours of closing arguments, Stephen Beers stared at the floor as he rocked back and forth in his chair.
His lawyers explained that Stephen Beers had a difficult life, starting with multiple rapes by a relative as a youngster. Until he met his wife, Beers didn't think he could ever know happiness. His world changed for the better thanks to Lesley, who was loving, nurturing, intelligent and organized, they said.
After the couple wed, they decided Lesley Beers would be the breadwinner — earning $60,000 a year working for a mortgage company at the time of her death — and Stephen Beers would stay home with the kids.
Hulick, who didn't take the stand during the trial, declined to comment. The morning of the crash she was heading to her job as Marino's assistant.
The jurors also declined to comment.
Scarola and Searcy castigated Hulick for what they called her failure to take responsibility for the crash, referring to conflicting statements she has given that range from saying the car in front of her unexpectedly slammed its brakes, causing a collision, to a curve obstructing her view and a lack of brake lights on the car in front of her.
Accident reconstruction experts debunked those theories, according to Beers' attorneys.
"Lesley Beers killed herself!" Scarola said, mocking a defense theory that wet grass in the median might have been a factor.
Molinelli, Hulick's attorney, said the case was tragic for all involved.
During his closing argument he asked jurors to recognize that while Zachary and Olivia will suffer permanent loss as a result of their mother's death, they have strong extended family support and "it will not be gloom and misery and pain and suffering every day." Despite the significant monetary award, Molinelli said he wasn't surprised at the jury's decision.
"We asked the jury to do what they thought was right," he said.
Searcy agreed.
"I believe in the system and if [the jury] believes it was fair ... I believe it was fair," he said.
