Jury Awards $24 Million In Cell Phone Use Case Against Coca-Cola

A Corpus Christi jury awarded $24 million to a woman who was hit by a Coca-Cola truck driver who was chatting on her hands-free cell phone. The jury decided on May 5 to give 37-year-old Vanice Chatman-Wilson ten million dollars in punitive damages and $14 million in actual damages.

Chatman-Wilson’s attorneys argued their client suffered neck and back pain and had to undergo lumbar surgery because of the accident, from the truck hitting the Ford Fusion she was driving.

Coca-Cola plans to appeal the jury’s decision but there is strong doubt in seeing it being overturned because their own driver admitted she was not aware of the risks involved in using a cell phone while driving. The beverage company has a policy requiring drivers to use a hands-free device when using a cell phone while driving. Coca-Cola has a policy but they can't prove the driver actually ever read the policy. The driver maintains she was using a headset, in accordance with company policy.

But Bob Hilliard, one of Chatman-Wilson’s attorneys, said the policy is not enforced. "Not only does Coke need to change it, but when other companies hear the verdict, they will take a look at their policies," Hilliard said. Coca-Cola, however, said in a statement the damages awarded to Chatman-Wilson had no connection to her injuries.

Araceli Vanessa Cabral, the 30-year-old truck driver, testified she was not aware of the risks involved in using a cell phone while driving, Chatman-Wilson’s attorney Thomas J. Henry said. Cabral testified that had she known, she would not have used her phone. The jury is seen to be sending a message to Coca-Cola Enterprises: change the policy. Henry said, "We really need better rules, regulations and laws, and corporations need to have a no-cellphone policy while operating a vehicle."

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