Widow awarded $922,000

Her attorneys were disappointed; saying the sum is small compensation for the life of her husband, who was killed in a car accident.

By MONICA YANT
Times Staff Writer

CLEARWATER - The driver, road builders and Pinellas County all were negligent in the auto accident that killed Jack Everett in 1991, a circuit court jury decided Friday.
     But the $922,000 awarded to Carolyn Everett, his 67-year old widow, was more than $7-million short of what her attorneys had sought in the wrongful death lawsuit, which made the victory somewhat sour.
     "I'm disappointed," said attorney Wil Florin. "I think she deserved more for the loss of a husband. I guess different people value losses differently."
     The verdict from the two-woman, four-man jury came early Friday evening, after five days of testimony in the lawsuit Mrs. Everett filed against Steven M. Bradshaw, a neighborhood friend who was driving the automobile that hit the Everetts.
     Also named in the suit were R.E. Purcell Construction and Misener Marine Construction, the road builders responsible for the construction on East Lake Road, where the accident occurred. Pinellas County, whose insurance agency settled its portion of the case before it went to trial, was also found negligent.
     Robert Taylor, a juror from Largo, said there was never any doubt that all the parties would be held responsible for Jack Everett's death. Determining the damages, and the percentage each would pay, was more difficult.
     "It was a real team effort," he said.
     The jury found Bradshaw to be the most responsible and said he should pay 35 percent; R.E. Purcell Construction should shoulder 25 percent of the damages, and Pinellas County and Misener Marine Construction should pay 20 percent each.
     At the heart of the suit was whether it was Bradshaw's driving or a poorly designed detour that whipped his Bronco into the Everetts' Oldsmobile, killing Jack Everett and critically injuring Carolyn Everett.
     The accident occurred on a detour curve on East Lake Road, which was under construction. Bradshaw, who was never charged in the accident, testified that he had drank as many as six beers that night but insisted he was not driving drunk.
     "I felt fine," he testified Wednesday. "I felt normal, just like I do now."
     Instead, he said, a combination of rainy weather and a poor road design caused the accident.
     Earlier in the week, five witnesses testified about their experiences on the S-shaped detour, just north of Tampa Road. Several said they thought the route was dangerous, with a tilted roadway that steered northbound cars to the left, into oncoming traffic.
     James Kadyk, the attorney for the road builders, told jurors that the detour was changed after construction workers realized the original engineering plans were wrong. The new detour was adequately marked and safe, he said, if drivers paid attention and obeyed the speed limit.
     "What happened plain and simply is that Mr. Bradshaw had a couple too many beers. His judgment was impaired, his responses were slow, and he crossed the center line and went right into the Everetts," Kadyk said.
     Bradshaw's attorney, Shelton Philips, shifted the blame to road builders.
     "We admitted Mr. Bradshaw had been drinking," he said in his closing argument Friday. "They did a bad job building that road."
     Florin, meanwhile, told jurors that the finger pointing from the defense tables only strengthened the case against both parties.
     "They say Bradshaw's the cause. He says they're the cause," Florin said. "I think they're both right."