Survivors, families of deceased suing over night ‘hell opened up’ on MS state highway

The lawsuits describe a scenario that could have unfolded in a horror movie.

A car is driving, below the speed limit, along a wet, pitch-black stretch of highway in rural George County. Suddenly, the asphalt road is no longer beneath the tires. Instead, the car plummets through space, crashing against an earthen wall and coming to rest on top of other vehicles.

Motorists and their passengers fell, one after another, into a crater 50 feet wide and up to 30 feet deep that opened without warning the night of Aug. 30, 2021, on Mississippi Highway 26 near Lucedale. Early that same morning, Category 4 Hurricane Ida had weakened to a tropical storm over South Mississippi, dumping torrential rains of up to 11 inches in and around Lucedale.

The Mississippi Department of Transportation, which maintains the highway, blames the road collapse on “an act of God,” referring to the storm.

But motorists who were injured when their vehicles fell into the crater, along with survivors of two men and a pregnant woman who died, are suing MDOT in George County Circuit Court, claiming the accident could have been prevented.

“MDOT had knowledge, prior to the collapse of the road, of an underground water source that was the cause, or contributing cause, of the collapse of the road,” their lawsuits say. “MDOT did not properly inspect, repair or maintain the section of Highway 26 where the road collapsed nor did it warn motorists of its dangerous condition.”

Three died in highway collapse

The seven lawsuits, consolidated into one case, are scheduled for trial Oct. 28 before Judge Kathy King Jackson at the George County courthouse in Lucedale.

Jerry D. Lee, a 49-year-old welder, father and grandfather from Lucedale, and Kent E. Brown, a 49-year-old pipefitter and father who lived in Leakesville, were pronounced dead at the scene. It took rescuers hours to extract drivers, passengers and seven vehicles from the crater, news accounts said.

The families of both Brown and Lee are among those who have filed lawsuits. Brown’s passenger, Irvine Clark, later told a (Jackson) Clarion-Ledger newspaper reporter that the accident “was like hell opened up. Because as we go up in the air, it was like you were in a movie. You’re in a car but you’re looking down and you see the lights, smoke.”

Three of the pending lawsuits have been filed by survivors of Amanda Mae Williams, one on behalf of any beneficiaries of the unborn child she was carrying. Williams did not succumb to her injuries until 11 days after the accident, at Forrest General Hospital.

One of her three children was in the pickup truck with her when it plunged into the hole. The child suffered multiple injuries, was also hospitalized and was traumatized as she watched her mom suffer, too, a lawsuit filed on the child’s behalf says.

Williams’ husband, Danny Ray Williams, posted on Facebook shortly after his wife died: “You will be so missed Manda Mae. You are my very best friend. We had an amazing 20 years. I promise to take care of our babies and make sure they do right in life.”

Apply MS cap on damages

Other lawsuits were filed by survivors, including Layla Jamison. Jamison returned home to George County months after the accident in a wheelchair, still facing months of physical therapy.

But her homecoming was joyous. The city of Lucedale declared it Layla Day and rolled out a pink carpet for her, WXXV-TV reported at the time.

Another survivor, Harvey Shows of St. Tammany Parish, La., and wife Pauline also have filed a lawsuit over his injuries.

The lawsuits maintain that MDOT was negligent for failing to inspect, maintain and repair the highway, allowing “a dangerous and defective road condition” and failing to warn the public.

Those suing ask that damages be determined at trial. A major point of contention is the $500,000 cap Mississippi places on damages awarded against state agencies.

MDOT quotes state law, which says the cap applies to “all claims arising out of a single occurrence.” MDOT wants the cap applied to all the cases combined, calling the highway collapse a “single occurrence.”

But those suing say each vehicle that fell into the crater would constitute a “single occurrence,” as would each of the multiple breaches of law that they claim MDOT committed.

Judge Jackson has decided a ruling on the cap would be premature until pre-trial investigation by both sides, called discovery, is completed “to determine what actions or inactions of MDOT may have caused or contributed to the massive road cave-in.”