Jackknifed Tractor Trailer on I-20 in Al Crosses Median, Kills GA Coach, Injures High School Athletes

On 6/24/07, a tractor trailer jackknifed on I-20 near Oxford, Alabama, crossed the median, and crashed head-on into a Honda occupied by an assistant football and basketball coach and three team members from North Oconee (GA) High School on the way home from a basketball camp at Jacksonville State University.  Coach Shawn Smith was killed.  He was apparently quite a guy.  Drew Landers, son of UGA women’s basketball coach Andy Landers, was hospitalized in ICU at Grady in critical condition with  a head injury, but there is hope for a full recovery. News reports have said little about the trucking company, the truck driver or the reason the truck jackknifed.  The Alabama Highway Patrol may take up to six weeks to investigate the crash and release their findings. 

The Shigley Law Firm  represents plaintiffs in wrongful death and catastrophic injury cases statewide in Georgia, and in other states (recently including Alabama, Nevada and Florida) subject to the multijurisdictional practice and pro hac vice rules in each state. Ken Shigley was designated as a “SuperLawyer” in Atlanta Magazine and one of the “Legal Elite” in Georgia Trend Magazine. He is a Certified Civil Trial Advocate of the National Board of Trial Advocacy, Chair of the Southeastern Motor Carrier Liability Institute and former chair of the Georgia Insurance Law Institute. He particularly focuses on cases arising from truck wrecks and accidents (tractor trailers truck wrecks, semi truck wrecks,18 wheeler truck wrecks, big rig truck wrecks, log truck wrecks, dump truck wrecks.