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COPYRIGHT 2005 Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News
By Mike Tierney, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Feb. 28--The pair were strangers when they pulled out of the school parking lot that morning in mid-May. Jimmy Smith and Matthew Steinmetz had eaten doughnuts at a father-son breakfast before class; now they were headed to work.
Two miles down the road, on Ga. 141 in Forsyth County, Smith's green Volvo stopped to turn left. Behind him, in a white Chevy pickup, Steinmetz did not notice. He had reached over to a mounted, hands-free cellphone and begun punching *99 to retrieve a message.
When his pickup slammed into the stationary sedan, it set off a chain-reaction crash that left Smith badly hurt. Since the 2002 crash, he has had six surgeries and may need more.
Smith later sued Steinmetz as well as his employer, Beers Skanska construction. Four days into the trial last November in Fulton County Superior Court, the parties agreed to a $5 million settlement for Smith --- with $4.75 million coming from Beers Skanska.
"The cellphone was a tool provided by the company," maintained Grant Morain, Smith's chief lawyer, who introduced evidence that Steinmetz probably was...
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