The Mississippi Court of Appeals will decide whether Greenwood city officials were negligent in a 2002 accident that cost the life of a Grenada man.
Judges with the appeals court heard oral arguments Wednesday afternoon over the 2003 summary judgment granted in favor of the city in Leflore Circuit Court.
Thomas Freeland III of Oxford has argued that the judgment given three years ago wasn't warranted. There are still questions of fact that a jury needs to decide, he said.
Freeland represents the family of Joe Erich Willing Sr., who died Jan. 9, 2002, after being struck by a car in the median at the U.S. 82 and U.S. 49 intersection west of Greenwood. Willing was a road crew supervisor for Malouf Construction Co.
Willing had parked his company truck on the median strip at the intersection and was outside the truck in the median when Sharon Simpson of Indianola lost control of her 1999 Isuzu sedan and left the roadway and struck Willing and his truck.
The court record states that a patch of ice was in the intersection. Simpson was traveling about 70 mph when she hit the icy patch. Earlier that day, an accident had occurred at the same site.
A Greenwood police officer investigated the scene and called in to get the Mississippi Department of Transportation to throw sand and gravel on the spot. The officer left.
It was that the officer left the intersection without warning the traffic that would come through after the first accident that constituted the city's negligence, argued Freeland. He wants the Court of Appeals to overturn the Leflore Circuit judge's decision in favor of the city, claiming the city exercises "reckless disregard" for the life of Willing.
"The city had a duty to warn the public," he said.
Not so, argued Terry Little, an Oxford attorney representing the city.
The officer called in the road condition and asked for MDOT assistance, which negates an argument of negligence.
MDOT showed up at the end of the accident investigation, he said. Additionally, the roadway was under construction and marked. The speed limit had been reduced to 45 mph.
Simpson came through at about 70 mph, hit the icy patch and lost traction, Little said.
