A $65 Million Wrongful Death Verdict Still Runs on Medical Proof: Lessons From Colorado’s I-25 Bridge Strike

Most trucking verdicts get talked about as trucking cases: the load, the driver, the company that put him on the road. Those facts win liability. Damages are a different job, and in a wrongful death case the damages story is told through medical evidence. A record-setting Colorado verdict from last month is a good reminder of how much of that proof sits in records most firms request late or never.

The case

On the evening of August 8, 2022, Megan Arneson, a 32-year-old preschool teacher and single mother, was driving north on Interstate 25 near Mead, Colorado, with her 10-year-old son. They were heading home from a day at a water park. Ahead of them, a tractor-trailer was hauling an excavator. According to the Colorado State Patrol’s findings as reported by the family’s lawyers and local press, the excavator had been loaded so that its arm rode above the clearance of the Weld County Road 34 overpass. The arm hit the bridge. A large piece of concrete came through Ms. Arneson’s windshield and struck her in the head. Her attorneys report that she died there on the highway as her son tried to call for help.

Her parents, as guardians of her son, sued the driver and his employer, Import Auto Inc., in Larimer County District Court (Christianson v. Import Auto Inc.). The claims included that the driver acted recklessly, that he had received his unrestricted commercial license only four days earlier, and that the company failed to train him and failed to inspect the load. Reporting at the time of the crash said the load required a special permit that was never obtained.

On September 21, 2026, after a five-day trial, the jury unanimously awarded $65 million to her son, now 14. Plaintiff’s counsel describes it as the largest verdict in Larimer County history and the largest trucking verdict in the state.

The number on the verdict form is not the end of it

Colorado caps noneconomic damages in wrongful death cases. The statute, C.R.S. 13-21-203, lifts that cap only when the conduct that caused the death qualifies as a felonious killing. The Colorado Court of Appeals confirmed in 2025 that the exception can apply to a corporate defendant, not only to an individual (Estate of Ross v. Public Service Co., 2025 COA 31). The family’s lawyers have asked the court to make that finding here. How much of the $65 million the boy actually receives may turn on it.

That post-trial fight is a useful lesson for any wrongful death practice. Caps, offsets and post-verdict motions mean the damages record has to be built to survive more than a jury. It has to survive a judge reading it closely afterward.

Where medical evidence carries a wrongful death case

I trained and worked as a physician assistant before law school, and I now spend my days matching attorneys with clinical experts. When I look at a file like this one, these are the medical questions I expect opposing counsel to press, whichever side you are on:

• Cause and mechanism of death. A death certificate is a starting point, not proof. The autopsy or coroner’s report, the injury pattern and the scene findings have to line up with the theory of how the death happened. When there is no autopsy, a forensic pathologist can often still give an opinion from photographs, EMS records and the death investigation.
• Conscious pain and suffering. Whether the person was aware after the injury, and for how long, can matter for the claims that survive the death. That answer comes from EMS run sheets, bystander and 911 accounts, response times and the pathology. It is never assumed in either direction.
• Life expectancy and health before the event. The defense will look for any prior diagnosis that could shorten the projected life span or reduce lost earnings. Prior medical records answer that question, and it is better to know what they say before the economist runs numbers.
• The survivors. In this case the plaintiff was a child who was in the car, was hurt himself and was there when his mother died. His own injuries, his emotional trauma and the loss of a parent’s care and guidance all need clinical support from pediatric and mental health records and, often, a treating or retained child psychologist or psychiatrist.

The records I would pull in any wrongful death case

1. Autopsy, coroner or medical examiner report, with photographs, toxicology and the investigator’s narrative.
2. EMS and fire records, including dispatch times, arrival times, the patient care report and any resuscitation attempts.
3. Emergency department records if the person was transported, even briefly.
4. The death certificate and any amendments to it.
5. Five to ten years of prior medical records for the decedent, to see what the defense will see about health and life expectancy.
6. Records for every survivor who was present or injured, plus counseling, school and pediatric records when a child is involved.
7. Police and crash investigation reports, which often hold the only time-stamped account of the minutes after impact.

The defense side of the same file

Med Legal Pro works with defense counsel as well as plaintiffs, and the defense questions come from the same records. Was death instantaneous, which narrows the survival claims? Does the decedent’s medical history change the life expectancy figure? Are the surviving child’s symptoms documented in treatment records, or only described at trial? A careful medical review gives defense counsel a realistic view of exposure before mediation, rather than after a verdict.

The medical experts a wrongful death case usually needs

• A forensic pathologist for cause and mechanism of death and any question of conscious suffering.
• An emergency medicine physician or EMS expert when the response, transport or resuscitation is at issue.
• A child psychologist or psychiatrist when a minor survivor witnessed the death or lost a parent.
• A life care planner for any survivor with lasting injuries, working alongside the economist.

These experts sit alongside the accident reconstruction and trucking safety witnesses that prove fault. Each one should be able to state opinions to a reasonable degree of medical certainty and explain them in plain language to a jury.

How Med Legal Pro helps

Med Legal Pro matches attorneys with screened, litigation-trained physician, nurse and allied health experts in medical malpractice, personal injury, nursing home and long-term care, and wrongful death cases. We work with plaintiff, defense and criminal attorneys, and every expert we place is trained to write opinions that hold up under scrutiny from opposing counsel.

Call 844-633-5345 or submit your case at medlegalpro.com/submit-a-case.

Sources

• Dulin McQuinn Young, LLP. Record-Breaking $65M Verdict in Wrongful Death Case. September 22, 2026.
• CBS Colorado. Northern Colorado jury awards $65M wrongful death verdict after bridge crash. September 22, 2026.
• Denver7. Larimer County jury awards $65 million to son of woman killed in I-25 crash in 2022. October 2026.
• FreightWaves. Parents sue driver, Colorado towing company over fatal bridge strike. September 13, 2022.
• C.R.S. 13-21-203, Limitation on damages.
• Estate of Ross v. Public Service Co. of Colorado, 2025 COA 31.

This article is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or medical advice.