In a pair of wrongful death lawsuits involving fatal motor vehicle collisions at a U.S. Highway 50 intersection in Johnson County, a three-member arbitration panel recently awarded more than $4 million in damages to the plaintiffs, before adjustments. Click here to read the whole article.

In the first case, the panel of attorneys James Morrow, Sylvester James Jr. and Jack Bangert voted 2-1 in mid-July to award more than $2.33 million in damages to Haili Smith, who filed a 2023 suit over her husband's November 2020 death while attempting to cross a dangerous stretch of U.S. 50 between Kansas City and Sedalia.

After a two-day arbitration hearing in late April, the panel found that Jasper Smith was 85 percent responsible and the Missouri Highways & Transportation Commission 15 percent at fault — netting Smith's beneficiaries $312,500 after a previous $250,000 settlement with the other driver was credited against the assessed damages.

Smith was traveling southbound on NW 1601st Road and attempting to cross U.S. 50 when he was struck by a pickup truck speeding on the highway, said plaintiff's attorney Andrew LeRoy, adding that Smith was assessed 85 percent of fault for failing to yield to oncoming traffic as instructed by the median sign.

In the second settlement, the same panel convened for one day in early June and then awarded St. Louis County resident Deborah Jones $2 million following the May 2021 death of her son Kody Jones at that same intersection, in the town of Kingsville.

Jones was traveling eastbound on Highway 50 when another vehicle traveling south on the county road crossed the intersection and did not stop at the yield sign in the median.

The state was assessed 100 percent of responsibility this time — but that award was also reduced significantly, first with a $100,000 credit for a settlement with the other driver, followed by the sovereign immunity cap on damages, netting Smith's beneficiaries $441,130.

“MoDOT has known since the early 2000s that J-turns can fix the problems at these dangerous intersections,” said LeRoy, referring to the Missouri Department of Transportation. 

“Nobody was surprised. If the state had fixed this intersection after Jasper Smith died, then Kody Jones would still be alive.”

In both instances, a majority of the arbitrators found that the intersection was “unreasonably dangerous, which partially contributed” to both men's deaths, and that there was “foreseeable risk of which (the state) had actual or constructive knowledge and had time to have taken measures to protect against the harm suffered.

In both cases, arbitrator Jack Bangert sided with the defendant. A private defense attorney who represented the state in both arbitration proceedings did not respond to a request for comment.

More than three years after the death of Jones, MoDOT announced a series of intersection improvements near Powell Gardens in June 2024, including the construction of J-turns and the closure of median crossovers from 3500 feet east of NW 1601st Road to 3500 feet west of NW 1601st Road, a 1.5-mile stretch.

In a news release announcing the upgrades, MoDOT cited traffic volumes three times higher than when the highway was built in 1967, along with 17 crashes at intersections along that stretch, including 14 right-angle crashes and three deaths: Jones, Smith and a third motorist.

Rather than having to cross multiple lanes of oncoming traffic, drivers at a J-turn intersection turn right in the same direction of traffic, merge into the left lane, and then make a U-turn in the direction they intend to travel.

$2,333,340 arbitration award Wrongful death

Allocation of fault: Plaintiff 85 percent at fault; defendant 15 percent at fault
Breakdown and distribution of value: Net payment of $312,500 (includes credit against assessed damages for previous $250,000 settlement with other driver).
Venue: Johnson County Circuit Court
Case Number/Date: 23JO-CC00197/July 15, 2025
Caption: Haili Smih, individually as class representatives for the beneficiaries to, the wrongful death of Jasper Smith, deceased v. Missouri Highways &Transportation Commission
Plaintiff's attorneys: Andrew LeRoy (lead) and Jose Bautista; Bautista LeRoy, Kansas City
Defendant's attorney: John Wilcox; Dysart Taylor, Kansas City

$2 million arbitration award Wrongful death

Breakdown and distribution of value: Net payment of $441,130 (includes $100,000 credit against assessed damages for settlement with the other driver, followed by the sovereign immunity cap on damages)
Case Number/Date: 24JO-CC00075/June 23, 2025
Caption: Deborah Jones, on behalf of wrongful death beneficiaries of Kody Jones, deceased v. Missouri Highways &Transportation Commission
Plaintiff's attorneys: Andrew LeRoy (lead) and Jose Bautista; Bautista LeRoy, Kansas City
Defendant's attorney: John Wilcox; Dysart Taylor, Kansas City