Women injured in hay fire crash file suit
Post-Tribune staff report August 31, 2012 5:10PM
Updated: October 2, 2012 6:09AM
Two Lowell women are suing a Jasper County dairy farm for injuries they received in the Aug. 18 vehicle crashes that killed one person and injured at least nine others on Interstate 65.
Nancy Gresham was being driven south on I-65 by daughter Judy Abernathy about 7 a.m. when smoke from a hay fire at Bos Dairy LLC obscured the vision of drivers.
The suit, filed Aug. 28 in Lake Superior Court by attorneys Walter J. Alvarez and David A. Wilson, states the fire first began Aug. 17 from combustion in stored hay and states that the dairy was negligent in the hay’s storage.
The law firm also released a statement listing Gresham’s injuries as a broken right hand, a broken left arm, cracked ribs and a displaced and cracked patella.
Abernathy suffered a broken sternum, bruised ribs and “crippling, severe and permanent damage to her right foot with several broken bones.”
The firm is also investigating the possible culpability of semi tractor-trailer drivers involved in the three separate accidents where the smoke blew across the highway.
