Trucker’s Widow Settles Mississippi Wrongful Death Claim with Insurer

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A trucker’s widow has settled her 2011 wrongful death lawsuit with H&M International Transportation Inc.’s insurance company and a driver.

Filed Feb. 8, the agreement with Rita Marie Bruce shows Brookwood Insurance Co. paid her $59,957 on behalf of her husband, James L. Bruce.

The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reported that court documents showed H&M’s insurance carrier also negotiated a compromise settlement of “a confidential sum of money” as compensation for Bruce’s injuries and death.

Bruce sued the company and driver Isaac Whitlock after a July 21, 2009, fiery accident killed her husband on U.S. Highway 78 near the Myrtle exit in Union County.

Her lawsuit claimed a transport truck driven by Whitlock was moving so slowly and without proper lighting that her husband’s truck rear-ended it.