Settlement follows plaintiff’s death three years after crash

The heirs of a woman hurt in a 2020 car crash will receive more than $6.2 million from multiple parties.

The decedent, Kimberly Day, survived the accident and the subsequent hospitalization but died three years later. Todd Muchnick of Muchnick Haber Margolis, an attorney for Day, said her death was hastened by the collision.

“It was an unfortunate case that left a woman bedridden for the rest of her life,” Muchnick said.

Day was a passenger in a Jeep Patriot driven by Beverly Brammer. The suit alleged a commercial vehicle driver for ASM Enterprises waved another motorist, Blake Ollar, out of a private driveway and into Brammer’s path.

The woman, who was in her 60s, suffered a broken hip and spinal bones as well as brain damage from time spent on a respirator after the T-bone crash, he said.

“She had pretty catastrophic injuries,” Muchnick said. “She was on life support at Missouri University Hospital for probably 60 days or more.”

$5.9 million of the settlement came from the insurer for Ollar’s employer, Lanier Exteriors. ASM paid $20,000, though Muchnick said the company denied their driver waved out Ollar and there was a dispute over whether the company could be held liable.

“Typically, the one who waves out the car is not identified,” he said. “Usually, it becomes an uninsured motorist claim.”

Muchnick said that there was a multimillion-dollar life care plan but it was effectively nullified when Day died.

David Ahlheim of Childress Ahlheim & Cary, an attorney for Lanier, declined to comment. Kaci Peterson of Schreiman, Rackers & Francka, who represented ASM, did not return a call.

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$6.27 million settlement

Motor vehicle accident

Breakdown: $5,900,000 million from Lanier, $300,000 from Brammer, $50,000 from Ollar, $20,000 from ASM

Venue: Boone County Circuit Court

Case Number/Date: 21BA-CV02449/Aug. 29, 2023

Plaintiffs’ Experts: Roger Huckfeldt, Springfield (life care planning)

Special Damages: $1 million in medical charges

Insurer: Federated Insurance (for Lanier); State Farm Insurance (for Brammer); Missouri Farm Bureau (Ollar); Grinnell Mutual (ASM)

Caption: Kim Day v. ASM Enterprises

Plaintiffs’ Attorneys: Todd Muchnick, Muchnick Haber Margolis, St. Louis

Defendants’ Attorneys: David Ahlheim, Childress, Ahlheim & Cary, St. Louis (for Lanier); Kaci Peterson, Schreiman, Rackers & Francka, Jefferson City (for ASM)