A multimillion-dollar settlement was reached in a wrongful death suit in Jefferson County.
The $10 million settlement was reached Jan. 13 in Sabrina Byrd et al. v. James Milstead, Hall Hauling, LLC & Hall Construction, LLC, which was initially filed in Jefferson County Circuit Court. The plaintiffs were represented by lead attorney Amanda N. Murphy of Goldblatt + Singer in Clayton, with Shaun M. Falvey, also with Goldblatt + Singer. The defendants’ counsel was confidential.
The suit stems from an accident on Interstate 55 in late 2020, near Pevely. Defendant James Milstead was traveling northbound in the far-right lane to return his dump truck to defendant Hall Hauling’s Jefferson County location, after unloading sand at a nearby shipping facility. At the time of the collision, Milstead was acting within the course and scope of his employment with Hall Hauling.
Defendant Jacob Stephenson was also driving in the far-right lane of northbound I-55, traveling at 13 miles per hour as Milstead approached the Pevely exit. Stephenson’s vehicle was experiencing mechanical defects which were affecting his ability to maintain safe highway speeds. Milstead subsequently rear-ended Stephenson.
An hour before the crash, Stephenson had been cited by Missouri State Highway Patrol for traveling below the minimum speed limit on I-55. MSHP also cited Stephenson’s vehicle’s mechanical defects as a contributing cause in the later collision.
Milstead lost control after rearending Stephenson’s vehicle, veering to the left and crashing into other vehicles, crossing through the cable barriers on the interstate’s median and entered the southbound I-55 lanes. He then struck decedents Leonard and Rebcca Byrd head on. The couple of 40 years, from St. Genevieve County, were killed instantly.
According to counsel for the plaintiff, dashcam video from inside Milstead’s truck showed there were no vehicles in the far-right lane between Milstead’s truck and Stephenson’s vehicle leading up to the collision.
Per Falvey, the dashcam video in conjunction with an analysis from the plaintiff’s expert, crash reconstructionist Joey Stidham, determined Milstead had approximately 10.45 seconds of unobstructed visibility of Stephenson before Milstead rear-ended him. The weather conditions were clear and the dashcam footage showed other motorists identifying Stephenson’s slow speed of travel and thus avoiding his vehicle.
Additional black box data obtained by the plaintiff’s revealed Milstead did not apply his brakes before impact, or at most, applied his brakes one second before the collision.
Stephenson tendered his $100,000 policy limits; plaintiffs later discovered that Hall Hauling was insured for a combined single limit total of $4 million inclusive of both its liability and umbrella policy limits. Plaintiffs sent Hall Hauling and Milstead’s counsel a statutory demand under RSMo 507.060 requiring them to interplead the complete policy amount within 90 days.
While the demand was pending, the plaintiffs’ counsel inspected the dump truck, where they discovered load tickets and timecards for Hall Construction. Further investigation found that on the day of the collision, Milstead was issued a bill of lading by Hall Construction. It was revealed Hall Construction was owned by Jason Hall, the same owner of Hall Hauling. Hall Construction was operating as a motor carrier using the same address as Hall Hauling.
Before the demand was set to expire, counsel of Hall Hauling and Milstead’s insurer agreed to tender the remaining $3.966 million under their combined single limit policy after deduction of $34,346.37 for prior injury and property damage settlements. The two parties also requested a complete release of Hall Construction; the plaintiffs accepted the policy limit tender but refused to release Hall Construction.
Hall Construction was insured with an underlaying policy providing $1 million in primary policy coverage and a $1 million umbrella policy. The plaintiffs sent another demand to both insurers, who accepted the demand and agreed on behalf of Hall Construction to pay the combined $2 million policy limits. The settlement with Hall Hauling and Hall Construction was approved in Jefferson County Circuit Court on July 28, 2021, and Dec. 17, 2021, respectively.
Although the bill of lading was issued on the date of the crash, the plaintiff’s investigation determined that Hall Construction did not possess motor carrier operating authority. Records obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests indicated that, for several years, Hall Hauling had been assigned a conditional safety rating by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The plaintiff contended that, as a result, Hall Construction formed a “chameleon carrier” that continued operating under the Hall Hauling name. The defendants denied those allegations. The plaintiff subsequently reached a settlement with an additional confidential defendant, and those claims were resolved Jan. 13.
“We’re thrilled with the outcome,” said Falvey. “We only discovered the existence of Hall Construction by basically going through a bunch of loose paperwork and documents that were randomly scattered throughout the cab of the tractor. Had we not done that, there’s a possibility we would have never learned of the relationship or maybe even the existence of Hall Construction. Certainly not the relationship.”
Wrongful Death
Amount of verdict, judgment or settlement: $10 million
Type of action: Wrongful Death
Venue: Jefferson County Circuit Court
Case Number/Date: 21JE-CC00464/Jan. 13, 2026
Injuries alleged: Death
Caption: Sabrina Byrd et al. v. James Milstead, Hall Hauling, LLC & Hall Construction, LLC
Plaintiff’s Attorneys: Amanda N. Murphy and Shaun M. Falvey, Goldblatt + Singer, Clayton
Defendant’s Attorneys: Confidential
Insurance Carriers: Confidential (for defendant)
Plaintiffs’ Experts: Joseph Stidham, accident reconstruction expert with Stidham Reconstruction in Wooten, Kentucky
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