CHARLESTON — A St. Albans woman is suing Mead & Hunt for injuries sustained during a car accident allegedly caused by there not being clear signage placed warning drivers of construction.
Brayman Construction Corp., Trumbull Corporation and Brayman-Trumbull A Joint Venture were also named as defendants in the suit.
Sarah E. Clark was driving a vehicle on W.Va. 817 on July 13, 2021, and was turning onto the ramp to enter Interstate 64, according to a complaint filed in Kanawha Circuit Court.
Clark claims she had traveled this route for several years prior to the incident on July 13, 2021.
On this day, Clark made a left-hand turn from W.Va. 817 into the proper lane on the ramp to enter I-64 when she was suddenly in a head-on car crash with a 2013 Ford Cargo Van, according to the suit.
"At the time, Defendants were performing construction and failed to put up proper signage to warn drivers of the change in the traffic pattern," the complaint states. "The construction project had turned the two-lane, one-way entrance ramp into a two-lane, two-way road," the complaint states. "The West Virginia Department of Highways contracted with Meade and Hunt Inc. as a consultant on the project at issue."
By failing to put up the proper signage before the plaintiff was struck head-on by a van was a breach of the defendants' duties, according to the suit.
Clark claims the defendants failed to warn drivers of the change in traffic pattern, which resulted in a head-on crash and severe injuries to Clark.
"Sarah Clark, driving reasonably under the circumstances, had no reason to anticipate a vehicle traveling in her direction on the entrance ramp to I64 near the Nitro Bridge," the complaint states. "Defendants breached the duty to regulate, warn and guide traffic. Defendants breached the duty to provide understandable routes with signage at the detriment to the safety of the public and ultimately resulted in the injury of Plaintiff."
Clark is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. She is represented by Kevin P. Davis of Charleston.
The case is assigned to Circuit Judge Tera Salango.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number: 23-C-590
