SARASOTA, Fla. — A Sarasota County jury awarded a woman $8.5 million for the injuries she suffered from a motorcycle crash with a box truck in 2022.
Jessina Presha, 40, was driving her motorcycle near the intersection of 17th Street and Mango Avenue in Sarasota in February 2022. A man named Hector Ibarra, who was driving a box truck for the brick paving company he worked for, crashed into her, according to Sarasota County court records.
The box truck traveled across multiple lanes, going in front of Presha. She tried to swerve but couldn't avoid colliding with the back corner of the truck, according to a press release from injury law firm Morgan & Morgan, whose attorneys represented her.
"The collision mangled Ms. Presha’s right leg and caused life-threatening blood loss. At the hospital, she underwent several extensive procedures to reconstruct the leg," the release read.
Her lawyers said she gained the ability to walk again after months of physical therapy but will have a permanent limp and a brace. She will also need at least two knee replacements in the affected leg, according to the release.
They also said the injury to her leg was so severe that the judge didn't admit the pre-surgery photo as evidence because it was "too graphic."
“Ms. Presha is a hardworking single mother of five children, whose life has been forever altered by the negligence of a truck driver,” attorney Crosby Crane said in a statement. “Because of her limitations, Ms. Presha has had to cut her working hours in half, making it more difficult to support her family."
The law firm said Presha declined the pre-trial settlement offer of $1.5 million. On Friday, the jury awarded Presha about $550,795 for her past medical expenses, $475,00 for future medical expenses, $355,914 for her past pain and suffering and $7,118,290 for her future pain and suffering, according to court documents.
