An Alachua County man was awarded $120 million Thursday by a jury in a lawsuit over a crash involving a Gainesville Regional Utilities employee.
Jacob T. Rodgers won the award against the city of Gainesville for a 2015 crash in which GRU employee William Stormant, driving a city vehicle, ran through a stop sign and slammed into a pickup truck in which Rodgers was a passenger.
Jurors awarded Rodgers more than $16 million for the expenses, loss of income, mental anguish and other factors that he has already incurred and more than $103 million for future expenses and losses, the verdict form shows.
However, the principle of sovereign immunity in holding government agencies liable in lawsuits caps payout at $200,000.