A Lane County jury Friday awarded $360,000 to the daughter of a homeless woman who was killed when a garbage truck ran over her in a parking lot near a Eugene church in 2019.
Annette Montero was sleeping in the lot because someone had stolen her bike outside Eugene’s First Christian Church while she ate at a food kitchen inside, according to attorney Scott Lucas.
Montero, 57, who was stranded, slept in a red sleeping bag on a white tarp in the middle of the parking lot about 100 yards south of the church. Montero had initially asked to “rent” a parking stall to sleep in but when security guards said no, she bedded down in the driving area of the parking lot, Lucas said.
About 5:15 a.m. on Aug. 26, 2019, a garbage truck entered the lot at 1203 Willamette St., drove past Montero toward a group of garbage and recycling bins, dumped those bins and backed up, according to court records.
The driver then shifted into drive, moved forward and turned to the right, driving over Montero’s body and head, crushing her skull, according to her lawyer.
Montero’s daughter, Lorraine Baldi, filed the wrongful death suit.
The jury had returned a $500,000 verdict but it was reduced by 28% for Montero’s comparative fault. The case went to trial after Montero’s daughter rejected a $9,999 offer by the garbage company to settle the case, according to Lucas.
Waste Connections US Inc., a Texas-based corporation that bought out the garbage and recycling company Sanipac in 2009 and was the garbage truck operator, had argued that Montero was at fault for not keeping a proper lookout for vehicles, placing herself in the path where trucks or cars were expected, blocking traffic and failing to make her presence known, according to attorney Stacey B. Darling, one of the company’s lawyers.
Further, the company’s lawyers argued that Montero’s daughter hadn’t had contact with her mother for about 13 years before her death and shouldn’t recover any damages for loss of companionship when they didn’t have a relationship for more than a decade. The daughter, now 27, said she attempted to contact her mom in 2013 without success after learning her maternal grandmother had died.
The verdict was announced Friday after the jury heard six days of testimony.
“We are so grateful that the jury saw through all of the excuses Sanipac made for why Ms. Montero was run over and killed. They wanted to blame everyone — the Eugene Police Department, the family of Ms. Montero, and Ms. Montero herself, but they refused to take any responsibility for their own actions that morning,” said Lucas in an email.
“Thankfully, the jury spoke for the community, and said all life has value.’’
Several members of the local community testified in the case, describing the challenges homeless people face, and particularly women living on the street in finding a place to sleep where they can be both safe and tolerated, Lucas said.
Montero’s daughter had been searching for her mother for years, according to Lucas. She had visited homeless shelters, checked voting registrations, jails and prisons and unclaimed property records, and even joined Facebook neighborhood groups, hoping to see a picture of her, with no success.
The driver, Todd Andrew Baker, was dropped as a defendant in the case.
Montero’s family thought that the garbage company hadn’t provided the driver sufficient training or direction, particularly about being aware of people who may be unhoused, according to Lucas.
Baker drove away from the scene; he was never charged in the incident.
