A South Florida construction company is on the hook for a $45 million verdict after asking an unsupervised driver to maneuver a tractor-trailer off the Interstate 75 median late at night, leading to a crash that killed two people in other vehicles.

A Broward Circuit Court jury sided with the family of medical student Raymond Astaphan, 29, of Dominica, who was killed when truck driver Juan Calero made a U-turn off the median against four lanes of traffic.

The four-week trial before Judge Michael Robinson ended Wednesday. A case filed on behalf of a 17-year-old girl also killed in the May 2015 Pembroke Pines crash will be tried separately.

The plaintiffs argued Ranger Construction Co. acted recklessly by not closing lanes and positioning extra lights before asking Calero to move a load of concrete barriers after 11 p.m. without a supervisor. The truck was on the I-75 median near the Pines Boulevard exit.

“This particular construction vehicle weighed 80,000 pounds and had no chance of getting up to speed merging into the left high-speed lane from the median in any kind of safe way without a lane closure,” plaintiffs attorney Stuart Ratzan of Ratzan Law Group in Miami said. He worked on the case with colleagues Stuart Weissman and Evan Gilead.

Calero was asked to follow his supervisor, who headed south to another site, Ratzan said. The truck Calero was transporting was facing north, so he made a U-turn to try to head into southbound traffic.

Ranger argued it complied with its contract with the Florida Department of Transportation. Ratzan argued the contract required Ranger not to put construction vehicles on the highway in a way that would disrupt the traffic flow.

The contract prohibited construction vehicles from using a travel lane to accelerate or decelerate, and the contract required lane closures for construction vehicles that were too sluggish to safely merge onto the highway, Ratzan said.

Ranger also argued it was not responsible for Calero's actions since he was a subcontractor. The jury found otherwise, saddling Ranger with the full $20 million in compensatory damages and $25 million in punitive damages. Calero was assigned $5,000 in punitive damages.

Ranger's attorney, Edwin Mortell of Peterson Bernard in Stuart, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Calero's attorney, John Richards of Boyd Richards Parker & Colonnelli in Fort Lauderdale, was also unavailable by deadline.

“This case is a reminder of how powerful and important our third branch of government is for enforcing safety and protecting everyone from harm,” Ratzan said. “Through its verdict, the jury, a cross-section of our community with humility, discipline and order understood that highway construction companies must follow the rules, not just in Broward County, but all over the country.”