A Fannin County jury awarded nearly $129 million to a family on Friday who lost one child in a 2011 Fourth of July wreck that also seriously injured the mother and three other children, including one left permanently paralyzed.

The at-fault driver, Jake Lee, was only 16 years old at the time and was drinking alcohol and huffing aerosol computer keyboard duster. He admitted liability and is currently serving 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to vehicular homicide.

The plaintiffs were represented by Fried Rogers Goldberg partner Brian “Buck” Rogers and Darren Summerville and Anna Cross of the Summerville Firm.

Rogers said the truck Lee was driving was registered to his father's company and that there was “a good commercial insurance policy” available, “but obviously not enough to cover the verdict.”

The plaintiffs, David and Susannah Johnson, are from Florida and were vacationing in Blue Ridge with their children at the time of the crash, Rogers said.

The defense lawyers, James Hardee with Fain, Major & Brennan and Kevin Branch of Alpharetta's McMickle, Kurey & Branch “were gentlemen throughout, and they let the Johnsons tell their story with very little interruption,” Rogers said.

In a statement, Hardee and Branch said the wreck was “truly one of the saddest motor vehicle accident cases in Georgia history.”

“The past medical bills were in excess of $2.5 million when the plaintiffs stopped keeping track in 2014,” the defense lawyers said. “The plaintiffs' 6-year-old child died in the accident, and their 3-year-old was rendered a high-level, ventilator-dependent quadriplegic.”

According to the lawyers, court filings and news accounts, the Johnsons and Lee—who was “hanging with friends,” Rogers said—had all attended a fireworks display in Tennessee the night of the accident.

David Johnson was at the wheel of the family's Honda Odyssey minivan and stopped at a traffic light on U.S. 76 in Blue Ridge when Lee's Dodge Ram pickup truck rear-ended them at an estimated 75 mph.

David Johnson suffered a concussion and was treated and released, but his wife, Susannah—pregnant with another child—“had all of her ribs broken,” the defense statement said. Hannah, 6, died at the scene, and Owen was left a quadriplegic and dependent on a ventilator.

“The plaintiffs' 10- and 8-year-old daughters both suffered very serious orthopedic injuries including a fractured pelvis, femur, tibia and wrist,” the defense statement said.

“No pleasure was taken by anyone in the defense of this case,” the defense lawyers said. “Early outreach efforts by Lee's parents to assist with the plaintiffs' needs were rejected, and plaintiffs were unwilling to accept the less than $2 million of insurance coverage that was tendered years ago. Instead, plaintiffs elected to file suit.”

Because the truck Lee was driving was registered to a company owned by his father, Robert Lee, and Jake Lee's uncle, their company was also originally sued. The case was complicated by Robert Lee's bankruptcy, and in 2016 the Georgia Court of Appeals declared the company not liable for the Johnsons' injuries.

There were several unsuccessful mediations, Rogers said.

“Given the magnitude of the life-care plan for Owen, there was never any realistic way to try to settle the case,” Rogers said.

“There was a lot of motions practice,” he said, and Lee's insurer, The Hartford, offered their policy limits several times before trial, he said.

Robert Lee and his wife resolved the bankruptcy issue not long ago, Rogers said, and the case went to trial before Fannin County Superior Court Judge Brenda Weaver on Sept. 10.

The defense called no witnesses, Rogers said.

“This was really an opportunity for the community of Blue Ridge to appropriately value the Johnson family's loss,” Rogers said.

The jury took about 2.5 hours Friday to award $128,813,522, including $40 million for Owen Johnson's medical expenses and $30 million for his pain and suffering, and $40 million for Hannah Johnson's life and predeath pain and suffering, among other items.

Afterward, Rogers said jurors remained to commiserate with the Johnson family.

“They stuck around and hugged and cried with the Johnsons in the hallway,” Rogers said. “They were obviously very moved.”

“[Jake] Lee has no assets and will leave prison as a convicted felon,” it said. “Consequently, it is doubtful that the large verdict will result in a meaningful recovery, which is sad, because the Johnsons have great needs and are very deserving. The devastation of this case, while unequal, was bilateral to both families and heartbreaking beyond description.”

The trial was the first civil outing for plaintiff's attorney Cross, who joined Summerville's firm in July after 20 years as a prosecutor in Fulton and DeKalb counties.

“I liked it a lot,” said Cross. “The Johnsons were very grateful for the verdict; it was a good experience.”

Read the defense statement: