After hearing two dramatically different versions of what happened when a tractor-trailer truck hit a grandmother's Honda Accord on Buford Highway, a Gwinnett County State Court jury reached a $7.7 million verdict, but reduced it by 35% for comparative negligence.

The jury apportioned 65% of the fault, or $5 million, to ABF Freight Systems, owner of the truck, and 35% to Victoria Waits Cofer, who died not quite three months after the August 2015 crash. The jury reached the verdict March 25 after a weeklong trial before Chief Magistrate Judge Kristina Hammer Blum, filling in for State Court Chief Judge Pamela South to help move through the backlog from the coronavirus pandemic shutdown.