Hernando jury awards $330 million in drunken driving case

It took a Hernando County jury slightly more than an hour to award a mother who had lost her daughter to a drunken driver $330 million.

The all-woman panel awarded Angela Stone $55 million in compensatory damages and $275 million in punitive damages in the April 12, 2007, death of her 13-year-old daughter Shelby Taylor Hagman.

Hagman was riding in her grandparents' KIA Sedona van when Christopher S. Marcone ran a stop sign at the intersection of Park Ridge Road and Sherman Hills Boulevard, just north of State Road 50.

Marcone pleaded guilty to DUI manslaughter and three related charges. In March 2008, a judge sentenced him to one year in prison for every year of Hagman's life.

Steve Yerrid, Stone's attorney, doubts his client will collect all of the money. But he said that wasn't the reason she sued Marcone and his insurance company.

"Our goals were to see if others could appreciate the enormity of her loss and to do everything in their power to keep this from happening to other families and other mothers," he said.

It is believed to be among the largest DUI wrongful death awards in the nation.

Stone has also sued KIA, the van's manufacturer, claiming the seat belts were defective. Hagman was wearing her seat belt at the time of the crash. That case is still pending.

Hagman was flown to Tampa General Hospital after the crash with significant head injuries. Her family withdrew life support the next day after being told there was no chance for recovery.

Yerrid said the large verdict should send a message that drunken driving won't be tolerated.

"You can't give back what was lost," he said. "But some measure of good has been done with the potential saving of lives."

"A consensus of the community is that the safety of our people and families will be enforced by juries," Yerrid said.

Yerrid also said it should send a message to KIA.

"We wanted to let the seat belt manufacturer know that this was a huge loss," he said.