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$100,000 Damages Awarded In Auto Accident Damage SuitA seven-man, five-woman Kingsport Law Court jury Thursday awarded a 19 year-old former construction work or $100,000 in compensatory damages from a Kingsport physician whose car struck him as he stood beside a van parked on fii verporl Road last year.Virgil Smith, 2513 Hawaii St., hud asked $300,000 in compensatory damages and $300,000 in punitive damages, alleging in his suit that Dr. Abraham Sobel, 421 Ilighridge Road, was driving while intoxicated and in a reckless manner when the ac-cident occurred.The Jury, after hearing a day-arid a-half's testimony and argument, declined to award punitive damages in the case.the impact of the 1 a.m. accident reportedly aenl Smith's body 6*5 feet down the road.Sobel testified Wednesday that he was not intoxicated at the lime of the accident, but did noL see Smith because he was blinded by the bright headlightsof the van, which wasstopped straddling the center line of Riverporl Koad.The physician said he did not realize he had done anything more than scrape the side of the van until he stopped and bucked up, then turned back around and saw Smith's body in the road.Smith said he had stopped the van to check a tire he thought was low, and was bent down beside the front tire on the driver's side.“The next tiling I remember, I was in the hospital, four days later, Smith testified. He said he did not see any car coming.Smith and his companion, Ray Harless, the owner of the van. both testified that the Sobel ear was Ihe only other ear on the road at the time of the accident, conflicting with the Sob els, who say there was another car parked hohl nd the van, also with its lights on.That ear sped away after the accident, according to ihe testlmoney of Sobel and his wife, Sue.Ttwiimony took an unusual turn twice Wednesday, in that two of the four attorneys involved in the case, including County Judge Lon Boyd, took the stand to testify.Boyd, who spent the evening of the accident with the Sobels, said that Sobel was not intoxicated when he started to drive home, or at ihe scene of the accident.He objected several times to being labeled as Sobd’s attorney on the niglU of the accident, maintaining I hat he was nol hired until afterward.The Sobels testified that they had gone to ihe Boyd home about 7:30 on the Friday evening preceding the accident. While there, Sobel said, he had two drinks containing approximately an ounce to an ounces mba-half bourbon each.The Sobels, the Boyds, and mher friends then went to the Elks Club for dinner, where Sobel said he recalled having two more drinks before dinner was over at about 10:30. He said he also had an after-dinner drink, a liqueur or a brandy, but had nothing else between then and the Lime the club closed at 1 a.m.More On Page IflA, Col. 1
Newspaper Details
Kingsport News
Kingsport, Tennessee, US
Fri, Dec 03, 1976
Page 25
Full Page
Clipped by
Kingsport P.
TN, USA 17 Oct 2023
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