A jury awarded more than $9 million in damages to a man and woman from Canada who were struck by an 18-wheeler truck while riding their bikes along Interstate 84 in the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon.
The eight-member jury found Exel Inc. — more commonly known as the shipping company DHL — liable for the Aug. 3, 2016, collision late Friday after a five-day trial in U.S. District Court in Portland.
It awarded $1.3 million in economic damages, $4 million in non-economic damages and $4 million in punitive damages to Eric Moutal, whose lower left leg was nearly amputated, and $400,000 in non-economic damages to his now wife, Andrea Newman.
The two had been biking along the Historic Columbia River Highway but rode a stretch along the interstate in order to return to their campground.
