The Savannah City Council has decided to appeal a Chatham County State Court’s $12 million award against the city.
Mayor Edna Jackson announced the decision after a 1.5 hour closed door meeting Friday afternoon. The meeting was scheduled after the jury awarded $12 million to Shanta Greene on Aug. 21 after day-long deliberations in the nine-day trial.
Greene, 31, had filed suit against the city after being seriously injured on July 2, 2010, when a live oak tree limb fell and impaled her in the passenger seat of a pickup truck on Bee Road at 42nd Street. She lost her right leg and pelvis along with an assortment of related physical injuries and a brain injury.
In addition to $12 million for Greene, the jury also awarded $20,000 to her cousin, Louis Anderson, who was driving the pickup, and $10,000 to his son, Xavier Anderson, 9. Both suffered lesser injuries.
During the case, Greene’s attorney had claimed the city was negligent in caring for the tree, while the city claimed an internal defect caused the limb to fall and the city had no knowledge of that defect.