PRESS RELEASE:

Richard L. Baggett and Linda K. Baggett, Individually and as

surviving parents of Caitlyn Nichole Baggett, Deceased, and
Richard L. Baggett, as Administrator of the Estate of Caitlyn
Nichole Baggett, Deceased, Plaintiffs vs Total Transport of
Mississippi, LLC, US Xpress Enterprises, Inc., US Xpress, Inc, US
Xpress Leasing, Inc., New Mountain Lake Holdings, LLC,
Mountain Lake Risk Retention Group, Inc., John Wayne Johnson,
Greywolf Logistics, Inc., Arch Insurance Company, and Robert
Gordon Tayloe, Defendants.
William Craig and Kathy Marie Clark, Individually and as
surviving parents of Emily Elizabeth Clark, Deceased, and William
Craig Clark as Administrator of the Estate of Emily Elizabeth
Clark, Deceased, Plaintiffs vs Total Transport of Mississippi, LLC,
US Xpress Enterprises, Inc., US Xpress, Inc, US Xpress Leasing,
Inc., New Mountain Lake Holdings, LLC, Mountain Lake Risk
Retention Group, Inc., John Wayne Johnson, Greywolf Logistics,
Inc., Arch Insurance Company, and Robert Gordon Tayloe,
Defendants.
Kim DeLoach McQuaig and James M. DeLoach, Jr., Individually
and as surviving parents of Abbie Lorene DeLoach, Deceased, and
Kim DeLoach McQuaig and James M. DeLoach, Jr., as CoAdministrators of the Estate of Abbie Lorene DeLoach, Deceased
vs Total Transport of Mississippi, LLC, US Xpress Enterprises,
Inc., US Xpress, Inc, US Xpress Leasing, Inc., New Mountain
Lake Holdings, LLC, Mountain Lake Risk Retention Group, Inc.,
John Wayne Johnson, Greywolf Logistics, Inc., Arch Insurance
Company, and Robert Gordon Tayloe, Defendants.
Megan Rebecca Richards, Plaintiff, vs Total Transport of
Mississippi, LLC, US Xpress Enterprises, Inc., US Xpress, Inc, US
Xpress Leasing, Inc., New Mountain Lake Holdings, LLC,
Mountain Lake Risk Retention Group, Inc., John Wayne Johnson,

Greywolf Logistics, Inc., Arch Insurance Company, and Robert

Gordon Tayloe, Defendants.
May 12, 2015- MEDIA CONTACT Robert (Bob) D. Cheeley
(bob@butlerwooten.com); office 404-321-1700 or 770-861-4100
mobile; Brandon L. Peak (brandon@butlerwooten.com) office
706-322-1990
Bryan County, Georgia-Three wrongful death lawsuits were filed
on May 12, 2015 in Bryan County Superior Court and State Court
on behalf of three sets of surviving parents of the following
nursing students at Georgia Southern University: Caitlyn Baggett
(age 21 of Millen, Ga), Emily Clark (age 21 of Powder Springs,
Ga) and Abbie DeLoach (age 21 of Savannah, Ga). In addition,
another lawsuit was filed in the name of Megan Richards (age 20
of Loganville, Ga), one of two young women who survived a
horrific tractor trailer crash that left five nursing students dead on
April 22, 2015 on I-16 eastbound in Bryan County, Georgia. At
approximately 5:50 AM, an 18-wheeler operated by Total
Transportation of Mississippi, LLC, and owned by its parent
company, US Xpress Enterprises, Inc. of Chattanooga, Tennessee
(Total Transport/US Xpress) John Wayne Johnson, an employee
from Louisiana, inexplicably ran into the rear of seven stopped
vehicles in the right lane. Defendant Johnson did not brake, made
no effort to avoid colliding with the stopped vehicles on the
roadway, and collided with the rear of a Toyota Corolla at a speed
just under 70 mph. The occupants of the Toyota were three
Georgia Southern nursing students-Emily Clark, driver, and
Caitlyn Baggett and McKay Pittman, passengers. The 18-wheeler
struck the Toyota with such force that the Toyota was slammed
into a second vehicle, a Ford Escape, immediately in front of the
Toyota, which contained four Georgia Southern nursing students,
including Abbie DeLoach (driver), and passengers Brittney
McDaniel, Morgan Bass and Megan Richards. All seven nursing
students were enroute to the final day of nursing clinical rotations

at a Savannah hospital when the crash occurred.

According to the lawsuit, the force of the impact caused by Total
Transportation/US Xpress 18-wheeler then crushed the Ford
Escape into the rear of an 18-wheel fuel tanker, forcing the fuel
tanker onto the shoulder of the highway and tossing the Ford into
the air where it rolled several times, resulting in the ejection of
passengers McDaniel and Bass from the Ford SUV. Bass suffered
fatal injuries and died at the scene, and McDaniel suffered severe
and permanent injuries.
The 18-wheeler was equipped with a Collision Avoidance System,
but it is not known if it was operational.
The suit stated that the driver, Abbie DeLoach, was trapped behind
the steering wheel for a considerable period of time and was
extricated from the vehicle as a result of the timely efforts of fire
fighters. Abbie DeLoach was alive for several hours and was
loaded onto a life flight helicopter but did not survive her injuries
suffered in the horrible collision.
Megan Richards suffered severe physical injuries and permanent
emotional and psychological trauma as a result of the violent crash
and its aftermath, including witnessing her friends die when an
explosion of the fuel tank engulfed the Toyota.
Richard and Linda Baggett, Craig and Kathy Clark, Kim
DeLoach McQuaig and Jimmy DeLoach, filed suit as sole
surviving heirs under Georgias Wrongful Death Statute to recover
for the full value of the life of each of their daughters, all of whom
aspired to dedicate their lives as nurses to take care of other
people said Bob Cheeley, a partner in the Atlanta/Columbus firm
of Butler Wooten Cheeley & Peak, who is lead counsel in the four
cases. It is a senseless and horrible loss of Georgias best and
brightest young women. We intend to thoroughly investigate the
hiring practices of Total Transportation and its parent company,

US Xpress to understand why Defendant Johnson did not see the

long line of traffic with brake lights shinning in the darkness just
before 6 am. We intend to get to the bottom of why this happened.
After grieving the loss of their beautiful daughters, our clients are
deeply disturbed over the facts of this wreck and they are
demanding justice for the innocent blood which was shed on the
roadway that morning added Cheeley.
This is every parents worst nightmare, said Brandon Peak, a
partner of Butler Wooten Cheeley & Peak, who is also
representing the plaintiffs in these cases. These young women
were on their way to their final clinical rotations at a Savannah
hospital and they never had a chance with an out of control 18wheeler barreling down on them from behind. Witnesses who saw
the collision described it as if a bomb exploded when the 18wheeler struck the young womens vehicles on the roadway.
This carnage on I-16 is, without a doubt, the worst case I have
ever seen in my 43 years of practicing law in coastal Georgia said
co-counsel, Billy N. Jones of Hinesville, Georgia. Never have I
seen such indefensible conduct by someone operating a motor
vehicle.
Plaintiffs also named US Xpress, as parent company of Total
Transportation of Mississippi, and its respective insurers New
Mountain Lake Holdings, LLC and Mountain Lake Risk Retention
Group, Inc. In addition, plaintiffs named Greywolf Logistics, Inc. a
Georgia- based trucking company, and its driver, Robert Gordon
Tayloe of Laurens County, Georgia, alleging that these defendants
were negligent in causing the first wreck earlier that morning on I16, which resulted in the stalled traffic.
Also representing Plaintiff Kim DeLoach McQuaig, individually
and as co-administrator of Abbie DeLoachs estate, will be Mark
Tate and Jim Shipley of Savannah, Georgia.