Trucking company sues student athletes in wreck

Young Trucking Inc. is suing two student athletes involved in a March 2005 crash with one of their vehicles. \nThe accident involved James Bailey, an IU football player, and Jamey Chapman, an IU women's basketball player, whose SUV collided with a Young Trucking dump truck on Ind. State Road 45. The accident occurred when Bailey and Chapman's SUV pulled out from a private driveway and collided with the truck, which was heading east on 10th Street. \nBailey and Chapman were both hospitalized as a result of injuries in the crash, according to a March 28 Indiana Daily Student article. Clarence Hamm, the driver of the dump truck, was treated and released that day.\nBoth Bailey and Chapman have been named as defendants in the suit, which is asking for $75,000 in financial damages. But Young Trucking Inc. is planning to drop one of the defendants from the suit as soon as the driver of the SUV is determined, said Edward McCrea, the attorney representing the company.\nUnder Indiana law, the driver must be named in the civil suit to recover damages, but the intention of the lawsuit is to recover damages from Bailey or Chapman's insurance company, McCrea said. Lawsuits cannot directly name the insurance company as defendants, he said.\nThe $75,000 the trucking company is asking for includes payment for the diminished value of the dump truck, the loss of the load of stone the truck was carrying, as well as lost profits and overtime incurred as a result of the accident.\n"This is for the property damages only," McCrea said. "The insurance carrier for the defendant refused to agree to what we thought was a reasonable settlement ... We were hoping to resolve this without filing a lawsuit."\nHe added he wasn't sure when hearings for the lawsuit will begin, but hopes they will start soon.\nBailey's attorney, Scott Kyrouac, has filed court documents claiming Bailey was not the driver of the SUV and shouldn't have been named in the suit.