BELLE GLADE, Fla. — A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed in the August 2024 crash near Belle Glade, killing nine people — including six children.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday by the family members' estates and lone survivor Jorden Hall, blames Hatton Highway for creating the deadly crash and seeks damages from Palm Beach County, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and five private companies for their alleged role in creating "dangerous" conditions for drivers.
WATCH: Families of crash victims sue county, state
Seth Pajcic, the attorney representing the victims' family and the lone survivor, said Hall is continuing to work and trying to live life even though he was involved in a crash where nine of his family members died.
He said the toughest part has been trying to answer questions about the crash, including if there were problems with the Ford Explorer SUV from the rental company and if there were ways to prevent the crash, which they hope to answer by receiving materials from discovery during the lawsuit.
"I think right now we're sort of the tip of the iceberg as far as the information," said Pajcic. "We're gonna learn a lot more information once we get into the lawsuit and discovery gets underway. We'll learn a lot more about the various factors in the case, especially with regard to the guardrail and the detour itself."
According to the lawsuit, FDOT had requested to use Hatton Highway as a detour in August 2022 for a repaving project on State Road 700. It alleges FDOT, Palm Beach County and an engineering firm in Jacksonville called RS&H failed to properly review the route before selecting it as a detour, because officials would have seen multiple safety defects.
"These engineering firms in the state and the county have a duty to the public to make sure our roadways are safe and travel-worthy," Pajcic said. "And this roadway was not. This roadway had a defective guardrail, didn't have the proper warning signs and it didn't [have] the striping on the roadway. So this is about public safety."
The lawsuit further alleges that a critical sign warning drivers of a 90-degree turn had been missing from the area for more than a year, and that it was later discovered under vegetation behind the crash site.
"Unlike SR-700, Hatton Highway is a poorly maintained rural roadway with sharp compound curves, missing warning signs, narrow shoulders, missing roadway striping, visual obstructions, canals adjacent to the roadway, and a documented history of crashes," the lawsuit said.
A National Transportation Safety Board report from September 2024 confirmed that the SUV, owned by Payless Car Rental, was driving westbound on Hatton Highway when the driver approached a 90-degree left curve and departed the roadway. The car impacted a metal beam guardrail and entered the canal, coming to a rest on its roof and becoming partially submerged.
The crash report stated no one in the vehicle was wearing a seatbelt.
According to the lawsuit, there had been 26 crashes on Hatton Highway within a mile of this incident while 19 crashes happened at this exact curve. WPTV spoke with residents who live in the area after the crash, who said the highway is known to be unsafe.
Both U.S. Sugar and New Hope Sugar, a subsidiary of Florida Crystals, are named as defendants in the lawsuit.
New Hope is accused of slightly obstructing the road because of the height of their crops on land near the crash site. U.S. Sugar is accused of owning a nearby road, which attorneys believe contributed to the crash becoming deadly because guardrails didn't encircle the curve. Neither company, nor FDOT, responded to WPTV's request about the allegations by publication.
Palm Beach County says it cannot comment on pending litigation and will not comment until the National Transportation Safety Board finishes its investigation into the crash. Another defendant, Florida Roadway Guardrail & Signs Inc., said it only worked on the road after the crash, after we informed the company it was accused of improperly installing guardrails.
Pajcic said he expects to remove and add defendants as the case moves through the legal process, but he had to file the suit before a state statute deadline of two years after the incident.
The plaintiffs are seeking a jury trial.
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