SAVANNAH, Ga. (WJCL) – The wife of the late Ben Tucker announced this week that she is suing all parties involved in the accident that killed the famous jazz great.
The lawsuit, which included the city, county and hotel where the incident occurred, was filed just days before today’s one year anniversary of Tucker’s death after a golf cart he was driving was struck by a vehicle on Grand Prix of America Avenue.
In the lawsuit, Gloria Tucker’s legal representative Paul M. Hoffman said that the plaintiff demands a trial by jury against the defendants for the full value of “the life of Tucker, his pre-death pain and suffering and his funeral expenses” – an amount to be determined by the jury.
Legal documents from Gloria Tucker’s legal counsel claim that Westin Resort owners not only knowingly ignored obvious safety concerns regarding fast driving on the aptly-named road but also chose to delay construction of safety barriers and moved existing ones.
The suit claims that the hotel and the city and county agreed to put up barriers and signs to prevent high speed driving but that the hotel failed to erect them in a timely manner. The city is also accused of taking down speed limit signs on the roadway which is owned, controlled and maintained by the city and county.
Both the city and county are named in the suit as negligent for not acting when the structures were not constructed in time.
The suit claims Tucker was crossing the road to get to his car which was in a resort-owned parking lot on the other side when he was struck.
Full lawsuit available here.
More on the anniversary memorial remembering Tucker’s life and the lawsuit tonight on WJCL News at 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. this evening.
