In 2016, Joshua Chang, a student at Yale University, passed away in a car accident in Milton, Georgia. After years of legal battles, the city recently reached an agreement with his family: to pay a settlement of ten million dollars and to name a nearby bridge after the student.
The Milton City Council unanimously approved the settlement agreement with the Chang family on August 25th. Chang, a senior student majoring in mechanical engineering and economics at Yale University, tragically lost his life on November 19, 2016, while driving home for Thanksgiving. He veered off Batesville Road and collided with a large concrete and stone flower bed, resulting in his untimely death at the age of 21.
According to the settlement agreement, the Georgia Interlocal Risk Management Agency will pay six point six seven million dollars, and the city of Milton will bear three point three three million dollars of the ten million dollar settlement. The city also agreed to name the bridge near the accident site after Joshua Chang, with further details of the memorial to be announced later.
Following the accident, Chang’s family conducted an investigation and believed that the flower bed, which was within the city’s maintained right-of-way, posed a safety hazard, leading them to file a lawsuit against Milton. Investigators confirmed that Chang was not speeding, not using a cellphone, and showed no traces of drugs or alcohol in his system. The family’s lawyer suggested that Chang may have veered off the road in an attempt to avoid obstacles.
In June 2023, a Fulton County jury found Milton City responsible for the accident, ruling in favor of the Chang family. The initial jury award was around thirty-five million dollars, but after deducting seven percent for Chang’s own negligence, the net compensation amounted to approximately thirty-two point five five million dollars. Milton City later filed an appeal.
In September 2024, the Georgia Court of Appeals upheld the original ruling. Milton City continued its appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court, with other local governments such as Atlanta, Sandy Springs, and Cedartown supporting Milton as “friends of the court.” They were concerned that upholding the verdict could lead to wider litigation liability for trees, signs, and utility poles outside of roadway areas. Milton City argued that sovereign immunity should protect the city government from liability for defects outside of roadways.
In March of this year, the Georgia Supreme Court issued a ruling that narrowed the scope of liability for municipalities in cases of negligence outside of roadways but acknowledged that governments could still be held responsible in cases of “nuisance.” The Court remanded the nuisance issue back to the Court of Appeals for further review, leading the parties to reach a settlement before completion of that process.
Following the jury’s decision in 2023, Chang’s mother expressed relief after waiting over six years to hear that it was not Joshua’s fault. Despite the settlement, she stated that no amount of compensation could alleviate the pain of losing her only son, and the trauma from the accident would never cease.
Attorneys for the family, Jeffrey Harris and Jed Manton, released a statement expressing that while the settlement cannot bring back Joshua’s life, they hope it can provide some comfort to the family.
Steven Krokoff, the city manager of Milton, mentioned that the lawsuit had prompted the city to enhance inspection and management of potential hazards within road right-of-ways, such as fixed objects like mailboxes.
Currently, Georgia state legislators are pushing for legislation to further clarify the standards of government liability and considering prohibiting punitive damages for local governments.