Mother of MoDOT worker killed speaks out

[TowForce]

Mother of MoDOT worker killed in work accident slams court’s immunity decision

 

 

Tonya Musskopf said she is “disgusted” by the Missouri Supreme Court’s recent ruling that four Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) supervisors could not be sued for the death of her daughter and unborn grandson.

 

Musskopf, who lives in Florida, and the child’s father, Austin Jarvis, filed a wrongful death suit after Kaitlyn Anderson was hit and killed by a car while working for the Missouri Department of Transportation in November 2021. Anderson, who was 25 and lived and De Soto, was six-months pregnant with Jaxx Jarvis when she died. MoDOT worker James W. Brooks, who was 58 and lived in St. Louis, also died, and another worker, Mike S. Brown of House Springs was injured in the accident at Telegraph Road and westbound I-255 in south St. Louis County, the Missouri State Highway Patrol reported.

 

In a unanimous decision on Tuesday, June 4, the Supreme Court granted immunity to supervisors Michael Love and Gary Ludwick, intersection crew leader Kristina Jordan and assistant supervisor James Henson. Stanley MacFadden of Hillsboro, who was driving the car that hit the workers and who died in March 2023, also had been named in the lawsuit, along with the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission, which oversees MoDOT.

 

Musskopf said she is angry about the Supreme Court’s decision.

 

“As a supervisor, it is part of your job to do the training and be aware of the safety issues. It is pretty disgusting they are allowed immunity for not following direct safety protocols.”

 

The Supreme Court ruled that the supervisors are protected from being sued by official immunity, which protects public officials sued in their individual capacities from liability for alleged acts of negligence committed during the course of their official duties for the performance of discretionary acts.

 

Linda Horn, MoDOT communications director, said the department does not have a comment about the ruling.

 

In the wrongful death lawsuit, Musskopf and Jarvis claim the MoDOT supervisors did not follow the “mandatory, nondiscretionary rules, policies and procedures” to have a protective vehicle parked in front of the workspace. The lawsuit also says supervisors didn’t provide ongoing training or a safety plan and ignored Anderson’s request to be placed in a safer role while she was pregnant.

 

“There is nothing in the pleadings from which a jury reasonably could infer the employees collectively or any employee individually intended to cause the injury or death of Anderson and Jaxx through a vehicle operated by third-party McFadden entering the workspace and striking Anderson,” Judge Ginger Gooch wrote in a 15-page decision.

 

In March, attorneys for the state said the deaths were the result of a workplace accident. Attorneys for Anderson’s family said the supervisors should not be shielded from prosecution.

 

However, the court said if there was any negligence, the supervisors would be covered by official immunity.

 

“Even if one were to argue the intentional policy violations amount to gross negligence or recklessness, official immunity still applies. Missouri does not recognize a cause of action for gross negligence, and official immunity applies to recklessness to the same extent as negligence,” Gooch wrote.

 

The decision also said there is no “factual allegation the employees intended to cause injury or death to Anderson or Jaxx.”

“What is the point of having safety protocols in place if you don’t have to follow them?” Musskopf asked. “It is horrible that she (Anderson) was put in an unsafe workplace at six-months pregnant without any accountability.”

 

In their argument, attorneys for the state said MoDOT and the supervisors are shielded from being sued for Jaxx Jarvis’ death because he was considered an employee at the time of his mother’s death.

 

A bill called HB 2578, or Jaxx’s Law, was considered earlier this year in the Missouri House that would not have allowed employers, such as MoDOT, from classifying unborn children as employees. That classification shields employees from wrongful death actions.

 

However, the bill wasn’t voted on before the House adjourned on May 17.

 

Musskopf said she will continue to try to change the law that allows unborn children to be classified as employees, as well as laws that protect employers when an employee dies.

 

“I will keep the fight going until we change this,” she said. “No one should be excused from killing somebody when it was preventable. I will keep going back to Jefferson City year after year until I get that changed.”

 

The Supreme Court’s ruling was issued just four days before the third annual Slow Down Move Over Walk is scheduled to be held at 9 a.m. Saturday at Arnold City Park. The walk will raise funds for Kait’s love for Jaxx Foundation, which Anderson’s family started.

 

The foundation provides pregnancy medical alert bracelets to women, free grief coaching for those in need, grief bags for those who have recently lost a child and a sack of items to families who recently welcomed a child after the mother lost a previous pregnancy.

 

RESOURCE LINK

 

[TowForce]

Slow Down Move Over Walk to be held in Arnold

 

 

Hundreds of people are expected to gather in Arnold on Saturday for the third annual Slow Down Move Over Walk.

 

The walk is set to start at 9 a.m. in Arnold City Park, 1 Bradley Beach Road. It is being held by the Kait’s Love for Jaxx Foundation that was started by family members of Kaitlyn D. Anderson of De Soto, who was six months pregnant when she was hit and killed by a car while working for the Missouri Department of Transportation in November 2021. Anderson’s unborn child was named Jaxx Jarvis.

 

“We are trying to spread awareness to slow down and move over,” said Tonya Musskopf, Anderson’s mother. “If we can get people to come to Arnold City Park and walk with us, and then they wear the shirts (from the walk) out that say, ‘Slow down and move over,’ maybe one day people will start moving over.”

The cost to participate in the walk is $25. To register for the walk, go to kaitsloveforjaxx.org.

 

Participants will receive free water and snacks after the walk.

 

Tabatha Moore, Anderson’s aunt, said on May 29 that more than 100 people had registered to participate. She also said the walk has added new sponsors this year. No Limit Construction of Festus is the title sponsor and Pizza World of Illinois also is a sponsor.

 

“We are very blessed and fortunate that people have not forgotten,” Moore said. “I think they realize we have a variety of people working on the roadways to help us. It is important to make sure that we are slowing down, moving over and getting them home safely.”

 

Musskopf said the foundation will present a medal to Paula Bivins during the event. Bivins’ husband, Wade Bivins, a tow trucker operator, was responding to a call on I-255 in Illinois in November 2023, when he was struck by a vehicle while and killed. He was 57.

 

“The medal will say slow down, move over, and it will have a picture of a tow truck driver,” Musskopf  said.

 

The walk also will feature a raffle and a 50/50 drawing.

 

Anderson, her unborn child and MoDOT worker James W. Brooks of St. Louis were killed in the Nov. 18, 2021, accident at Telegraph Road and westbound I-255 in south St. Louis County, and another MoDOT worker, Mike S. Brown of House Springs, was injured.

 

Anderson was 25, and Brooks was 58 years old when they were killed, the Missouri State Highway Patrol reported.

 

A St. Louis County grand jury decided not to charge Stanley McFadden of Hillsboro after he drove into the work zone that left Anderson and Brooks dead and Brown injured. McFadden died on March 9 at age 53.

 

Anderson’s and Brooks’ families filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) and the workers’ supervisors. MoDOT has argued that Anderson, Brooks and Anderson’s unborn child were working at the time of the accident, which makes it a worker’s compensation issue.

 

The case was heard by the Missouri Supreme Court on March 27, and a ruling had not been issued as of May 30.

 

“I am hoping that the Supreme Court makes MoDOT be held accountable for Kaitlyn’s death,” Musskopf said. “I hope the Supreme Court holds up the rulings from the appellate court and trial court that there is no way possible that Jaxx could be an employee. Hopefully, we get that ruling soon. Every day waiting is pure agony.”

 

The foundation uses the funds raised from the walk to provide pregnancy medical alert bracelets to women, free grief coaching for those in need, grief bags for those who have lost a child and a sack of items to families who welcomed a child after the mother lost a previous pregnancy.

 

Moore said the foundation also provides financial support to families of Department of Transportation employees from around the country and scholarships to area high school students.

 

She said the foundation recently awarded $1,000 scholarships to Jacob Constantine, who graduated from Hillsboro High School, and Delaney Bass, who graduated from De Soto High School.

 

Musskopf said she is happy people continue to support the foundation, and the families’ mission to improve work safety.

 

“The St. Louis County and Jefferson County communities have been extremely good to my family,” she said. “I am proud of the communities standing by us and not letting Kaitlyn be forgotten. That is really important to me.”

 

RESOURCE LINK

[Shana]

Our Legal System is a MESS... This young woman should have never been put in that position. None of these individuals should have been there without regard for their safety. Their deaths were caused not only by the person who struck them; but an admitted lack of safety procedures. Yet, the supervisors who placed them in danger seem to have received little to no penalties for their actions. A failure to follow proper policies and procedures should have resulted in at least a termination. Again, these deaths are on them as well as the individual who struck them.