The State - News from Dec. 23, 1985

A Palo Alto youth, brain-damaged as a result of an accident involving a truck, has been awarded $7.2 million in damages by a U.S. District Court jury. The decision was reached after a two-week trial before U.S. District Judge Robert Aguilar. According to court documents, 16-year-old Douglas Robert Byer was a passenger in a car that was sideswiped by a truck operated by Market Transport Limited of Portland on Interstate 5 just south of Redding. The car rolled over three times. Byer was thrown from it and suffered permanent brain damage, the documents said. The former “A” student and varsity swimmer is now confined to a wheel chair. The company could not be reached for comment.