A jury late Friday awarded more than $9 million in damages to a couple from Vancouver, B.C. who was struck by an 18-wheeler truck while riding their bikes westbound along Interstate 84.

The eight-member jury found Exel Inc. , more commonly known as the shipping company DHL, liable for the Aug. 3, 2016, collision after a five-day trial in U.S. District Court in Portland.

It awarded $1.3 million in economic damages, $4 million in non-economic damages and $4 million in punitive damages to Eric Moutal, whose lower left leg was nearly amputated, and $400,000 in non-economic damages to his now wife, Andrea Newman.

Moutal, who was 31 at the time, and Newman, then 25, were vacationing in Oregon, camping and biking in the Columbia River Gorge before a planned visit to Portland.

The two had been biking along the Historic Columbia River Highway but rode a stretch along the interstate in order to return to the Wyeth Campground, located a few miles east of Cascade Locks.

Under Oregon law, it’s legal to bike on the shoulder of most freeways, except for a handful of urban freeways where the Oregon Department of Transportation has expressly prohibited it in Portland and Medford.

Moutal and Newman testified they were biking single-file in the westbound shoulder of the interstate, between Hood River and Cascade Locks, when they were struck by the truck that veered over the fog line and into the shoulder at a curve in the roadway near milepost 52.

One witness, Wally Shelton, driving about 50 yards behind the truck in the left lane, said he suddenly saw “a body flying backwards toward the semi.’’ Another witness, Gilbert Carrillo, testified that he saw the trucker weaving in and out of the righthand lane before the crash but didn’t see the moment of impact.

“That’s the key. Once you cross the fog line, you ain’t got no right to be there,’’ attorney William Barton told jurors in his closing argument. William Barton and his son, Brent Barton, both represented Moutal. "When you go out on a public highway, we all kind of trust other people are going to respect the rules of the road.''

Exel’s lawyer Robert Barton (no relation to the plaintiff’s attorneys) characterized the couple’s case as “ a rush to judgment,’’ arguing that it was the bikers who crossed into the travel lane and were struck when the trucker wasn’t able to avoid them.

The company hired Joe Craig, a retired Oregon state police trooper and accident reconstruction expert, who called the state police investigation shoddy. Craig testified that the bicyclists must have been in the travel lane when they were struck by the truck. Otherwise, if the truck had veered into the shoulder, the bicyclists would have been catapulted over the guardrail and they didn’t end up there, he said.

“It happened because they were where they shouldn’t have been,’’ the company’s lawyer argued, placing the blame on the bicyclists.

The company’s lawyer, Robert Barton, also presented to the jury a map of the route, which showed in red block letters that the shoulder on that stretch of the interstate where the crash occurred was identified as "NARROW,'' measured at about 4 feet, eight inches in width.

The map shows a stretch along I-84 westbound where it cautions in red block letters, "NARROW SHOULDER!'' That's where the collision occurred on Aug. 3, 2016.Court exhibit

The couple said they had examined the map before their trip.

"We were aware of that. We believed it was narrow and by exercising due caution, it would be ok to ride,'' Newman testified.

As trucker Terry Tisdale drove the Exel truck westbound, he was in the slow or righthand lane. As the road curved to the left, Tisdale’s truck veered right, crossed the fog line and into the shoulder, first hitting Newman’s bicycle and then striking Moutal and his bike, according to the couple’s lawyers.

Tisdale gave a much different account. He said he came around a curve on the freeway and he was unable to avoid the bikers in the travel lane because there was a vehicle overtaking his truck in the left lane. He said he moved as far left as he could to avoid the bikers but ultimately hit them.

The couple’s lawyers argued that the trucker was reckless, speeding at 59 mph, four miles over the speed limit. They said he disregarded signs along the road alerting drivers of bicycles on the roadway and failed to provide care after the crash to the man and woman he struck.

Tisdale couldn’t stop immediately at the scene but drove to a safer spot to pull over to the side of the busy freeway and attempted to call 911, but cell service was spotty in that area, his lawyer said. By the time he returned to the scene of the crash, a nurse was already helping Moutal.

The collision occurred about 6:30 p.m.

Liesl Peterson, a trauma nurse who works at a hospital in The Dalles, was a passenger in one of the first cars that happened upon the scene. Her son was driving and pulled over so she could render emergency medical care to Moutal before he was airlifted by LifeFlight helicopter to OHSU Hospital.

Jurors were shown a photo of Moutal lying on the side of the road, his lower left leg a bloody mess, nearly sheared off.

LifeFlight described Moutal’s injury as “near traumatic leg amputation.” He underwent four surgeries at OHSU Hospital between Aug. 3 and Aug. 16, 2016, before returning to Vancouver, B.C.

Surgeons grafted skin from his right thigh onto his lower left shin, leaving significant scars on both legs. Moutal relied on a wheelchair immediately after his surgeries and now walks with a cane. He wears a compression sock on his left leg and suffers chronic pain, he said.

Moutal, now 34, and Newman, 28, are married but had been dating for about a year at the time of the collision, having met in engineering school at the University of British Columbia.

Moutal is the head brewer at Steel & Oak Brewing, a craft brewery in New Westminster, B.C. Though he missed work due to his injuries, he didn’t lose any pay and has been allowed to continue working as head brew master, though with restricted duties. Andrea Newman, an engineer for the city of Vancouver, suffered cuts and bruises and still has scars.

“We are profoundly grateful for the time and thoughtful work of the jury and judge in listening to our story. While nothing can take us back to 2016, before the crash, this gives a degree of closure and a path forward. We are also amazed by the American civil justice system – there is no equivalent in Canada,'' the couple said in a statement after U.S. District Judge Marco A. Hernandez read the verdict in court.

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com

Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian

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