A Black former Mississippi delivery driver has filed a second civil action against the alleged perpetrators and his former employer after accusing two white men of firing into his FedEx work van.
According to NBC News, attorney Carlos Moore filed the case in state court on Nov. 20 on behalf of D’Monterrio Gibson, demanding at least $5 million.
Gibson was unharmed in the January 2022 incident in which Brandon Case and his father, Gregory Case, also allegedly pursued him in a high-speed chase in Brookhaven, roughly an hour’s drive south of Jackson.
The lawsuit asserts that FedEx caused him “depression, stress, anxiety, loss of sleep, and emotional pain and suffering” by sending him back to work on the same route.
“Our top priority is always the safety and well-being of our employees,” a FedEx spokesperson told The Associated Press in a statement Wednesday, NBC reported. “FedEx denies the allegations and will vigorously defend the lawsuit.”
In August, a federal judge rejected a separate $5 million case Moore brought on behalf of Gibson against FedEx, the city of Brookhaven, the police chief, and Brandon and Gregory Case.
“The Cases’ alleged conduct is deplorable,” U.S. District Judge Daniel Jordan wrote. “But Gibson fails to state a viable claim against FedEx for which the Court would have original jurisdiction.”
The Cases face charges of attempted first-degree murder, conspiracy, and firing into Gibson’s van, which did not contain a FedEx emblem.
After days of jury selection and testimony, state Circuit Judge David Strong declared a mistrial in the father and son’s criminal case in August, citing police errors. A detective testified that prosecutors and defense counsel didn’t receive a copy of a recorded police interview with Gibson.
Prosecutors said they want to reschedule the criminal trial, but court records show this has not happened, and the Cases remain free on bond.
Terrell Stubbs, a lawyer for Gregory Case, told jurors that his client noticed a vehicle outside his mother-in-law’s vacant home and wanted to ask what was happening, but Gibson would not stop.
“It was completely dark, completely dark, and somebody was in the wrong place,” Stubbs said. “It wasn’t my client.”
According to NBC, Moore claimed FedEx fired Gibson days after the mistrial because he refused a part-time, non-courier job the company offered him. Gibson said he had been in therapy and on worker’s compensation leave for around one-third of his income since shortly after the incident.
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