Idaho Supreme Court Upholds $3.5M Ruling in Damages to Family

BOISE (KTVB) -- The Idaho Supreme Court has upheld a lower court's ruling awarding $3.5 million in damages to the family of a 15-year-old Idaho boy who died in a crash during his driver's education class.

The court in a decision filed Monday rejected the appeal by the Blaine County School District.

A jury in May 2013 found Carey School driver education instructor Jeffrey Mecham 100 percent responsible for the Oct. 26, 2010, crash that killed Austin Hennefer in Blaine County.

The Supreme Court ruled that the jury was properly instructed on what constituted reckless misconduct and that the evidence supported the verdict.

The driver's education car was making a 180-degree turn on a road that's otherwise too narrow for a U-turn when it was struck by an oncoming car.