Horse owner faces suit over car accident in ’07

The crash occurred in the early hours of Sept. 30, 2007.

staff report

YOUNGSTOWN — A Coshocton woman has sued the owner of two horses she struck while driving a car on state Route 165 in Goshen Township near Salem.

The woman says in the lawsuit that she suffered permanent physical impairment because of the crash.

Jessica R. Carr sued Robert E. Phillis Jr., a South Range Road farmer, saying she suffered “extreme pain and suffering” and incurred medical expenses and lost wages after she was injured.

The accident happened at 2:50 a.m. Sept. 30, 2007.

The lawsuit, which demands a jury trial and seeks more than $25,000 in damages, was filed Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court and assigned to Judge James C. Evans.

The lawsuit says Phillis negligently and illegally allowed the large, black Percheron draft horse and a smaller, brown quarter horse to enter the road.

Carr, 22, was westbound at 55 mph when she hit the horses as they stood in the middle of the road, a police report said.

Carr was taken to Salem Community Hospital after the accident, police said.

Phillis told police he locked the horses in the barn every night and had no idea how they got loose.

A towing company removed the horses from the road after the accident, police said.