EVERGREEN, Ala. (AP) - A jury has returned a $1 million verdict against a Samson truck driver and a Texas-based trucking company in a crash that killed a 79-year-old man.

Matt Glover, an attorney for the son of the victim, said the jury returned its verdict in the wrongful death lawsuit last Thursday against Thomas Wayne Rowell and Greatwide Dedicated Transport.

He said Rowell traveled west on U.S. 84 in an 18-wheeled truck when it crashed into Joseph Watkins, who was in a car on Conecuh County Road 15.

Rowell claimed Watkins failed to yield the right of way at a stop sign, but Glover said an expert showed the truck was speeding at the time of the crash. A message left with lawyers for the trucking company wasn't immediately returned Tuesday.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)