A woman was killed and her husband injured when a truck drove into this Knox School Road home in January. (Morning Journal file photo by Ron Firth)

LISBON — The husband of a mother of two who was killed when a truck drove into her Homeworth home in January is suing the driver in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court for $10 million.

Jennifer Moreland, 41, Homeworth, was killed when Joseph M. Matz, 20, Homeworth, drove his company truck into her home on Jan. 3. Moreland was asleep with her husband, Joshua, and their two teenage children were across the house playing video games at the time of the accident. The children were not injured in the crash but Joshua sustained serious injuries that required a lengthy hospital stay and resulted in permanent injuries.

Matz was found to be under the influence of alcohol and had THC in his system at the time of the crash.

A civil suit was filed in the court of common pleas on Monday. The suit states that Joshua Moreland, the administrator of Jennifer’s estate, is suing Matz and Homeworth Fabrication and Machine Inc., the company that owns the vehicle he was driving, for $10 million for alleged physical, mental and emotional injuries, damages, wrongful death, conscious pain and suffering and personal property damages suffered on behalf of him and his two children. Along with several other items of damaged personal property, the Moreland’s Knox School Road home was condemned and demolished due to the extensive damage caused by the accident.

The suit states that Homeworth Fabrication and Machine Inc. should not have trusted Matz with their vehicle and should have known he would “behave negligently,” and that the company’s negligence contributed to Moreland’s death.

In June, Matz was indicted by the county Grand Jury on felony charges of aggravated vehicular homicide and vehicular assault and three counts of OVI. Aggravated vehicular homicide is a second-degree felony, punishable by up to eight to 12 years in prison. Matz could face an additional three to four and a half years for the vehicular assault charge which is a third-degree felony. He was also charged with three counts of OVI, including one suggesting he was under the influence of a controlled substance or a metabolite of a controlled substance. He was also cited with operation in willful and wanton disregard of the safety of persons or property.