Articles Posted in Trucking Accidents

Defendants in a trucking accident lawsuit that left a mother-of-four with traumatic brain injuries, unable to walk and relegated to a nursing home, are now fighting against their own lawyers after jurors awarded plaintiff a record $35 million in damages for her injuries.

The facts giving rise to this case began in October 2010, when a 53-year-old woman operating an 18-passenger bus slammed into a tractor trailer that had jackknifed ahead of her from the opposite direction on a highway in California. She had no time to stop or avoid a head-on crash.

Having once enjoyed an active social life, a 30-year marriage and four children, she was debilitated with multiple skull fractures, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, broken ribs, a broken jaw, numerous facial fractures, a lacerated liver and other injuries. She was in a coma for a month and hospitalized in intensive care for four months. She was paralyzed from the waist down. Once released, she was unable to afford the daily care she needed at home, she was essentially warehoused” in a nursing home, away from her family and without access to necessary therapies. Her days instead were spent watching television, staring at white walls and sleeping alone.
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For the purported negligence of a fatigued Wal-Mart truck driver, the retail company has agreed to pay $10 million to the family of a man killed when its driver collided with a luxury van in which decedent was riding.

The payout to the family of Comedian James McNair will be split between his two children, a 26-year-old son and a 19-year-old daughter.

It was in that same crash that Comedian Tracy Morgan was left severely injured with brain trauma. He continues to recover, and has yet to return to show business. Those close to him say it’s not clear he ever will.
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A horrific, fatal trucking accident in Palm Beach County was preceded by extremely foggy, dark conditions on U.S. 27.

But that only compounded the bigger problem which was that, for reasons unknown, the trailer became unhooked from the truck in the middle of the highway. That was around 6 a.m. The trailer was blocking the road, but drivers approaching the hazard in the fog only had seconds to react.

Unfortunately, seconds were not enough for several of the drivers, and several crashes resulted, claiming the lives of four people and seriously injuring several others.

The first vehicle was a Ford Focus, whose driver attempted to swerve to avoid the trailer, but still hit the back corner. Then a large pickup truck slammed into the rig’s other rear corner. Seconds later, another tractor-trailer came up fast, striking the Focus and launching both into a nearby swamp. The 39-year-old driver of the Focus and her three teen passengers, all between the ages of 14 and 17, were killed. Another passenger in that vehicle survived, but was left in serious condition.
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Insurance companies can create numerous roadblocks to a personal injury trial.

In the recent trucking accident case of ACUITY v. Johnson, proceedings were prolonged while the insurer disputed its responsibility to cover damages resulting from an accident involving it’s small-scale trucking company client.

The insurer did ultimately end up paying more than $560,000 to plaintiffs, but there was a central dispute as to whether the company should have had to indemnify the trucking firm in the civil lawsuit. Ultimately, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit determined that it should and that the claim was covered.
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This month, an increase in holiday-related travel and freight delivers will increase the risk of a truck accident. The highways are full of harried drivers who don’t have their attention on the road. Truckers are no different, especially given may of them work on tight deadlines and especially this time of year are under enormous pressure to bring toys, electronics, food items and other goods to retailers as promptly as possible so stocks are always replenished.

Far too many trucking retailers sacrifice safety for timeliness, even in light of recent federal regulations further restricting drive time and load weights.

In the recent case of Borden Dairy v. Kuhajda, a trial court jury determined a dairy truck driver’s unsafe actions resulted in company liability for the crash. The verdict was recently upheld on appeal to Florida’s First District Court of Appeal.
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In an increasing number of crash-related injury lawsuits, both plaintiffs and defendants are seeking cell phone records from the other side. The interest is not so much with the content (although in some situations, that is relevant). Rather, the greater relevance is the determination of whether an individual was using his or her smartphone at the time of the crash.

If this is true, at the very least it could establish comparative fault by a plaintiff, which could result in loss of some portion of damages, even if litigation ultimately results in his or her favor. However, it could go far in proving total fault of plaintiff, which could result in the dismissal of the case. On the other hand, if the records sought belong to defendant, evidence of cell phone distraction behind the wheel could be a powerful tool for a plaintiff attorney seeking damages for the crash.

In the recent case of Antico v. Sindt Trucking, Inc., plaintiff is the widower/personal representative of the estate of a woman killed in a trucking crash in Northern Florida. Defendants, however, contend decedent was at fault – at least to some degree – for the crash because she was distracted by her iPhone.
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While driving on an overpass on S.R. 46 in Brevard County recently, a trucker fell asleep. That’s what police suspect was the cause of a crash that occurred around 2:30 a.m. in a highway construction zone.

Incredibly, no one was injured, but several barriers were destroyed, some 75 gallons of diesel fuel littered the roadway and traffic was blocked for about four hours. The driver admitted to investigators with the Florida Highway Patrol that he’d fallen asleep.

Truck driver fatigue in Florida is often the result of poor policy – sometimes even illegal policy – by the trucking company, urging drivers to skirt hours of service laws that limit drive time to ensure truckers get enough sleep so they can safely operate these large vehicles.
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One sunny summer morning four years ago, a college professor was heading from a family reunion in Ohio back to her home in Maryland with two teenage sons. Her husband, not feeling well, stayed behind. As she approached a construction zone, she braked. However, the massive rig behind her did not, until just seconds before impact. That sent her vehicle careening into another semi, and then spinning into five other vehicles.

Her 16-year-old was seriously injured. Her 12-year-old almost died. He managed to survive, but now suffers permanent cognitive and physical disabilities. The 47-year-old mathematics professor, died within minutes.

The trucker would later be fired and spend time in prison. He initially admitted he’d “dozed off,” having slept less than 3.5 hours since his previous shift. When he opened his eyes, he said, the vehicle in front of him was coming to a stop. He couldn’t stop, he said. He couldn’t veer.

“I looked for an out,” he said, “But there was nowhere to go.”
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Prior to implementation of the federal “Graves Amendment” in 2004, Florida was one of 17 states that had full or limited vicarious liability for vehicle owners in crash cases. Our Cape Coral car accident lawyers know this included all vehicle owners, including companies that routinely leased vehicle to the public for profit.

The Graves Amendment changed that. Stuffed into an 835-page federal transportation bill and given just 20 minutes of discussion by legislators in the House of Representatives, the measure preempted state vicarious liability laws in personal injury cases with regard to vehicle owners who rent or lease vehicles. At the time it was passed, opponents called it a “sham,” and feared it would leave innocent accident victims without recourse, especially when the company chooses to rent or lease a vehicle to an uninsured motorist.

There has been some push back in the courts to limit the scope of this legislation, most recently in New York with the federal appellate judge ruling in Stratton v. Wallace that a commercial defendant would be unable to avoid liability under the Graves Amendment.
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