18 Wheelers (FMCSA) and Truck Accidents

Jury verdict in case involving injury caused by truck backing up.

Suit filed in District Court of Dallas County

The client was a paint salesman who was referred to us by one of the largest law firms in Dallas. A lumber truck stopped in the right turn only lane at the red light on northbound Douglas at Northwest Highway. The client stopped behind the lumber truck. Another car stopped behind the client. The inexperienced driver of the lumber truck wanted to continue north on Douglas, so he backed up to be able to change lanes. A long piece of lumber extended back beyond the bed of the truck. The client’s car was trapped by the car behind. The piece of lumber penetrated the client’s front windshield at eye level. The lumber did not strike the client, but it caused him to strain his back trying to lean over to get out of the way. The client’s pain persisted despite physical therapy, medication and other conservative treatment. Two years later MRI testing showed the existence of a lumbar disk herniation. The client underwent back surgery. Before trial our client offered to settle for a moderate amount. The lumber company declined. At trial the defendant aggressively disputed that the herniated disc first diagnosed two years after the accident was caused by leaning over in the seat. The jury returned a verdict, to which the court added pre-judgment interest. The Defendant elected to forego appeal and paid the full amount of the judgment.

Four vehicle collision on rain slick bridge on Interstate 75 involving eighteen wheeler

Suit filed in District Court of Navarro County

The case was referred to us by a Dallas commercial attorney. Three members of an Oklahoma family were traveling in a rental truck near Corsicana. A van in front slid into the right guard rail and started a chain reaction. An SUV following the van stopped suddenly. The rental truck occupied by our clients spun out of control, bounced off the left guard rail, hit the SUV and came to a stop facing sideways, blocking both lanes of the bridge. The defendant’s 18 wheeler hit the driver’s door area of the rental truck. We represented the surviving spouse, two sons and parents of the fatally injured rental truck driver, and his injured sister and nephew. The sister had multiple fractures. Her ten year old son was not significantly injured but he did suffer significant bystander mental anguish damages. The recovery in this case was achieved despite the initial findings of the TDPS Highway Patrol officer who investigated the accident that the driver of the primary defendant’s 18 wheeler was less at fault than the front vehicle and no more at fault than our own deceased driver. The front vehicle carried inadequate insurance coverage. We immediately filed suit and requested production of the driver’s logs, the driver’s application for employment and other evidence from the files of the trucking company. We engaged a competent accident reconstruction expert witness. (The trucking company’s accident construction expert was in Corsicana taking pictures and interviewing witnesses less than 24 hours after the collision.) We proved by testimony of the driver, the driver’s brother, managerial level employees of the Missouri based trucking company and other out of state witnesses that the trucking company hired the driver despite having actual knowledge that his CDL (commercial driver’s license) had been suspended by the State of Arizona for driving while intoxicated. (Arizona authorities failed to report the DUI conviction to Missouri, so an official check of the defendant driver’s driving record came back clean.) We proved by driver’s logs and electronically recorded dispatch records that the 18 wheeler was speeding over the legal limit during a ten hour period on the day preceding the collision and again over the last 52 miles from Pleasant Grove to Corsicana leading up to the collision. For more than a year after the collision the defendant trucking company offered zero in settlement. The case settled shortly after the trial court granted our motion for sanctions against the trucking company for spoliation of evidence.

Slow speed collision between two 18 wheelers

Suit filed in District Court of Denton County

The case was referred to our office by a Texas attorney. The rear end collision occurred in the parking lot of a truck stop. We represented a passenger who was resting in the sleeping compartment of front truck. The client’s low back was injured, and she later required surgery.

18 wheeler jackknife collision

Suit filed in District Court of Dallas County.

A tractor trailer rig coming south from I 35E entered the downtown Dallas mixmaster at a speed too great for the stop and go traffic conditions. The trailer jackknifed around to the right and hit the rear of the car occupied by our client, knocking it off the road onto the grassy right of way. Our client experienced a lumbar disk herniation that led to low back fusion surgery.

Rear end collision on Highway 67 near Cleburne

Suit filed in District Court of Johnson County.

This case was referred to us by a prominent Dallas attorney. The recovery was obtained despite the finding of TDPS accident investigator officer that our client was at fault in following too closely behind a stopping vehicle, swerving onto the right shoulder then back onto the highway into the path of the defendants’ plumbing truck. The client’s automobile went out of control across the center stripe and collided head on with another motorist. Before the collision the elderly client was able to live independently, drive a car and care for himself. It appears that the debilitating effect of the accident trauma will necessitate permanent residency in a nursing home.

Eighteen wheeler / pedestrian collision on LBJ Freeway

Suit filed in District Court of Dallas County.

Our client was a young athlete who had started 42 consecutive games as offensive lineman during his college football career. Through no fault on his part his car was involved in a collision with another automobile and became disabled on the freeway late at night during heavy rain. The client got out and walked to the other car to see if the driver needed help. An SUV stopped some distance behind and turned on emergency flashers. The defendants’ tractor trailer rig approached from behind at a speed too great for the rain slick conditions. One of its dual tandem trailers jackknifed to the right, hit the SUV and propelled it into the two disabled cars and the client. The client experienced injuries to his teeth and a broken leg that required surgical insertion of a metal rod through the length of his tibia.

 

Product Liability

Suit against manufacturer of ladder with design defect 

Suit filed in District Court of Collin County.

We represented a workman who fell as he was descending a new extension ladder at a construction site in Allen. Our expert determined that the ladder was defectively designed in that the sleeves that held the extended section in place caused pressure points that allowed the ladder to crimp and bend after repeated use. The fall caused a wrist fracture requiring surgery.

Strangulation death of infant 

Suit filed in District Court of Dallas County.

The case was referred to our office by the Dallas Bar Association. This was a product liability case against the manufacturer of a child car seat. We alleged failure to adequately warn against the danger of strangulation. A paid baby sitter (with minimum insurance coverage) left a sleeping one year old child in a parked automobile while she went inside a relative’s house to use the rest room. The baby woke up and tried to climb out of the restraining straps. The manufacturer contended that its warning “Never Leave Child Unattended” was adequate, that the straps were not properly fastened by the baby sitter, and that the negligence of the sitter was the primary cause of the tragedy.

Injuries in rollover after tire blowout 

Suit filed in District Court of Dallas County.

Product liability case caused by tire defect. (Handled jointly with outside counsel specializing in tire defect cases.)

Defective seat belt 

Suit filed in District Court of Dallas County.

Eighteen year old driving home from nursing home job fell asleep at wheel and ejected during rollover. (Handled jointly with outside counsel specializing in crashworthiness cases.)

Crashworthiness rollover case 

Suit filed in District Court of Dallas County.

Ford Explorer driven by client’s husband overturned after being hit by a uninsured drunk teenager on LBJ Freeway in Mesquite. Roof collapsed on passenger side, injuring client. (Handled jointly with outside counsel specializing in crashworthiness cases.)

Wrongful Death Cases

In wrongful death cases the spouse (including a common law spouse), children (including adopted and illegitimate children), parents and heirs of the deceased may sue. Damages include recovery for grief, mental anguish, loss of companionship, society and consortium, and loss of services and monetary that the deceased would have made during his or her lifetime. The estate has a survival action for damages for conscious pain and suffering, medical and funeral expenses. Siblings, stepchildren and more distant relatives of the deceased normally have no claim unless they are named as beneficiaries in the will or otherwise inherit from the estate.

Personal Injury Cases

An accident victim may claim damages for medical expenses, lost earnings and lost earning capacity (even if the employer provided salary continuation), physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, physical impairment and disfigurement, all in the past and in the future. If the injury is extremely serious and disabling a spouse, parent or child may make a separate additional claim for loss of consortium and other losses.

Premises Liability – Slip And Fall

The important distinction here is whether the plaintiff is a business invitee, such as a customer in a store, or merely a licensee, such as a social guest in someone’s home. The store or other premises owner owes the duty to its business invitees to protect from unreasonably dangerous conditions or provide adequate warning of the danger. If the plaintiff is not a business invitee there is little or no responsibility.  For example, a pedestrian who is injured by an unreasonably dangerous hole in the sidewalk on the premises of a grocery store can recover damages if he or she intended to enter the store to shop, but not if only passing by. The landlord of an apartment complex can be held responsible for dangerous conditions in common areas used by more than one tenant, but normally not for conditions that exist inside the tenant’s own apartment.