Truck accident verdicts

Published on: September 21, 2009

$50 million verdict today for trucking brain injury case in California

This afternoon in San Jose, California, a jury returned a verdict against two truck drivers, Gordon Trucking, and the state of California for nearly $50,000,000.00 ($49 million plus).

My friend Tommy Malone of Atlanta and Randy Scarlett of San Francisco represented Drew Bianche, a young man who had just graduated from college with a 4.0 GPA and had been accepted to medical school. Drew suffered a severe traumatic brain injury when two tractor trailers approaching from opposite directions on an unreasonably dangerous and narrow roadway sideswiped each other causing one of the trucks to the hit car Drew was riding in as a passenger.

The verdict was all compensatory damages, no punitive damages. Five percent of fault was allocated to the state, and 95% to the truckers.
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Published on: December 1, 2008

$23.5 million verdict against Swift Transportation for spinal cord injury to Yellow Freight employee

By Ken Shigley

A Kansas federal court jury has awarded a $23.5 million verdict for a serious spinal cord injury arising from a 2006 wreck in New Mexico, according to a news story by Ron Sylvester of the Wichita Eagle. The judge reduced the amount to $15.3 million because the jury decided the driver of the other truck was only 65 percent at fault.

A Swift Transportation truck driver was backing up from a rest stop onto the highway when she hit a Yellow Freight truck. The driver of the Swift Transportation truck tested positive for methamphetamine but claimed she was rear-ended. Accident reconstruction proved that story to be false.

The driver of the Yellow Freight truck was killed and the passenger / co-driver had a severe spinal cord injury. This verdict was for the spinal cord injury victim. The wrongful death case is set for trail next spring.

This was not the biggest verdict against Swift Transportation. Last year an Arizona jury awarded $36.5 million to the family of a man killed in a collision with Swift trucks.

At this firm we frequently represent truck drivers who are injured by the negligence of other truckers.
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Published on: September 21, 2008

Recent trucking accident jury verdicts

By Ken Shigley

Here’s a roundup of recent news stories about truck accident jury verdicts around the United States:

– $87 million in Dallas, Texas, for a man paralyzed in a wreck in a U-Haul truck had faulty emergency break and worn down gears.

– $36.3 million ($23.1 million compensatory damages, $13.5 million in punitive damages) in Phoenix, Arizona, for death of father of 8 who was killed when a tractor trailer drove 65 mph across three sets of rumble strips designed to warn of an approaching stop sign, ran the stop sign, and crashed into his SUV. The truck driver’s logs, which are required by federal regulations to document compliance with hours of service rules, were “lost.” The truck driver had no explanation why he failed to slow down. The jury apparently figured out that the trucking company “lost” the driver logs to conceal a pattern of violating fatigue prevention regulations, as it awarded $13.5 million in punitive damages on top of the $23.1 million in compensatory damages.

– $29.4 million for wrongful death and personal injury in Orange County, NY. The crash occurred on Jan. 25, 2002, when a freight container on a northbound flatbed trailer smashed into the bottom of the Pleasant Hill Road overpass. A family SUV en route to a ski vacation swerved to avoid the wreckage of the exploding container and was broadsided by another tractor-trailer. The father in the SUV suffered fatal internal injuries and the teenage daughter was also injured.

– $20.1 Million verdict in Clayton County, Georgia, for wrongful death of a 62 year old school teacher who suffered broken ribs when he was rear-ended by an electrical supply truck while stopped at a red light. While hospitalized he developed complications, aspirated and died.

– $11.23 million verdict in Nebraska for man struck by tractor trailer in dense fog on icy interstate highway, reduced by 20% for comparative negligence.

– $5.64 million verdict in El Centro, California in case where farm truck ran stop sign and struck family minivan. A 15 year old girl in the van suffered facial avulsion degloving (that is, the flesh of her face was torn off), and several fractures to her face and skull.
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