Archive for the ‘truck accident’ Category
Monday, December 31st, 2007
The former police officer suffered brain injuries and requires constant care, his lawyer says.
A jury awarded $15.7 million to a San Diego man who sued the city of Los Angeles after he was struck by a city-operated dump truck while riding his motorcycle in Northridge.
The jury reached a decision last week in the case filed by Barry Bowman, a 62-year-old retired police officer who suffered brain injuries as a result of the accident, according to his lawyers.
Bowman’s attorney, Michael Alder, said the 2-year-old lawsuit went to trial after his client was unable to reach a settlement with the city’s lawyers. “They never seemed to understand the potential liability,” Alder said. “They never offered a dime more than $50,000.” The city has not decided whether to appeal.
Bowman, a 24-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, suffered short-term memory loss and requires 24-hour care as a result of the accident, Alder said. The jury assigned Bowman roughly $4.7 million to cover his medical costs and lost wages and $11 million for pain, suffering and emotional distress.
Tags: accident, Jury, lawyer, truck accident
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Wednesday, December 26th, 2007
PURCELL, Okla. — Toby Keith, his mother and his siblings have been awarded $2.8 million in damages in the 2001 collision that killed the country music star’s father.
A jury returned the verdict against Elias Rodriguez and Pedro Rodriguez, operators of Rodriguez Transportes of Tulsa, and the Republic Western Insurance Co.
According to evidence presented at trial, a charter bus owned by the Rodriguezes was “in urgent need” of brake repairs before H.K. Covel was killed in the March 2001 accident on Interstate 35, said attorney Greg Dixon, who represented Keith’s family.
The Rodriguezes had been advised of the brake problem before Covel’s truck crossed the center median and struck the bus, he said.
The family initially suspected Covel suffered a medical condition that caused the truck to veer out of control. It later learned another vehicle had bumped the truck and filed a wrongful death lawsuit to clear Covel’s name, Dixon said.
The verdict was returned last week. “The jury found no fault on the part of Mr. Covel in the wreck that claimed his life,” Dixon said.
The plaintiffs, wife Carolyn Covel, daughter Tonni Covel and sons Toby Keith Covel and Tracey Covel, alleged that H.K. Covel would not have died if the bus had been equipped with properly working air brakes.
Here.
Tags: truck accident, truck wreck
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Friday, December 21st, 2007
With the increased truck traffic on our roads these days, it bears repeating that in our experience prosecuting truck wreck cases, we frequently find evidence of various safety violations by either the trucking company or the truck driver or both. Falsified logbooks and hours-of-service violations, vehicles and equipment with mechanical problems, and speeding are just some of the violations that are commonly seen in these cases. Often victims of trucking accidents are left to wonder why these problems are not caught sooner, before they lead to wrecks. Needless to say, there is much room for improvement.
Let’s hope we see continued investigative reporting from Dallas Morning News reporters Gregg Jones and Doug Swanson, who have written an excellent investigative series in the DMN.
Left alone, the trucking industry is not going to clean itself up, despite the many carriers and drivers who operate professionally and safely. Average citizens must demand more from our lawmakers: More meaningful oversight of the industry, more funds for enforcement, and more dangerous trucks taken off our roads.
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Thursday, December 20th, 2007
This makes me seethe.
Wal-Mart employee suffers brain damage in a truck wreck, Wal-Mart’s health plan pays for medical treatment (which it agreed to do when it took premiums from the employee), employee gets a $417,000 settlement from the trucking company (which is put into trust to pay for her on-going nursing home care) and now Wal-Mart sues the brain-damaged employee for the $470,000 the health plan paid plus its attorneys’ fees (which, at least in Texas, the injured employee would not be able to recover from the trucking company). It’s called subrogation, which is a fancy word for “insurance company screws the little guy.”
The biggest corporation in the world is taking this lady’s last dime, leaving her future medical care to be paid by Medicaid, which means you get to pay for it.
Watch this video and think about this the next time you decide to shop at Wal-Mart.
Tags: insurance, truck wreck
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Monday, November 26th, 2007
Terrible tragedy on I40 in Arkansas.
(CNN) — A bus hopped a highway median and crashed into a pickup truck before being broadsided by an 18-wheeler, Arkansas police said, killing the pickup driver and two bus riders.
Forty people were hurt in Sunday night’s crash, which shut down a 13-mile stretch of Interstate-40 east of Forrest City, Arkansas, said state police spokesman Bill Sadler.
The bus was westbound en route from Chicago, Illinois, to Dallas, Texas.
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Thursday, November 1st, 2007
And those are just the ones who get caught.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Good truck drivers are among the safest, most-professional, most-skilled drivers on the roads today, and my hat is off to them for doing a tough job well. But the bad apples among them are getting away with murder, thanks to lax oversight, over-burdened enforcement personnel, carrier indifference, and economic pressure.
The Dallas and Fort Worth area is one of the largest inland ports of commerce in America, with thousands of trucks plying our roads every hour. A meth-head driving a 40-ton tractor/trailer can really ruin your day, my friends.
Tags: Dallas, fort worth, truck wrecks, Trucking Accidents
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Monday, December 11th, 2006
I’m pleased to see more great reporting from the Dallas Morning News on problems in the trucking industry.
The first article in the series investigates the numerous criminal convictions, often drug and alcohol related, which plague interstate trucking. Too frequently, these problems don’t come to light until after a terrible trucking accident causes injury or death to innocent motorists.
The second article focuses on the long hours and stressful demands faced by truck drivers. Market demands and competition among the carriers are forcing drivers to drive longer hours and farther distances for less money. Carriers are cutting costs to stay competitive and drivers are forced to put more miles behind them in order to stay afloat.
My hat is off to the honest drivers trying to earn a living under these conditions, but it seems the good guys are being squeezed out by those who are less-qualified, who violate the laws on hours-of-service, and who use drugs to stay awake for hours on end.
My hat is also off to the aggressive investigation and reporting at the DMN. Kudos to reporters Holly Becka, Gregg Jones, Jennifer LaFleur and Steve McGonigle for staying on top of this problem.
Tags: truck wreck, trucking accident
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Tuesday, November 21st, 2006
When prosecuting
truck wreck cases, we frequently find evidence of various safety violations by either the trucking company or the truck driver or both. Falsified logbooks and hours-of-service violations, vehicles and equipment with mechanical problems, and speeding are just some of the violations that are commonly seen in these cases. Often victims of trucking accidents are left to wonder why these problems are not caught sooner, before they lead to wrecks. Needless to say, there is much room for improvement.
An excellent
investigative series in the
Dallas Morning News led reporters Gregg Jones and Doug Swanson to this conclusion: “The political clout of the trucking lobby and of big retailers has helped block tougher laws to police the business. As a result, industry experts and watchdog groups say, untold legions of truckers work unsafe hours, or operate faulty equipment that inspectors fail to curb, or continue driving despite numerous traffic violations, or wipe out innocent people who try to share the road. “
Jones and Swanson also report that deregulation of interstate shipping, competition among trucking companies, economic pressure on drivers, and shrinking federal and state law enforcement budgets have all played a role in making our roads more dangerous.
Left alone, the trucking industry is not going to clean itself up, despite the many carriers and drivers who operate professionally and safely. Average citizens must demand more from our lawmakers: More meaningful oversight of the industry, more funds for enforcement, and more dangerous trucks taken off our roads.
Tags: lawyer, truck wrecks, trucking accident
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