Articles Posted in Trucking Accidents

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You don’t have to be a commercial truck driver to know about driver fatigue. We’ve all been there, whether driving home from work, or the long trip home from school – when your eyes become heavy and that cup of coffee doesn’t seem to be doing the trick. Under these conditions, drivers are much less aware and highway accidents are much more likely to occur.

While casual drivers might have the luxury of switching drivers, or pulling off the road when driver fatigue sets in, commercial drivers are not so lucky. Which is why the federal government is working to create new regulations that work towards preventing driver fatigue for commercial truck drivers. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) introduced new rules limiting the amount of daily and weekly hours truck drivers are allowed to be behind the wheel.

According to the 2011 HOS RIA -Main Document.pdf, truck drivers may be on the road for up to 11 hours per day. In addition, after every eight hours shift, truck drivers are required to take a minimum 30 minute break before they are able to get back on the road. And while the 11 hour daily limit may seem high, the FMCSA did reduce the maximum hours a truck driver can be on the road for the whole week by 12 hours from prior rules, setting the new weekly limit at 70 hours.

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An Indiana jury found entered a $4.25 million verdict against a truck driver and his employer for the wrongful death of 28 year-old Hawa Sissoko in Estate of Hawa Sissoko, deceased v. Roadway Express, Inc., YRC Worldwide, Inc., et al., 09 L 2542.

Sissoko’s vehicle was stopped on an Indiana tollway; Sissoko’s 2007 Dodge Intrepid was not pulled to the side of the road, but was in fact sitting in the right lane of traffic. According to eyewitness reports, Sissoko was standing behind her car when she was struck by a semi truck driven by Alfred Baggiani. Sissoko was pinned between the truck and her car, which then caught on firing; Sissoko died immediately as a result of the highway accident.

Sissoko was survived by her parents and eight siblings, all of whom lived in Mali, West Africa. And while Sissoko’s parents had not seen her since 2000, they maintained regular contact by telephone. A lawsuit was brought by Sissoko’s surviving family members against Baggiani according to the Illinois Wrongful Death Act. Sissoko’s estate also brought a claim against Roadway Express, Inc., the trucking company Baggiani worked for, and its parent company, YRC Worldwide, Inc. The wrongful death claims sought damages for the loss of Sissoko’s society that her family had allegedly suffered as a result of the defendants’ negligence.

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Driver fatigue is a leading cause of roadway accidents which could have been easily avoided if the driver had only gotten enough sleep. For this reason, all commercially licensed truck and bus drivers are required to log both their driving hours and their breaks. If a driver adheres to these logbook requirements they should be able to avoid driver fatigue. However, if a truck or bus driver fails to follow these requirements it could lead to potentially fatal accidents.

Take for instance a 2005 highway crash that occurred in New York. A young bus driver had falsified his log book and was reportedly driving erratically. The bus driver ended up slamming into a truck that was parked on the side of the highway. Nineteen passengers were injured in the bus crash; three passengers and the truck driver were killed.

The Canadian bus had been chartered by a women’s youth hockey team, the Windsor Wildcats, and was on its way to a ski resort at the time of the highway accident. The bus was driven by a 24 year-old bus driver who had only been working for Coach Canada for two months. According to eyewitness reports, he was driving erratically before the accident occurred and swerved directly into the parked tracker-trailer to cause the highway crash.

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In TV courtroom dramas, the story always ends with the jury verdict. However, in real life, sometimes the jury verdict is just the beginning. Lawyers can appeal a jury verdict with the hope of reversing the verdict, or even of obtaining a new trial. And while most appeals only make it to the appellate court level, some are taken all the way to the supreme court.

In the wrongful death lawsuit of Tracey Powell for the Estate of Adam McDonald, deceased v. Dean Foods Company, et al., 2012 IL 111714, the plaintiffs received a $20 million jury verdict. However, the case did not stop there. One of the defendants filed an appeal, which resulted in a reversal of the $20 million verdict and a new trial. The plaintiffs then appealed that decision to the Illinois Supreme Court and were eventually able to get the original $20 million verdict reinstated. So while the plaintiffs were left with the initial outcome, it took a much longer time for them to claim their award.

The case facts in Powell involved a 2002 Indiana truck accident in which three people were killed. Christina Chakonas was attempting to make a left turn after stopping at a stop sign when she was struck by a tractor-trailer driven by Jamie L. Reeves. Chakons and her two passengers, Adam McDonald and Diana Kakidas, were killed. A wrongful death lawsuit was filed against Reeves, his employer, and the company that owned the goods he was transporting.

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An Illinois truck accident case was reviewed by the Illinois Appellate Court to determine whether or not the trial court had erred in its delivery of jury instructions and whether the jury had awarded too much damages. However, after reviewing the case facts, the appellate court upheld the trial court proceedings and eventual verdict in Andrzej Chraca v. Steven Miles, 2011 Ill.App. (1st) 100537-U.

The Chraca lawsuit involved a 2004 car crash between Andrzej Chraca and Steven Miles. Chraca was driving an SUV at the time, while Miles was driving an Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) truck. Both Chraca and Miles suffered degrees of paralysis following the Schaumburg truck accident and both drivers filed personal injury lawsuits against each other.

The two cases were consolidated into one personal injury lawsuit by the Circuit Court of Cook County. At the end of the trial, the court ruled in favor of Chraca and against Miles. Chraca was awarded $23.8 million in damages, which was broken down as follows:

-$500,000 for disfigurement;
-$593,335 for past medical expenses;
-$3.5 million for future medical expenses;
-$2.5 million for past and future pain and suffering; and
-$18 million for past and future loss of a normal life.

And while both lawsuits were consolidated for the purposes of the Cook County personal injury trial, the appeal deals only with the lawsuit filed by Chraca.

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An Illinois jury awarded $1.7 million to the surviving family members of a man who was hit by a semi-tractor trailer; Estate of Edward Kolodzik v. Cesar Castillo, VBD Transport, Inc., MLP Transport, Inc., No. 04 L 3715. While the decedent, Edward Kolodzik, survived the crash, he died five years later, allegedly from complications arising from the Illinois trucking accident.

The Illinois trucking accident occurred on Illinois Interstate 39/90 near Rockford, Illinois. Kolodzik was driving his car when he was struck by a Mack semi-tractor trailer driven by Cesar Castillo. Kolodzik suffered from a traumatic brain injury and right shoulder and lower back musculoskeletal injuries. As a result of these injuries, the 49 year-old Kolodzik became disabled and dependent on pain medication to relieve his severe shoulder and lower back pain.

A personal injury lawsuit was brought against the truck driver and his employers for their liability in Kolodzik’s injuries and resulting medical condition. When Kolodzik died five years after the truck accident, his wife and five minor children further alleged that his death was a result of his poor health and medical condition following the highway accident.

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People get into routines when they drive. For example, some drivers go into autopilot as they commute to and from work, following the same route and never diverging from it. Other drivers go with the flow of traffic and might not be aware of the speed they’re driving at. However, regardless of the routine you get into, most drivers are always aware of the color a light is as they approach an intersection. Yet in the case of Charles Comer v. United Quick Transportation, Inc. and Martrell Parker, 09 L 12120, both drivers involved in an intersection accident claimed to have the green light.

The accident occurred in June 2008, at the intersection of Kostner Ave. and 16th Street in Chicago between two buses. Charles Comer was driving a CTA bus along 16th Street, while Martrell Parker was driving a school bus along Kostner Ave. Both bus drivers entered the intersection, both drivers claimed to have green lights, and both drivers claimed to have been hit by the other bus driver.

While Parker’s injuries were relatively minor, Comer suffered from knee, neck, and back injuries. The damage to his right knee was so severe that he required surgery in order to correct his medical problems. In addition, Comer’s medical condition caused him to miss one year of work as a CTA bus driver. As a result, Comer filed a personal injury lawsuit against Parker and his school bus company employer in an attempt to recover for the damages he sustained in the Chicago bus accident.

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While a Cook County jury awarded almost $3 million to a bicyclist hit by a dump truck, the verdict was reduced by 50% for what the jury found to be the bicyclist’s responsibility in her own accident. This bicycle-auto accident verdict suggests that even though bicyclists are more vulnerable than cars or trucks, they, too, must share the responsibility for maintaining a safe roadway environment. Lucyna Kubisztal Smith and Danny Smith v. Suburban General Construction, Inc. and William S. Chase, 07 L 6481.

The bicycle-truck accident occurred in June 2007 at the intersection of 86th Avenue and 111th Street in Palos Hills. The 49 year-old Lucyna Smith had been riding her bicycle on the sidewalk along the 111th Street, but then entered the crosswalk in order to cross 86th Avenue. At the same time, the 29 year-old William Chase was driving a dump truck along 86th Avenue. Chase failed to see Smith and ended up not only running her and her bicycle over, but then continued to drag her under the dump truck for an estimated 30 to 50 feet.

Smith sustained multiple fractures, including those to her pelvis, sacrum, lumber spine, and cervical spine. The damage to her cervical spine aggravated her pre-existing cervical arthritis and required a spinal decompression and fusion surgery across five different levels. Smith’s doctors predict that she will also require a hip replacement in the near future as a result of the intersection accident. In addition, she was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder and subsequent depression. Smith brought a personal injury lawsuit against Chase for her injuries and lost time from her job as a housekeeper. In addition, her husband brought a separate loss of consortium claim for the loss of service and companionship of his wife.

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In a standard auto accident lawsuit there are typically two parties, i.e., the plaintiff and the defendant. However, if one of the drivers happened to be driving while on the job, then his employer could also be involved in the lawsuit. In the truck accident lawsuit of Thomas Edwards, Betty Edwards and Slay Transportation v. Millstadt Rendering, Co., et al., 08 L 813, both the plaintiff truck driver and the defendant truck driver were working at the time of the two-truck accident. As a result, Edwards involved both a plaintiff truck driver and his employer and a defendant truck driver and his employer.

At 3:30 a.m. on the date of the accident, defendant Gary Collier was driving a tractor-trailer owned by Millstadt Rendering along Interstate 55 near St. Genevieve, Missouri. Collier’s vehicle ended up running through the highway’s median and came to a stop with the tail end of the trailer extending into a lane of oncoming traffic. The plaintiff, Thomas Edwards, happened to be driving a tanker-trailer owned by Slay Transportation in the opposite direction as Collier had been driving. Edwards ended up driving his vehicle into the rear portion of Collier’s truck and suffered extensive injuries as a result of the highway truck accident.

The 62 year-old Edwards sustained a severe fracture to to his pelvic bone, which required an open reduction surgery with the insertion of plates and screws. In addition, Edwards suffered from a sciatic nerve injury, which left him with a permanent foot drop and nerve injury. He also developed deep venous thrombosis following the truck accident, which not only required the placement of an umbrella filter, but also a Coumadin therapy regimen for the rest of his life. Edwards’s lengthy recovery also led to the development of a decubitus ulcer and depression.

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As the temperatures begin to cool in Chicago, every Illinoisan is aware that winter is just a few short months away. And with midwest winters come more dangerous driving conditions, e.g., icy roads, slick snow, and dangerously low temperatures. The Illinois personal injury lawsuit of Ponto v. Levan arose out of just such dangerous road conditions – the defendant driver hit the plaintiff after sliding on an ice patch. What is interesting about the Ponto lawsuit though is that it gave rise to Levan v. City of Dixon, a third party lawsuit in which the defendant driver blamed not the winter weather for the ice patch, but the City of Dixon itself.

In February 2008, Denise Ponto was driving along Route 2 in Dixon, Illinois when Dale Levan’s vehicle crossed the lane of traffic and crashed into Ponto’s vehicle. As a result, Ms. Ponto sustained a comminuted knee fracture and needed to be airlifted to Rockford’s St. Anthony Hospital for treatment. A comminuted fracture occurs when a bone is broken in several places, which then requires an open reduction internal fixation surgery with the insertion of screws and plates to help fix the broken bones in place. Ms. Ponto’s treatment was further complicated by her development of deep vein thrombosis, i.e. blood clots, and cellulitis, a skin infection caused by bacteria. As a result of the lengthy treatment, Ponto missed five months from her job as a bartender.

Ponto filed a personal injury lawsuit against Levan in which she claimed damages for the injuries she sustained after his truck skidded into her lane of traffic. And while Levan admitted he was drunk at the time and was at fault for the car accident, he felt the City of Dixon was also at fault. Levan contended that the ice which his car skidded on was the result of a broken City water main. The defendant then filed a third party claim against the City of Dixon for its part in causing the auto accident and Ms. Ponto’s injuries.

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