Articles Posted in Semi-Trailer Truck Accidents

James DeFranscesco, 53, owned his own trucking company. He parked his tractor-trailer for the night at a truck stop in Georgia but was awakened when an adjacent tractor-trailer got stuck to his rig after turning too sharply while pulling out.

DeFranscesco opened his door and fell to the pavement while the other truck driver attempted to free his vehicle. The other driver broke free and started to drive off. DeFranscesco ran after the truck and jumped on its low bumper bar, holding on with one hand and yelling at the driver to stop.

The driver then tapped his brakes, causing DeFranscesco to fall off the rig. DeFranscesco suffered a lumbar disk protrusion at L3-4, which required a laminectomy. He continued to experience pain that interfered with his ability to work, resulting in 795 missed work days and approximately $363,400 in lost income.

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Jeffrey Newton, 52, was driving his motorcycle through an uncontrolled intersection. While in the intersection, Steven Giambruno was driving a semi-truck as part of his employment with Freight Logistics Inc. Giambruno allegedly turned left in front of Newton.

The motorcycle and the truck crashed and Newton was ejected from his motorcycle and landed on the pavement.

He sustained a fractured left hand, fractured ribs and a pneumothorax, which is a collapsed lung.

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Marikate Maggio, an 18-year-old student, was driving a Mini Cooper on a highway when she arrived at an intersection with a traffic light. She attempted to turn left when a tractor-trailer driven by Miguel Garcia-Moreno crashed into her vehicle. Maggio suffered traumatic injuries and died twenty minutes later. She was survived by her mother.

Maggio’s mother, individually and on behalf of Maggio’s estate, sued Garcia-Moreno’s employer, 48Forty Solutions LLC, claiming negligent retention and choosing not to perform a proper background check on Garcia-Moreno or providing him with adequate supervision and training.

The Maggios maintained that the dashcam would have showed Garcia-Moreno had run a red light. The Maggios also alleged that the defendant trucking company had written up Garcia-Moreno three times for preventable collisions in addition to other preventable incidences that allegedly occurred while Garcia-Moreno was working for other trucking companies.

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Sammie Pendergrass, 24, was driving on a highway when Franklin Burgess lost control of his tractor-trailer, crossed the median, and collided head-on with Pendergrass’s van.

Pendergrass was thrown from his vehicle into a ditch; he suffered blunt force trauma and other serious injuries.

He lost consciousness approximately 30 minutes after this crash and died of cardiac arrest the same day.  He was survived by his parents and siblings.

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The Doe family was riding in a SUV on a highway on the way to Walt Disney World in Orlando. Jane Doe, 40, was driving the SUV when the car was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer that was moving at approximately 25 mph. The tractor-trailer was in the right lane and was being driven with a flat tire and another ruptured tire.

Jane Doe’s sister, 45, and a child, 6, were killed in the crash. Three other children ages 9 to 16 sustained injuries. One of the children required an extensive hospital stay.  The family’s medical expenses totaled about $100,000.

The lawsuit was filed against the trucking company, alleging that the driver of the tractor-trailer had chosen not to timely exit the highway as it experienced the flat tire and the ruptured tire. Additionally, the plaintiffs asserted that the trailer had been unsafe in that all its tires were in poor condition, including having insufficient treads and air pressure.

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James Archibald was a diabetes patient who had called his wife to say he was coming home from work early because he was feeling ill. Archibald was driving along a westbound rural road in southern Illinois at about 9 p.m. Suddenly, he encountered a hazard: A tractor-trailer owned by Orbit Express was blocking both lanes; other westbound drivers had managed to avoid the tractor-trailer.

A few hours earlier, the Orbit Express truck driver tried to turn around and got stuck when a rear tire on his big rig went into a ditch. Although the tractor’s headlights made it look like it was moving east, the trailer completely obstructed the westbound lane. Archibald reportedly crashed into the trailer at full speed, with no swerving or breaking. He died a few months later; before his death, he had been unable to explain what had happened.

Orbit Express moved for summary judgment on this tort claim filed by Archibald’s widow. Orbit Express focused on the causation requirement.

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Tomasa Cuevas was traveling in her SUV with her two children, Alejandro, 16, and Maritza, 11. Amarjit Aulakh, an employee of Rai Transport Inc., drove his semi-tractor-trailer through a red light.  This caused a T-bone collision with Cuevas’s vehicle.

Tomasa Cuevas, 42, suffered fractures to her skull and face as well as a traumatic brain injury. Alejandro, who was in the passenger seat, also suffered skull and facial fractures and a traumatic brain injury.  Alejandro was a successful high school cross-country runner who may not be able to return to the sport.  Maritza was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after this horrific crash.

Cuevas and for her children sued Rai Transport, alleging liability for Aulakh’s choosing not to obey a red light. The Cuevas family alleged that Aulakh had been involved in fourteen prior collisions and was driving with a suspended license at the time of this incident. The lawsuit did not claim lost income.

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A truck driver, the plaintiff, Joseph Streetman, was operating a Penske truck on a highway when he was rear-ended by a pickup truck that had just been rear-ended by a tractor-trailer driven by Walto Hendricks. Hendricks was driving for his employer, Gardner Trucking.

Streetman, 77, was taken by ambulance to an emergency room where he was evaluated and released. He was later referred to an orthopedic surgeon and underwent a cervical fusion, lumbar laminectomy, and shoulder surgery.

Streetman had medical expenses that totaled $415,000. He also had a claim of lost income of $55,000.

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David Lee Johnson, an employee of Universal AM-CAN Ltd. and Louis Broadwell LLC, was driving a truck owned by his employers above the speed limit while on a suspended license.  Johnson crashed his vehicle into a Jeep in front of him driven by the plaintiff, James Denton.

The crash pushed Denton’s car into a semitrailer tractor truck. Denton eventually managed to crawl out of the rear passenger window, but he suffered multiple traumatic injuries, including severe nerve and spinal damage. He required nine surgeries that were not altogether successful. His injuries have left him with a neurogenic bladder and he is unable to work. Denton also was required to see a counselor for depression and anxiety.

The driver of the truck, Johnson, had nine traffic-related offenses in the seven years before applying to work at Universal as well as four counts of felony reckless aggravated assault when he tried, with a wooden club, to break the headlights of the car occupied by four women who he claimed were tailgating him.

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Jorge Amparo was traveling on an interstate highway in rainy conditions during heavy traffic. Evans Delivery Co. driver Jose Ayala was operating an 80,000-pound tractor-trailer in the roadway’s middle or left lane while he was talking on his cellphone.

As Amparo stopped for traffic in the left lane, Ayala’s tractor-trailer rear-ended his vehicle, causing it collide with another vehicle in front of him.

Emergency workers used the Jaws of Life to extract Amparo who was taken to a nearby hospital. He underwent a discectomy to treat a herniation at L5-S1 and required physical therapy and rehabilitation.

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