On May 11, 2009, Manuel Banuelos was driving a dump truck through a construction zone on northbound Interstate 94 in Lake County, Ill., when he attempted to turn into a construction site a quarter-mile north of Illinois Route 176. At that point, Banuelos was rear-ended by a semi-tractor-trailer driven by…
G3 Enterprises, a wine and beverage packaging and transportation company, had a long-term subhauling contract with Sun Valley Express Transport Inc. Sun Valley in turn contracted with Velazquez & Sons Trucking Co. to haul grapes using G3’s trailers. Velazquez & Sons assigned its new driver, Juan Velazquez, to do the…
In a tragic and grisly death case, the decedent, who was 48, had just dropped off her daughter at school and was driving out of the school’s parking lot when she stopped at a red light. A tractor-trailer driver for Albuquerque Redi-Mix Inc. and Quintana Enterprises Inc. struck the decedent’s…
On Oct. 29, 2008, Jonas Zigmantas was driving a flatbed truck for trucking company A.V., Inc. The truck was traveling northbound on Illinois Interstate 294 around 9:30 p.m. Zigmantas stopped his truck because he was involved in a minor property damage crash with a Honda Accord, which was driven by…
A speeding truck leaving the Newhall Tunnel in Southern California apparently lost control, crashed into the center divider and came to a stop some 1,700 feet outside of the tunnel exit. As other motor vehicles were leaving the tunnel, they braked and slowed down to avoid the crashed truck. A…
On May 20, 2008, Timothy Balota, 31, was driving southbound on Interstate 55 in Collinsville, Ill., when traffic came to a stop approaching a construction zone near Route 157. Collinsville is a near east side suburb of St. Louis. A truck was stopped behind the plaintiff’s car when the semi-tractor-trailer…
A Lake County, Ill., jury returned a verdict of $257,800 for Joseph Briski, a truck driver who tripped and fell in a pothole after parking his trailer-truck at National Gypsum’s plant in Waukegan, Ill. This incident occurred on Feb. 2, 2008. Briski was walking toward the rear of his truck…
On Dec. 1, 2008, Sarah Conway, Kathleen O’Toole and Mary Heidkamp were passengers in Joan Steenveld’s car when it was broadsided by the defendant, Lynnard McCullough, who was driving a tractor-trailer. All but Steenveld perished in the crash. Both of the vehicles skidded off a snowy, icy road. Steenveld’s southbound…
Leroy Walker Jr. was working as a flagman for Curran Contracting on May 1, 2008. He was directing traffic on Route 173 near Lorelei Drive in Zion, Ill. Walker was standing in front of a construction site where a new Super Wal-Mart store was being built. The defendant, Steven Kruglar, was driving…
Officials at the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) believe that U.S. truck and bus regulators are not catching on to serious safety hazards before fatal crashes occur. The NTSB has stated that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has known about deficiencies in bus company practices before some fatal crashes, but…