Articles Posted in Truck Accidents

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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 the defendant Dezell Kelley, pushing Banuelos’ truck into a ditch causing his serious injuries.

Banuelos claimed that he had slowed down in advance of his turn, that his flashers were engaged and signs were present warning drivers of a flagger ahead and the trucks were entering and exiting this highway.

Two witnesses confirmed that Banuelos had slowed and his flashers were on. Banuelos was 39 years old at the time of the crash. He sustained a herniated L5-S1 disc that required a discectomy and fusion, a torn meniscus in his right knee that required arthroscopic surgery and a herniated C5-6 disc requiring treatment and future fusion surgery, all leaving him unable to return to work as a truck driver.

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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 job, which was coordinated and dispatched by G3.

As Velazquez was driving a big rig, hauling G3‘s double trailer on the highway, he crashed into a charter bus driven by Jimmy Duncan. The bus then crashed into attenuator barrels before becoming trapped between the big rig and the wall of an overpass. Rescue workers had to use the Jaws of Life to evacuate injured passengers of the bus.

Duncan, 50, was rushed to a hospital’s emergency department suffering from pain, nausea and dizziness. He was diagnosed with chest and abdominal contusions and neck and low back strain. However, the X-rays showed narrowing of Duncan’s spinal canal, which caused compression of the spinal cord and nerve roots at C6-7, narrowing of the space between L2-3 and L3-4 vertebrae, with pockets of air between the disks. The impact of the crash also aggravated Duncan’s pre-existing spinal injuries from which he had undergone two prior surgeries.

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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 car. The tractor-trailer rolled over, pinned the decedent in her vehicle while 25 tons of sand poured out of the truck.

Although desperate efforts were made to rescue the driver, she suffered asphyxiation and died at the scene. She was survived by her husband, two adult children and a minor child.

The family brought a lawsuit, which included the husband of the decedent suing the truck’s driver, Redi-Mix, Quintana Enterprises and its owners for negligent hiring, retention and supervision, negligent entrustment, violation of federal regulations and New Mexico statutory law and vicarious liability.

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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 Michael Hawkins, near mile marker 2.

The Accord had sideswiped Zigmantas’s truck. Instead of pulling the flatbed semi-trailer over to the shoulder of the four-lane highway, Zigmantas stopped in the third lane of traffic, got out of his cab to check damage to his truck, walked to the shoulder to see if Hawkins was injured and told him to call the police.

After some time out of the truck, Zigmantas got back in, but he did not move the truck to the side of the road or put out any reflective hazard warning triangles or flares behind his parked flatbed trailer.

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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 series of chain-reaction collisions followed.  A fire broke out from one of the crashes and spread through the tunnel and to other stalled vehicles.

One of the individuals involved in this tragic crash was Ricardo Cibrian, a trucker who was trapped inside his truck in the tunnel and unfortunately died in the fire that reached his tractor. He was survived by his wife and two children.

This crash and fire resulted in more than 50 claims, including 3 death cases.  There were five personal injury actions and dozens of property damage claims.  All of the cases were consolidated into one.  Cibrian’s family claimed $1.2 million in economic damages, including past and future lost earnings.

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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 driven by defendant Lewis Casey rear-ended the truck at 20-30 mph.  That crash triggered a chain reaction collision, which included five vehicles. 

At the time of the crash, Balota was on his way to have staples removed from a surgery necessitated by a life-threatening accident just 13 months earlier. 

As a result of the impact of this crash, Balota sustained cervical disc injuries at C5-6, C3-4 and C6-7 with future surgery recommended by his treating physician.  Balota also suffered aggravation of pre-existing conditions in his lumbar and thoracic spine. He claimed past and future lost time as a carpenter of $485,299. 

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 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 to undo the air lines when he fell.  He landed on both knees. 

Briski contended that the parking lot in which truck drivers park their tractors and trailers was filled with numerous potholes and depressions hidden by snow and slush.

Briski, 49, suffered an acute rupture of the left quadriceps tendon and fractured his kneecap. The quadriceps repair surgery two months after the incident failed. It resulted in permanent chronic quadriceps rupture, which is a very disabling condition; permanent significant impairment of leg extensions; inability to continue working as a truck driver and potential future left knee arthritis. 

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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 car skidded over the center line in front of McCullough’s northbound truck; he was trying to avoid a head-on collision.  Steenveld steered to the right, driving into an empty field, but her car also went off the road again winding up in the truck’s path. 

The attorney for the estates of the deceased plaintiffs asked the Cook County judge to instruct the jurors that one or more of the defendants was liable to the plaintiffs.  It was alleged that either Steenveld or McCullough or both must have been driving too fast for conditions and thus, were liable for the deaths of the decedents.  The speed limit at the place of the crashes was 55 mph, although Steenveld testified she was going 35 mph. 

Two witnesses testified that McCullough’s speed was 40-45 mph.  In addition, there was an expert who testified that McCullough’s evasive maneuver was appropriate.  Without an objection, the Cook County trial judge granted a motion in limine that requested an order barring “any argument, evidence, reference or suggestion that anything other than the alleged negligence of the defendants caused or contributed to cause plaintiffs’ injuries.”

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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 westbound on Route 173 when Walker stopped traffic to allow construction vehicles to enter and exit the driveway to the construction site.

Walker alleged in his lawsuit that Kruglar accelerated without being given permission to proceed and attempted to go around a semi-truck turning into the entrance.  At that time, Kruglar’s vehicle struck Walker’s right wrist and arm.

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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 the agency took no steps to correct them.  The FMCSA has known about these deficiencies before the fatal accidents took place, but did not take any action to shut down carriers until afterward.  The NTSB chairman said in a statement that some of these cases are under investigation by the agency. 

The report said that there has been a long period of time — maybe years — that the FMCSA has chosen not to take action against some bus companies despite repeated safety citations. The report also reinforced the fact that the FMCSA did nothing to take some of the dangerous buses out of service and off the road. 

The chairman of the NTSB, Deborah Hersman, said in a statement that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration needs to crack down before more deadly crashes occur, not just after high-visibility events.  Ms. Hersman also said that poor performing bus companies were on the FMCSA’s radar for safety violations, but they did not take any action and allowed these bus companies to continue operating.

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