Wrongful death lawsuit filed on behalf of family that perished in truck accident

On behalf of Terence Gross of Gross & Schuster, P.A. posted in Wrongful Death on Friday, May 3, 2013.

Last month, a wrongful death lawsuit was filed in District Court in Louisville on behalf of four Wisconsin residents who died in a truck accident last month on Interstate 65 near Glendale, Kentucky. The suit named Highway Star, the Michigan trucking company, and the driver responsible for the crash as defendants.

The accident took place when the trucker—who was allegedly driving in an unsafe manner—rear-ended the Wisconsin couple, who had been returning from a trip to Florida with their 18-year-old daughter, a family friend and four foster children. The impact caused the vehicle to catch fire with the family trapped side, resulting in four deaths.

The wrongful death suit accuses the Highway Star driver of failing to abide by federal safety regulations governing hours of service. Because he was driving over the permitted number of hours for service, he became fatigued and was operating his truck unsafely. In addition, he is accused of maintaining two sets of driver log books in order to hide information from regulatory agencies.

A subsequent investigation by the U.S. Department of Transportation resulted in an order that Highway Star Immediately cease operations, and the company was named an imminent hazard to public safety because of its failure to make sure its drivers obeyed federal safety regulations. The driver was also declared an imminent hazard and was ordered by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to cease all commercial motor vehicle operations because of his failure to obey hours-of-service regulations.

The lawsuit asks from compensatory and punitive damages, and a trial by jury.

Source: Courier-Journal, “Wrongful death lawsuit filed on behalf of 4 Wisconsin residents killed in I-165 crash,” April 17, 2013.

Source: Source: Courier-Journal, “Wrongful death lawsuit filed on behalf of 4 Wisconsin residents killed in I-165 crash,” April 17, 2013.