The Ammons Law Firm negotiated a cash settlement in a negligence lawsuit against a local trucking company on behalf of a 26-year-old Texas man. The man was operating his Isuzu Trooper II on a state highway when a large dump truck loaded with pea gravel and traveling on the same roadway began spilling its load. As vehicles were being sprayed with and damaged by the pea gravel, two motorists flagged down the driver of the dump truck who proceeded to pull over and park his vehicle in an unsafe manner on a narrow stretch of the highway. As the Texas man was attempting to join the drivers of the other damaged vehicles in speaking with the trucker, his Trooper II was struck by another car and caused to skid and rollover. As it was rolling, it collided with the improperly parked dump truck and the man sustained a traumatic brain injury.
The lawsuit Ammons filed for the injured driver contained allegations that the dump truck operator’s conduct was negligent and failed to abide by Texas laws in several respects. He failed to secure a safe location before pulling over onto the shoulder of the highway; he stopped on a narrow roadside with his left tires positioned only inches from the road’s edge (despite having additional room to pull farther off the roadway); and he failed to properly secure the dump truck’s load of pea gravel which, of course, started the sequence of harmful events. Had the trucker acted reasonably, the dump truck would not have been in a position to be contacted by the Trooper II.
While the motor carrier for whom the trucker worked is responsible for any negligence on its driver’s part because he was on the job at the time of this accident, Ammons further claimed in the lawsuit that the motor carrier was negligent in failing to train its driver and to supervise and monitor how he secured his loads.
Isuzu was included as a defendant in the lawsuit because the Trooper II proved not to be crashworthy in the rollover. Due to defects in its roof structure, seat belts, and side windows, the man’s injuries were made worse. A cash settlement was also obtained from Isuzu.
At the Defendants’ insistence, the amounts obtained in the settlement are confidential.
The Ammons Law Firm is located in Houston, Texas and practices personal injury law, including cases involving tire defects, oil rig explosions, truck accidents, plant explosions, refinery accidents, wrongful death, post-collision fires, seat belt defects, seatback defects, airbag defects, SUV rollovers, and workplace negligence.
