If the government tells a manufacturer what to do to make their product safe, and they comply, should they be liable for injuries if someone gets hurt anyway? A September Missouri jury verdict of $462 million for the plaintiffs shows that this defense will only go so far. The jury in the case found in favor of family members of two men killed when their car rear-ended a tractor-trailer.
The two men were in a Volkswagen sedan when it hit the back of a trailer at an estimated 45 miles per hour and slid underneath it (known as underriding). The defendant, Wabash National, made and sold the trailer. The plaintiffs claimed the crash guard at the rear was dangerously unsafe, and Wabash ignored information that showed what was used was insufficient to make the trailer safe.
The defendant stated no crash guard of any design wouldn’t save the deceased, and the company used what the federal government mandated, according to CVN.
Wrongful Death Case Against Trailer Manufacturer
The plaintiffs in this wrongful death lawsuit were family members of Taron Tailor, who owned and drove the car, and his passenger, Nicholas Perkins. At the time of the 2019 accident, Perkins had a two-year-old daughter, and Tailor’s wife was pregnant, reports KDSK.
The rear impact guard on the trailer had two protective posts, an older design mandated by the federal government in 1998. The plaintiffs argued, and the jurors agreed, that if it had four posts, the fatal underriding wouldn’t have happened, and the two car occupants would’ve survived.
Despite using the two-post design for nearly 30 years, plaintiffs claimed Wabash never effectively tested it and chose not to upgrade the trailers to save money despite evidence from similar accidents in the past that it posed a severe safety risk.
The plaintiffs also stated trailer manufacturers knew the two-post design was insufficient. It’s designed to prevent underrides by vehicles traveling up to 30 miles an hour, while minimum speed limits on highways are often 45 miles an hour. Some manufacturers have switched to a four-post design.
The St. Louis jury awarded each family $6 million in compensatory damages and $450 million in punitive damages. The jury estimated the defendant saved this amount by failing to equip their trailers with sufficient, safer protection for 30 years.
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Trucking Industry: Someone Else Should Spend Money to Save Lives, Not Us
Underride crashes are not new. Actress Jayne Mansfield was killed in 1964 after the vehicle she was in underrode a trailer. After that, the federal government mandated “Mansfield bars” on the back of trailers to prevent these deadly crashes.
They’re also far more common than what the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports, according to WTSP. They found that the federal agency relies on police reports and data for reporting accidents and the injuries and deaths they cause. Only 33 states have accident reports with a list of accident descriptions that include underriding crashes. In the other states, unless the officer states explicitly that was the problem or a photo shows it, an underriding accident isn’t counted.
It’s estimated that thousands of people have been killed in these accidents, and the trucking industry isn’t interested in spending money to prevent these accidents. Underriding happens from the rear and when cars go underneath from the side. Putting these guards in place may cost a couple hundred dollars per trailer. The trucking industry claims money is better spent on technology in other vehicles to prevent these accidents instead of by trucking companies to try to limit an accident’s damage.
Speak To a Kentucky Truck Accident Attorney Today
Have questions about your legal rights to compensation because a truck driver caused your injury? If so, contact The Fleck Firm at (270) 446-7000 and schedule your free consultation. We’ll discuss your accident, how Kentucky law may apply, and your best options. Insurance companies have lawyers. You should have one, too.
