Man Suffered Brain Injury In Collision With Truck Welds On Tandem Broke Before Crash

From the September 06, 1999 & November 04, 2002 Missouri Lawyers Weekly.

Plaintiffs sued the owner and manufacturer of a tractor-trailer truck after they were injured in an accident on Jan. 9, 1999 on Highway B near Jefferson City. A Freightways truck crossed the centerline of the highway and collided with Plaintiffs’ Ford Bronco.

Plaintiff, 51, suffered a traumatic brain injury and a fracture of his left hand. He was unconscious for four days, and his CT scans showed a marble-sized lesion to his temporal parietal lobe. The injury resulted in impaired vision, chronic pain, memory, concentration and attention deficits as well as a 20-point drop in his nonverbal IQ. Before the accident, Plaintiff maintained a family farm and had no other employment.

The truck driver testified that he lost control as he went around a curve at approximately 20 mph because the rear wheels of the trailer, or the tandem, separated from the trailer box. The tandem was found more than 100 feet from the overturned trailer. A post-collision examination of the trailer showed that fractures had occurred before the collision.

The trailer was manufactured in 1996 at Trailmobile’s Jonesboro, Ark., plant as part of an order by Freightways for 140 trailers. After this accident, Freightways found that their entire trailer fleet had broken weldments. Trailmobile agreed to repair those trailers under warranty, and the warranty records showed that repairs had been made due to a manufacturing defect. The plaintiffs also presented evidence of a later design change and evidence that Trailmobile had made hundreds of similar repairs to trailers manufactured in 1995-1997 and that several other similar accidents had occurred.

Defendant Trailmobile claimed the collision was caused by the driver’s speed and that the weldments broke only after the truck began rolling. Trailmobile also claimed that Freightways should have discovered any broken trailer weldments in annual and periodic inspections and that they had not performed proper inspections.

Plaintiffs’ claims against Trailmobile and Freightways were settled by Trailmobile during mediation as Freightways would not agree to contribute a significant amount to the settlement pool. Trailmobile is considering a contribution claim against Freightways in a later action to recoup part of the settlement payment.

Type of Action: Automobile accident, product liability
Type of Injuries: Traumatic brain injury, fractured left hand
Verdict or Settlement: $4.25 million settlement