Personal Injury Law

Jury in Tractor Trailer Crash Death Case Awards $1 Million

By Jeffrey Lowe

A jury in Alabama has awarded $1 million to the son of a man killed in a tractor-trailer crash, the Dothan Eagle reports.

Kenneth Watkins filed the wrongful death suit after his 79-year-old father, Joseph Watkins, was killed at the intersection of U.S. 84 and Conecuh County Road 15 just north of Mobile. Watkins claimed that the truck driver barreled through the intersection traveling 75 miles per hour. The posted recommended speed was 45 miles per hour.

The suit was filed against Rowell Trucking, driver Thomas Wayne Rowell and Greatwide Dedicated Transport.

The defendants alleged that Watkins failed to yield the right of way. But the Conecuh County jury disagreed. After four hours, it handed down the $1 million verdict against the three defendants.

It appears that one of the key pieces of information in the case was the truck?s excessive speed at the time of the accident. The speed of the truck was established by an expert testifying on behalf of the plaintiff.

Frequently expert witnesses are needed to prove fault. The experts chosen to investigate the accident should have special expertise in the design, manufacture and operation of trucks and the rules of the trucking industry.

Experts may not be needed in cases involving clear-cut liability or those in which law-enforcement personnel conducted the accident investigation.

If you or a loved one has been injured or a family member has been killed in a collision with a large truck, we urge you to contact the Lowe Law Firm by calling 877-678-3400 or filling out our online contact form.

Our trucking-accident attorneys will find out whether the truck driver, trucking company, or trailer owner is responsible for the accident. If so, we will then seek compensation for future and other related medical expenses, future and other affected wages, pain and suffering, disability and/or other related damages.

Full post as published by Trucking Accident Attorney Blog on October 21, 2008 (boomark / email).