Texas jury hits Werner Enterprises with nearly $90 million verdict

[Injun]

Just how fast was the truck traveling? --- Probably 80 knowing how stupid people are here in Texas.

Records said he was going 50 mph at the time he was hit. Well under the posted speed limit.

He was exercising due diligence.

 

[Agent_Z]

Records said he was going 50 mph at the time he was hit. Well under the posted speed limit.

He was exercising due diligence.

I meant the 4-wheeler.

 

[Injun]

I meant the 4-wheeler.

As relevant as that is to this discussion, that was not disclosed.

Funny, that..

 

[Uncle Birchy]

Eric Penn, the plaintiff's attorney, said in a statement. "Werner’s business model is deadly, dangerous and absolutely must change."

"Despite this National Weather Service Winter Storm Warning, Werner directed Ali to take the I-20 route through the icy conditions rather than a safer alternative route," the plaintiff's attorneys said in a statement.

The Blake family was in a pick-up truck that lost control on the opposite side of a divided interstate, came through a grass median and ran into the truck.

"The Werner driver was traveling well below the posted speed limit, did not lose control of his tractor-trailer, and even brought the unit to a controlled stop after the impact," said Meisgeier in the statement. "As a result, no other motorists were involved in a secondary accident. If an accident like this is the fault of the driver who was hit by the out of control vehicle, think about what that means for every motorist on the roads."


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Dayum..

Furthermore my old company used to get MAD at me in Arkansas and Missourri..

Guess they dont know what Road Salt is out that way...

Anyhow it would be 40/50 degrees by lunch time so Id pull into the next truckstop and call in..

This is the same dispatch during that blizzard in Minnesota that told me we got 5 other trucks making time..

Sorry when the road resembles a Hockey Rink I aint going farther..

Got bitched at then put on hold to the yard manager for a further dressing down..

I said look ya prick and texted a cellphone picture of current road conditions..

Also I told em look the freight is gonna be a little late though if I jacknife into the ditch you are gonna have alot more problems than just being late on this load..

Now @Mike was I right or wrong there..

They didnt fire me at that point although even if they had I can find another job next week anyhow

 

[Rigjockey]

Dayum..

Furthermore my old company used to get MAD at me in Arkansas and Missourri..

Guess they dont know what Road Salt is out that way...

Anyhow it would be 40/50 degrees by lunch time so Id pull into the next truckstop and call in..

This is the same dispatch during that blizzard in Minnesota that told me we got 5 other trucks making time..

Sorry when the road resembles a Hockey Rink I aint going farther..

Got *****ed at then put on hold to the yard manager for a further dressing down..

I said look ya prick and texted a cellphone picture of current road conditions..

Also I told em look the freight is gonna be a little late though if I jacknife into the ditch you are gonna have alot more problems than just being late on this load..

Now @Mike was I right or wrong there..

They didnt fire me at that point although even if they had I can find another job next week anyhow

I hear ya! I told dispatch this is as far as I am going in these conditions.
Well, so and so is still running.
I don't give a **** what so and so is doing! Do I look, walk, talk or act like so and so? Call the customer and ask them if they want the freight delivered to their door a bit late or if they want to come pick it up spread across the interstate?

 

[r3gulator3]

I hear ya! I told dispatch this is as far as I am going in these conditions.
Well, so and so is still running.
I don't give a **** what so and so is doing! Do I look, walk, talk or act like so and so? Call the customer and ask them if they want the freight delivered to their door a bit late or if they want to come pick it up spread across the interstate?

This is one thing my company never argues with a driver over. If you feel fatigued or feel the road is unsafe. Park it.

 

[ironpony]

This is one thing my company never argues with a driver over. If you feel fatigued or feel the road is unsafe. Park it.

Same at Prime.

 

[GAnthony]

This is one thing my company never argues with a driver over. If you feel fatigued or feel the road is unsafe. Park it.

my company, the boss watches the weather channel and local news and keeps in contact, with the customers warehouse manager.

if either says the trucks don;t go out, we do not go out. sometimes my boss tells us to stay home, ahead of the warehouse manager.

sometimes, the manager calls ahead of my boss to cancel the night runs.

if no calls are made and we run, from that point on, each driver does what he can do.

i have had to call my boss from NH and tell him the roads are bad, and i cannot go to Maine for my last stop, and i tell him, i am turning around.

sometimes, when i get to my last stop in Maine, the snow is up to the hubs and i cannot make it into the yard, and i have to call him, and he tells me to turn around and head back.

at least we make the attempt. from that point, not much else anyone can do, unless the warehouse manager wants to pay a huge tow bill, getting me unstuck on HIS unplowed property, and that ain't gonna happen.

 

[mndriver]

was reading a FB comment thread on this whole mess.

Guess there's a LOT more to the story than what we've read.

Like the pickup had been going the wrong way for a while. Had stopped on the interstate and there were several that had passed him without hitting him....

And then Werner piled into him.

Supposedly, this comes from someone that was a witness to the scene.

All it proves to me....

Don't trust a news article for your facts in 3 paragraphs when it's a considerable court case that takes several reams of paper to get the decision

 

[Duck]

was reading a FB comment thread on this whole mess.

Guess there's a LOT more to the story than what we've read.

Like the pickup had been going the wrong way for a while. Had stopped on the interstate and there were several that had passed him without hitting him....

And then Werner piled into him.

Supposedly, this comes from someone that was a witness to the scene.

All it proves to me....

Don't trust a news article for your facts in 3 paragraphs when it's a considerable court case that takes several reams of paper to get the decision

Did you just dismiss a news article in favor of what the peanut gallery on Facebook was saying?

 

[r3gulator3]

Did you just dismiss a news article in favor of what the peanut gallery on Facebook was saying?

Not all.....

 

[Duck]

Not all.....

Well although he's among the last people who I would think would be swayed by truck stop counter talk, he didn't post a link to anything supporting the thermonuclear bomb he just dropped on this story.

 

[mndriver]

Did you just dismiss a news article in favor of what the peanut gallery on Facebook was saying?

I dismiss nothing and accept nothing.

But I sure have no love for 2-3 paragraph news stories as being the Paul Harvey of what happened.

 

[Duck]

I dismiss nothing and accept nothing.

But I sure have no love for 2-3 paragraph news stories as being the Paul Harvey of what happened.

I don't trust Paul Harvey either.

 

[Injun]

Like the pickup had been going the wrong way for a while.

Great. So now, wrong-way drivers have right of way?

 

[RamblingPete]

WOW ... Now truck drivers have to worry about doing nothing wrong at all .
This verdict is so bizzare . First the vehicle AT FAULT was the pickup truck . The Vehicle that lost control was the pick up truck . The Vehicle that left the correct lane and crossed a median and the traveled head on the wrong way against traffic ... WAS THE PICK UP TRUCK . Furthermore there were 4 passengers in a vehicle that is generally designed for 3 , meaning at least one child was not properly restrained with the vehicles safety equipment,AKA a seatbelt ( it does not say whether it was an extended or 4 door pick up so it's fair to assume it's a regular one ) .
But after all these faults of the driver in the pick up truck and an investigation finding THE PICK UP TRUCK 100% AT FAULT , the trucking company has to pay out a 90 million dollar verdict .
Ironically is the loonisy in which the verdict was awarded . The Lawyer for the family at fault argued NO ONE SHOULD HAVE BEEN ON THE ROAD BECAUSE THE CPNDITIONS WERE TO DANGEROUS FOR ANYONE TO BE TRAVELING So the lawyer explains why NO ONE, INCLUDING THE PICK UP TRUCK should not have been on the road ... and the jury decides the owner of the pick up had no responsibility to protect her children from these deplorable road conditions but the truck driver was responsible for her negligent actions that put her children and herself in harm's way

 

[mndriver]

Great. So now, wrong-way drivers have right of way?

Nah,.....


I'd just rather read the actual court documents than a bunch of 3 paragraph news stories from sources I consider suspect at best.

 

[RamblingPete]

Yet Werner never communicated this update to its student driver, allowing Ali to average over 60 mph while driving unsupervised through the icy conditions


How is Werner supposed to communicate this information ? Federal law does not allow truck drivers to operate a hand held phone or texting device while driving .( now it's argued that we're allowed headsets but I don't use one because of these kinds of lawyers ) . Therefore based on the law and individual responsibility there is arguably no reasonable way for Werner to have notified him . Furthermore as another point ... for decades LAWSUIT LAWYERS have claimed a CB is a driver distraction , therefore in reality this whole case was won on the basis that in no way was this driver distracted