Maryland Truck Accident Lawyer Blog

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Date: May 17, 2007
Title: Jury Awards $20 Million in Truck Accident Case
Author: Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

A truck driver of a medical waste truck with cocaine in his system and his employer negligent Tuesday in an accident that caused the death of a 76-year-old man whose widow was awarded $9.7 million in actual damages and $11 million in punitive damages by a Dallas County jury on Monday. Plaintiff's truck accident lawyer said jurors were especially perturbed that the company's personnel records on Mr. Yarbrough had "disappeared." The jury also appeared to be moved by the fact that state regulators had cited the company for not screening its drivers for drugs.

I think the take home message for Maryland truck accident attorneys is that spoliation of evidence in truck accident cases matters more than most lawyers realize in the eyes of jurors. The for Maryland truck accident lawyers in a case like this, however, is that spoilation of evidence is not going to bring about punitive damages because Maryland courts have found that punitive damages must be supported by a showing that the conduct of the intoxicated driver was malicious, or the result of evil motive, ill will, or the like.

This issue was addressed in Komornik v. Sparks, 331 Md. 720 (1993). The Maryland Court of Special Appeals found that the Plaintiff asserted no facts from which a jury could conclude that the intoxicated Defendant's conduct was characterized by evil motive, intent to injure, ill will, or fraud, the terms used to describe "actual malice" in Owens-Illinois, Inc. v. Zenobia, 325 Md. 420 (1992), Maryland’s seminal opinion on punitive damages. According to the Maryland Court of Appeals, even if defendant, like the one in this case, has actual knowledge that he/she was under the influence of drugs, if the defendant was not acting with “actual malice” in driving while under the influence of cocain, punitive damages do not apply.

Date: August 17, 2006
Title: Truck Accident Fatality for Truck Heading Towards Maryland
Author: Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

New Jersey State Police said the truck's event data recorder, a computer device, could reveal the driver's speed and whether he was accelerating or decelerating as his flatbed tractor-trailer overturned and spilled its load of red bricks onto a family's car.

"They [event data recorders] are tremendously invaluable for research," the Record quoted Rae Tyson, a spokesman for the National Highway Transportation Safety Board. "They can provide much more accurate reconstruction of a crash than any eyewitness."

The Record, quoting the New Jersey Turnpike authority, said that truck accidents have stayed fairly level in recent years, increasing 2.9 percent from 2003 to 2004. The Record also quoted Gerald Donaldson, senior research director for the Crash Foundation, a traffic safety group in Washington, D.C., who criticized the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for not requiring stronger reinforcement of open cargo, such as bricks and lumber. Donaldson said such cargo should be stored in a trailer, rather than simply strapped on a flatbed. "They want a free ride," he said of the trucking industry.

Date: August 17, 2006
Title: Truck Accident Fatality for Truck Heading Towards Maryland
Author: Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

The Capital Gazette reported today that a Pasadena (Anne Arundel County) man involved in a minor accident just minutes before fatally rolling his pickup truck yesterday on Route 100. This fatal wreck, coupled with a dump truck accident that spilled hot asphalt onto Interstate 97 near Millersville, caused gridlock on Anne Arundel County roads yesterday. The Pasadena man was was pronounced dead at the scene of the truck accident. The dump truck driver, also from Pasadena, was taken to Baltimore Washington Medical Center (formerly North Arundel Medical Center) and the driver of the car, a Severn woman, was taken to the Shock-Trauma Center at University Hospital in Baltimore.

Date: March 17, 2006
Title: Average Verdicts in Truck Accident Cases
Author: Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

A recent Jury Verdict Research analysis of of truck accidents from January 1996 to January 2005 around the country shows that plaintiffs receive damages in 60 percent of personal injury trials and receive a median compensation of $90,000.

The title of this post is misleading because it actually the median verdicts. The average verdict number, which I could not find, would be much higher.

I reported on similar data earlier this year. These finding come with more details, some of which are of particular interest. Head on truck accident, clearly the most dangerous type of truck accident, has a median verdict of $532,034. The median award where brain damage was alleged is $1,123,952. Wrongful death truck accidents had a median of $1,021,000.

Date: January 18, 2006
Title: Jury Awards $14.1 Million to Truck Accident Victim
Author: Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

On January 14, 2006, a Clark County, Nevada jury awarded $14.1 million to a truck crash victim who was killed by a drunk driver in 2001. The verdict was divided between $4.1 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages to be paid by three corporate defendants: Terrible Herbst Inc., ETT Inc., and Herbst Supply Inc.

Rosa Delegado, a 58-year-old grandmother, was getting into her car when the defendant truck driver hit her with a large industrial truck. Delegado was pinned against her car and run over. Ms. Delegado's family's attorney filed a personal injury civil lawsuit against Terrible Herbst, which operates 80 convenience stores and gas stations in Nevada.

The Plaintiff alleged that the defendant driver had a history of drinking and driving that apparently did not offend the sensibilities of his employer Terrible Herbst. In fact, incredibly, a company supervisor testified that he was not concerned by the fact that the truck driver defendant had come to work smelling of beer. He further testified on another occasion that the truck driver and another temporary worker asked him for permission to drink beer at lunch. In spite of this, the supervisor testified that he did not necessarily have reservations about this man driving a truck for Terrible Herbst. Unbelievable.

I did not sit through the trial, of course, I am just reading the media's account of this truck accident. But if these facts are as presented, it is hard to argue that punitive damages are not appropriate. In this case, the jury readily agreed to the tune of $10 million.

In Maryland, punitive damages are virtually impossible to recover in a truck accident case like this one because the plaintiff' lawyer must demonstrate that the defendant acted with "actual malice." Actual malice is "evil motive, intent to injure, ill will or fraud." Setting the bar even higher for plaintiff's personal injury attorneys in Maryland bringing a punitive damages claim, actual malice must be demonstrated by clear and convincing evidence.

The purpose of punitive damages in a case like this is to modify the defendant's behavior. It is extremely difficult to muster empirical evidence to evaluate whether punitives have a deterrence effect because there is no systematic reporting of punitive damages. Even if there was such data, there are so many other variable involved that could skew the data. The death penalty deterrance debate is a perfect example. So the debate among lawyers, judges, and legislators continues on anecdotal evidence.

Personally, I think this issue is very different from the death penalty question because corporations do act rationally: the seek to maximize profits and avoid risk. Accordingly, they act in their self interest to take steps to avoid risk. People considering capital offenses are rarely rational and certainly not risk adverse. In my opinion, punitive damages are necessary in Maryland when corporate defendants show reckless disregard for the safety of people like Rosa Delegado.

Date: January 15, 2006
Title: Photographing the Truck After an Accident
Author: Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

On Evan Schaeffer's Illinois Trial Practice Weblog of March 28, 2005, he links to a great article on photographing vehicles after an accident by Jack Murray entitled "Ten Tips for Photographing Vehicles for Litigation." The article offers some great tips such as locating the secondary VIN (vehicle identification number) to verify vehicle identification in the event the primary VIN is inaccessible, the type of filters to use, and when to use a flash (which is a bit counter intuitive). This article should, as Evan suggested, be photocopied and reviewed before taking photographs after an accident. In a truck accident case, it would be wise to also consider photographing:

1. The DOT, ICC and the unit numbers;
2. The tires from all sides and angles (including underneath);
3. The tractor and the trailer (together and separately);
4. All reflective surfaces;
5. Any cargo restraints; and 6. Any exterior writings, including warnings, instructions, or slogans.

Date: January 13, 2006
Title: Florida Department of Transportation Vehicle Fatality Study
Author: Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

A truck crash in Glenelg (Howard County) injured caused two fatalities on Thursday. The pick up truck accident occurred on Route 32 near Folly Quarter Road when a southbound pickup carrying six men crossed the center line and collided head on with a northbound pickup carrying only the driver, police said. Two men who fell from the truck and died at the scene. Five others were injured, including two that were taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore.

Date: January 13, 2006
Title: Florida Department of Transportation Vehicle Fatality Study
Author: Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

The Florida Department of Transportation recently did a study on motor vehicle crashes in Florida, with a particular focus on fatal truck accidents. The study found that trucks were involved in approximately 39% of all fatal truck accidents. In heavy truck accidents, 50 percent of fatalities occurred, not surprisingly, in vehicles that rolled over. Twelve percent of fatal truck accident in the study were head on collisions. Trailer rear and side underrides accounted for 28% of the fatal impacts among occupants in vehicles colliding with trucks. One interesting aspect of the study that is bound to generate interest is the study's finding that of truck drivers involved in truck accidents that caused death, a one-quarter of the truck drivers were between the ages of 41 and 50. These are experience drivers who might have been considered the least likely drivers to cause a motor vehicle fatality. Another interested finding is that age, alcohol, and speed are less likely to be causal factors in a truck accident fatality than in other types of motor vehicle fatality.

Click here for the full 500 page report.

Date: January 11, 2006
Title: Truck Accident Verdict Data
Author: Ronald V. Miller, Jr.
Comments: Select here

A recent Jury Verdict Research nationwide study looked at truck accidents from 1996 to 2005 found that the truck accident victim prevailed and received damages in 60 percent of truck accident lawsuits. The average compensation award of these verdicts was $90,000. Not surprisingly, Plaintiffs were more likely to prevail in and receive compensation in head-on truck crashes. In these cases, Plaintiff's prevailed 71% of the time and received an average jury award of $532,034. The average value of a fatal truck accident case was just over $1 million. For truck accident cases that involved a disc injury, usually a herniated disc, the average award was $122,532. Three percent of the jury awards were in excess of $5,000,000. It is interesting that the average back strain injury in a truck accident was worth $17,667. While I do not know what the average back strain is nationally in car accident cases, it is certainly less than $17,667. It seems as though the same injury in a truck accident case is worth more than the same injury from an automobile accident.

Welcome to the truck accident lawyer blog presented by Miller & Zois. The purpose of this site is to be able to comment on issues relating to truck accidents and solicit input and feedback. We hope that you enjoy the site and will participate.

Thank you,

Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

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