WRONGFUL DEATH INVOLVING COMMERCIAL TRUCK NETS RECORD SETTLEMENT
On March 12, 2009, a Danville County judge approved what is believed to be the largest wrongful death settlement of a woman in a motor vehicle accident involving a truck in Vermilion County history. The woman’s family was represented by the Law Offices of Jeffrey J. Kroll. Debra Cunningham, a 49-year-old woman was killed on the evening of August 25, 2004, when her vehicle was struck by a semi-tractor trailer driven an employee of Dayton Freight Lines, a national trucking company. Mrs. Cunningham was operating her vehicle in a westbound direction on Lake Shore Avenue. The tractor/trailer was headed in a northbound direction on Vermilion Street. The collision occurred in downtown Danville, Illinois.
A severe thunderstorm had knocked the power out to that area, including the intersection’s traffic control devices. The City of Danville, a defendant in the lawsuit, had erected a non-reflective temporary stop sign in the middle of the intersection. The Law Offices of Jeffrey J. Kroll contended that the stop sign was not only placed in the wrong direction but was not reflective. The driver of the truck, familiar with the intersection, did not stop and continued through the intersection and slammed into Mrs. Cunningham’s vehicle.
The Cunninghams had been married for 22 years. Debra Cunningham was survived by her husband and five adult children. She worked for Blue Cross/Blue Shield for almost 20 years. She was actively involved with the community and her church and spent her free time with her children and grandchildren.
Many commercial vehicle accidents are caused by a driver’s attentiveness. Similarly, many trucking collisions are caused by a driver’s fatigue resulting in the operation of a vehicle for an excessive amount of time. In this particular case, we sought to prove that the driver’s attentiveness in traveling through an intersection that he had been through before was the cause of the accident. Federal regulations prohibited the trucking company from allowing a driver to operate a commercial vehicle while the driver’s ability or alertness is impaired by fatigue, illness or any other cause which make it unsafe for the driver to operate the commercial vehicle. 49 CFR Section 392.3
If you or a loved one have been injured in an accident involving a truck, please contact the Law Offices of Jeffrey J. Kroll. We have successfully handled many trucking accident cases and have obtained large settlements and verdicts for our clients. For example, Jeffrey J. Kroll recently settled a case in Kendall County, Illinois for $2.8 million dollars involving a 22-year-old girl who was killed when her stopped vehicle was rear ended by a tractor trailer. Jeffrey J. Kroll was also involved in a settlement of $15,504,000.00 involving the death of a 64-year-old man and a woman who sustained catastrophic injuries when they were involved in a multi-vehicle pile-up on the Interstate.
