Verdicts by Practice Area: Trucking Liability

Theodore, Meghan L; Sparkman, James T; Moschell, Matthew P

Morgan & Morgan (David Henry)

Favorable Verdict

On October 6, 2023, Partners Jim Sparkman, Esq., Meghan Theodore, Esq., and Matthew Moschell, Esq., obtained a favorable verdict in trucking liability matter styled Plaintiff v. CWC Transport. Sparkman (Boca Raton), Theodore and Moschell (Tampa) defended a gasoline tanker company and its driver against a $3 million dollar claim with a cervical disc replacement. The jury found the plaintiff 65% at fault (the defense urged 50%), reduced the medical bills from $125,000 to $95,000, found no permanent injury, and rejected the 57-year-old parks and recreation supervisor’s claim for $171,000 in future life care damages. The team defended this low speed, sideswipe impact that occurred by gas pumps with a neurosurgical CME, an interventional radiological expert, and a biomedical engineer. The Plaintiff presented a chiropractor and a medical doctor, an Oxford trained trauma surgeon, and a life care planner. Read More.

Hoskins Turco Lloyd and Lloyd 

Motion to Dismiss Granted

Stuart Partner Nora Bailey prevailed on a Motion to Dismiss in a trucking/personal injury matter styled Plaintiff v. Smith Transportation, Inc. Our client, a transportation broker, was sued for personal injuries after the Plaintiff was injured while unloading a truck carrying a load that our client had brokered. We obtained a dismissal of the counts against our client via a Motion to Dismiss. Our Motion was based upon the fact that the tort claims against our client arose from services provided as a transportation broker and were accordingly preempted by the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act (FAAAA). The trial court agreed and dismissed the Plaintiff’s claims against Smith Transportation in their entirety. Read More.

Hoskins Turco Lloyd & Lloyd (Mark Urban)

Dismissal with Prejudice after summary judgment filed and argued

Stuart Partner Nora Bailey, Esq., recently received a Voluntary Dismissal with Prejudice in a wrongful death/trucking matter styled Gonzalez, Eloisa as Personal Representative of the E/O Torres v. S&M Services. The case arises from a trucking accident in Okeechobee, where an 18 year-old driver was unfortunately killed after striking the side of our insured tractor-trailer in an intersection. Plaintiff brought claims for his surviving parents, which is permitted under Florida’s Wrongful Death Act, but also pleaded claims for lost support and services for three (3) surviving siblings, including two minors. Ms. Bailey moved for summary judgment on the siblings’ claims, arguing that Plaintiff had provided no evidence to substantiate their lost support and services claims under section 768.18. After a hearing on the Motion, before a ruling, the Plaintiff voluntarily dismissed all three (3) siblings’ claims with prejudice. This comes after Ms. Bailey was previously successful in the same case in securing a order dismissing the siblings’ mental anguish claims, which are not permitted under section 768.21. Read More

Auto & Fleet Liability; Trucking Liability

Luis Menendez-Aponte, Daniel J. Santaniello

Defense Verdict

Managing Partner Dan Santaniello and Miami Junior Partner Luis Menendez-Aponte received a defense verdict on December 3, 2015 in a traumatic brain injury Trucking liability lawsuit. Plaintiff, a 37 year old male was involved in a catastrophic intersection accident with an 18 wheeler semi-truck operated by the Defendant driver. Plaintiff’s vehicle was completely destroyed due to the severe impact and the Plaintiff had to be extracted from the vehicle by first responders using the jaws-of-life.  After Plaintiff’s release from the hospital, the Plaintiff underwent pain therapy, orthopedic therapy, and began treating with a neurologist Nicholas Suite, MD and neuro-psychologist Alejandro Arias, Psy.D. for alleged traumatic brain injury sustained during the accident. Read More

Vanliner Insurance Co. v. ABF Freight System (USDC-MDFL, 2012)

Defense Verdict

SUMMARY. Read More

Holden v. Sony Electronics

Auto & Fleet Liability, Trucking Liability

Santaniello, Daniel J., Bauer, Sherri L.

Settled

$2M demand at trial, case settled for fraction of demand, $30K. Plaintiff trucker assisted in load by our insureds. The equipment loaded dislodged from the dolly, fell over and drove Plaintiff trucker’s head and left shoulder into the sidewall of trailer. Plaintiff required full back fusion surgery. Social Security awarded permanent total disability. Defense showed Defendant insured was not the cause of incident and injuries were pre-existing. Read More

$750,000 sought, only $6 awarded

1 week trial. Plaintiffs vehicle collided with over turned tractor trailer on I-95 Northbound . Plaintiff asked jury for over $340K. Jury found Plaintiff 95% comparative negligence and Defendant 5%. Defendant Anderson was driving his tractor trailer Northbound on I-95 when he claimed that his rig was pushed off the road by a strong wind. Defendant over­ corrected and rolled his tractor trailer onto I-95 blocking both north bound lanes. The only part of the tractor trailer visible to oncoming traffic was the undercarriage of the truck. Read more

Summary Judgment

Court granted Summary Judgment (4/23/2009) in high exposure case where a labor ready employee was ejected from a moving sanitation truck and suffered neck, back, arm and knee injuries. The Plaintiff was attempting to circumvent Workers’ Compensation immunity by arguing a "Turner exception"; i.e., that the employer's conduct was substantially certain to result in injury or death. Plaintiff’s argument was based on the allegations that the sanitation truck had no door, no seat belt or door belt, and the temporary employee was given no training or instructions. Defense cited numerous examples where door less travel is permitted, no statute or rule forbids it, and the seat belt statute specifically exempts sanitation workers in the course of their trash pickup. Read More

Defense Verdict

Plaintiff sued the Coca Cola Co. for negligence and sought $1M. Around May 4, 2001, Plaintiff, a Shoreline Transportation employed 18-wheel truck driver in his 40's, picked up multiple 1,000 pound canisters of Coca Cola syrup in Atlanta to deliver to Pompano Beach, FL. Traveling southbound on I-95, Plaintiff first stopped at his home in Hialeah, FL before making the trip back north to Pompano Beach. Near the I-95, Copans Road exit, Plaintiff got a flat tire. As he brought the truck to a stop, the syrup canisters came crashing through the front of the trailer and into the cabin. Plaintiff alleged to have suffered herniated disc at L4-5, which required two surgeries. Plaintiff initially filed a $26K wage loss claim, the result of 13 months he claimed he could not work. Read More

Motion to Dismiss for Fraud on the Court

Daniel Santaniello and Bill Peterfriend won a rare Motion to Dismiss for Fraud on the Court in Palm Beach County a week before trial was set to begin on a $ 2 Million dollar claim. Plaintiff filed suit alleging that on February 23, 1998, she was riding in a jog cart behind her horse at Sunshine Meadows Equestrian Village when a Sunburst Sanitation Waste Vehicle came onto the property to pick-up a dumpster, spooked her horse, causing the horse to go out of control. Plaintiff later changed her story to claim that Sunburst’s vehicle hit her jog cart, causing it to tip over and causing the Plaintiff’s injuries. Plaintiff had several back surgeries and received total Social Security Disability and was demanding $2 million. Based upon the change in story, the Defense argued that the Plaintiff's case should be stricken for fraud on the Court. The court entered an order granting the Motion, holding that Plaintiff lied under oath regarding how the accident occurred, resulting in spoliation of evidence and prejudice to the Defendants. Read More