$11+ Million Verdict Against Trucker Over Legal Hours

A Vallejo, California jury awarded an 8-year-old Vacaville boy and his mother $11.3 million Thursday in connection with a freeway wreck that killed his father and twin sister. 

The jury found Swift Transportation Company liable for the actions of its big rig driver, who cut across two lanes of traffic on westbound Interstate 80 to avoid missing the entrance to the Cordelia scales. The evidence was that the truck driver was fatigued because he had driven past the 70-hour limit in a seven-day period.The 1994 Honda Passport the Pratt family was riding in struck the back of the truck, cutting open the passenger side of the Honda. The  Swift truck driver was traveling at 60 mph when he applied his brakes quickly, slowing to about 30 mph as he cut across two right lanes in an attempt to access the scales, where trucks are required to weigh in.  A second phase of the trial will determine punitive damages  in nine months.

The Shigley Law Firm  represents plaintiffs in wrongful death and catastrophic injury cases statewide in Georgia, and in other states subject to the multijurisdictional practice and pro hac vice rules in each state. Ken Shigley was designated as a “SuperLawyer” in Atlanta Magazine and one of the “Legal Elite” in Georgia Trend Magazine. He is a Certified Civil Trial Advocate of the National Board of Trial Advocacy, Chair of the Southeastern Motor Carrier Liability Institute and former chair of the Georgia Insurance Law Institute. He particularly focuses on cases arising from truck wrecks and accidents (tractor trailers truck wrecks, semi truck wrecks,18 wheeler truck wrecks, big rig truck wrecks, log truck wrecks, dump truck wrecks.