One of the nation’s largest private fleets and it’s truck driver named in lawsuits
The families of two South Carolina Department of Transportation workers killed in a roadside crash in July, 2019 have filed suit against the truck driver who reportedly caused the crash along with his employer.
Last year 35-year-old Cecil Morgan and 29-year-old David Sibbick died after a Ferguson Enterprises straight truck driven by James Tyrone Williams hit two vehicles that were stopped in construction traffic and then hit the two workers while they were working on the road. Five other people were injured in the crash and a sixth received medical care at the scene but refused medical transport.
Ferguson Enterprises, headquartered in Newport News, Virginia, United States, is the largest U.S distributor of plumbing supplies, PVF, waterworks and fire and fabrication products and has 3035 power units and 2850 commercial drivers, according to the FMCSA.
The workers’ families brought the individual suits alleging Williams was driving over 50 mph ““as he proceeded past the warning signs for reduced speed due to road construction and plowed into the two stopped vehicles,” court documents state.
The lawsuits claim Williams was “not medically qualified or fit to drive due to severe obesity, hypertension and/or obstructive sleep apnea.”
“At the time of the collision Defendant Williams operated a Commercial Motor Vehicle while Defendant Williams’ ability or alertness was so impaired, or likely to become impaired through fatigue, illness or any other cause such as severe obesity, obstructive sleep apnea and/or hypertension as to make it unsafe for Defendant Williams to begin or continue to operate the Commercial Motor Vehicle,” court documents state.
The families also allege the company failed to do a pre-trip inspection on the truck that revealed “non-functioning brakes.” The company was cited with 4 vehicle safety violations including defective brakes according to DOT’s SMS system.
They are asking for unspecified damages in the case.
