Trucking Co. loses court case, must pay $4.4M after accident, and faces the possibility of additional unrelated accident suits
An SUV driver who was injured when a Landstar Ranger Inc, BCO collided with the driver on a Louisiana highway has been awarded $4.4 million by a federal jury Tuesday.
James Hall was driving his GMC Envoy on September 4th, 2017 when he began to slow for upcoming traffic. A Landstar truck driven by Jacques Manassee reportedly did not slow in time and rear-ended Hall, catapulting the SUV several hundred feet down the roadway and into a light pole.
According to the lawsuit, Hall suffered injuries to his head, neck and back as well as other parts of his body. According to Hall he also suffered emotional and mood affects as a result of the accident and had several surgeries following the accident.
The Lafayette, Louisiana jury awarded Hall $1 million for past physical and mental pain and suffering, $800,000 for future loss of earning capacity, $750,000 for future medical expenses and $750,000 for future physical and mental pain and suffering. Jurors also awarded $750,000 for past and future disability and loss of enjoyment of life, $232,000 for past medical expenses, and $93,000 for past lost wages, for a total of $4.375 million.
The defendants seemed to argue that because Hall was discharged from the emergency room on the same day of the crash and that his injuries might have been related to “a history of prior accident and injuries and a very extensive mental health history,” that some of the injuries reported in this accident might have been injuries related to his previous medical history.
In a recent earnings call, Landstar’s President and CEO Jim Gattoni informed investors of an additional fatal lawsuit involving one of its BCO’s while informing the investors that revenue was down 15.9% year over year.
“In early January, a BCO with a motor carrier subsidiary of the company was involved in a tragic vehicular accident involving a fatality. The company is still in the process of obtaining all the facts concerning this incident and, as such, it is too soon to estimate the ultimate financial exposure of this tragic accident,” Gattoni stated.
In a time where nuclear verdicts are a constant threat to the trucking industry, only time will tell what may come of this.
