The people who filed a million-dollar lawsuit against a trucking company asked a judge to dismiss their case before it could be heard. The decision allegedly followed questions from the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office as well as allegations that the accident was staged.
In 2017, trucker Robert Runnels was driving on I-10 near New Orleans when the driver of a car flagged him down. The driver told Runnels that he had seen him sideswipe a car. Runnels hadn’t noticed anything like that, his onboard system hadn’t noted any impact, and when he checked his truck, he couldn’t find any damage.
Still, the three occupants of the car Runnels had supposedly hit claimed that Runnels had changed lanes suddenly and sideswiped their car. Tiffany Turner, Adonte Turner, and Dimitri Frazier, sued Runnel’s carrier, Whitestone Transportation.
In the lawsuit, the three plaintiffs claimed that they had sustained “severe and serious bodily injuries” in the accident. According to reporting by Transport Topics, they sued Whitestone for negligence, seeking $1 million in damages including medical expenses, mental anguish, physical pain and suffering, and more.
But lawyers for the carrier found that the circumstances leading up to the lawsuit was suspiciously similar to at least 60 other accidents in the area. So, they filed a counter-claim against the plaintiffs, accusing them of staging the accident in hopes of getting a large payout.
Whitestone lawyers claimed during a pre-trial meeting that they had been contacted by the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office. This led to the plaintiff’s lawyer requesting a delay for the trial and eventually requesting for it to be dismissed altogether. The judge presiding over the case dismissed it with prejudice, barring the plaintiffs from refiling the case in the future.
Jack says
WTH? Dismissed with prejudice? How about ALL claimants were arrested and jailed for Fraud, extortion, and filing false reports!!??
Sir Byrd says
You can’t pile on charges like THAT…
Unless the person is…
BLACK.
Nathaniel McComb says
OMG put the race card away already.
Rosa says
He had charges adding up to 67 years. Race card will always be out there its reality.
Jude says
That’s not “piling on”, which consists of adding charging that are similar in nature. It is simply charging the crimes that were committed. It can be done if the person is a criminal.
Buck says
That truck driver probably was guilty of sideswiping the car from being tired or driving illegally. four wheeler has now going to live with his injuries due to the sloppy driving of a truck driver.
David Triepke says
Or it was simply staged…
Alex K says
Yeah, right… in that case his truck would have a mark from hitting that vehicle and those 4 wheelers wouldn’t withdraw a lawsuit
Bobert says
Still in grade are ya…
William says
Find a good psychiatrist and see him/her for a few years. Your hatred of truckers is a disease!
Duh says
Buck – I give you a B- for trolling. It was a decent effort, but you could do better!
Lorenzo says
Your so brain dead, did you not see that there were 60 other cases like this in that area and the lawyer probably worked on some of those. I don’t have any proof of it and I’m willing to bet there was a few that maybe came before that judge.
Dave says
You don’t know the circumstances no have you had seen any evidence your comment is pure speculation
Dave says
Yeah okay buck you’re the professional here I’m sure you’re an Accident Reconstructionist with high-ranking forensic knowledge
Jtl says
Lol
Doris Williams says
What about if you were actual injury in a store due negligent on Burlington coat factory and your claims were denied. On December 31 2016 i injury my right knee by coming in contact with a sensor that were on floor which cause me a tear in my knee. Their i insurance should be made to pay immediately. I have suffer my family as well.
Jude says
OK. Go back to school and larn to rit propr English so we kin understand yu.
knightKrawler says
cooking on the road has never been easier.
Mike says
What kind of idiot stops for a car flagging them down unless i see police lights im not stopping.
Bob says
Lol….one day society will care about insurance fraud. Until then, dirtbags will continue to bilk insurance companies for billions as they face literally zero repurcutions.
Punnisher says
Nothing new here , this type of fraud has been going on since at least the 70’s . So how about filing some charges against the perpetrators of this fraud .
Andrew H says
Dash cam. Mirror cams are nice too but ones I’ve seen are unreliably buggy.
CaptT says
In the transportation industry we have adopted the practice of counter suing. Believe it or not, we have a segment of society that makes their living staging accidents and color has absolutely nothing to do with it. Fraud is fraud and it’s wrong. Whitestone should continue their suit and yes they should have been arrested and jailed. From the article it appears as though it is being investigated so there may be hope. Buck, look around you, the next time you want something to east, wear or drive and you don’t like the price.The scam artist you want to protect got part of your money because we are forced to pay and pass the cost on.
Bill says
I believe someone just invented a new kind of stupid. Good thing this driver had all the latest tech installed to protect himself.
Stopping to render assistance has and should remain part of the trucker’s unwritten code. It is us pro driver’s that see almost everything happening in traffic, and are more often the real first responders. Without our dedication, the planet would grind to a halt. What we need is a respectful way to remind the traveling public of this fact.
Joe Barilari says
If I had not a scintilla of damage, I would have called troopers to record EVERYTHING, that way these,jokers go to jail for filing false report
trollhunter says
Anybody else notice all of those personal injury billboards all over the country with lawyers holding hammers, standing on big trucks, depicting truck/car wrecks????
They Scream loud and clear to all 4-wheeler gold diggers that Yes, you too can survive a truck crash and make millions… go ahead and call us, we will make you filthy rich.
As if the narcissistic, impatient, careless / reckless, rude, uncouth, demoralized, motoring public needed any more reason to mess with trucks… hey now they can get rich on the way to or from work, the store, or grandma’s house.
JAC says
I had something like this happen in Louisville a few weeks ago. It didn’t go as far as sueing me or the company.
I was on 64 east bound and getting on to 264 east bound coming from Indiana and once on 264 you have to move left unless you are exiting onto bank street. The Ford focus in front of me is going very slow and wasn’t moving over so I did and less than a mile there was a accident and I stopped. This guy and his girlfriend started yelling at me and said something came off of the bed of my truck and hit his mirror and left fender. The car was trashed everywhere but I called the police and they arrived I told them I actually stopped at the truck stop at Georgetown and there wasn’t anything on my bed . I also told the officer I had a picture of the bed when I left Evansville. The police officer refused to take a police report and said you can exchange insurance.
Nothing happened out of that but I’m sure with all the Darryl Isaacs the fat pig lawyer signs everywhere that’s where they got the idea to try that.
This clowns car was messed up everywhere and it was clear as glass what he was trying.
Shakita says
It is very capable for a truck driver to hit someone, have no damage and not realize they hit someone. Those trucks are huge. I have witnessed it myself. I was driving my moving truck fron georgia to florida. A truck was changing lanes and hit the car that was in front of me. It was an elderly lady driving. Parts of her car were flying all over the highway. I had to swerve to avoid hitting flying parts. Sparks like fireworks from her dragging parts. The truck just kept going. Several cars kept up with the truck waving him down until he pulled over. He was clueless and her car was a mess. It happens but yes im sure there are people out there willing to pretend for a quick buck. I would like to know what their car looked like after the alleged incident.
Kevin Chevalier says
Rollin piggy banks Lmao!!!!
Jeff says
Highway troopers are there to handle this type of “accident”. Question for 4 wheeler:Did you call 911 for ambulance,or did you just drive to hospital with severe injuries?
Zidri says
How about jail time for those 3 crooks
David says
Those 3, also , the other person that flagged the driver down should be investigated closely. If the person that flagged the driver down seen the accident,then why would they want to drop the suit?maybe that person is in on it also? A truck that causes enough damage to prevent the smaller vehicle to continue on inorder to notify the driver, the driver of the bigger vehicle would have noticed the impact ( under normal conditions ) ,I would think. There’s a lot of insurance fraud,lies,liars and low born people that would do anything for a dollar. And attorneys that advertise how much they’ve recovered for their clients, ” big trucks cause big accidents” is the logo. I actually seen a sign that read ” if you want something for nothing- call xxx xxx xxxx ! But what do you expect? Trucks are required to have min of 750 k lib and a 4 wheeler can get by with 10 k lib insurance, these sorry dogs are milking the trucking insurers at the cost of the trucking industry, which raises freight rates . What if , every vehicle on the road was required to have a least 500k lib insurance? Just thinking.
Dennis Gallagher says
I should have never stoop to read the comments. Socialism is here, the dumbing down of our society I complete…
MT Pockets says
There will be a mandatory English writing class later today immediately following the completion of reading these beyond illiterate comments & a test will follow shortly thereafter so sharpen your pencils because it’s pretty clear by reading through these comments that many of you aren’t very sharp upstairs. Just sayin
mousekiller says
Back in the 80s I had a car with two women in it that kept looking like they were going to pass my truck but backed of several times.We were on a two lane road.They finally passed.
It kept going so I began to write down all the information I could. time date conditions of roas and wather . description of car and what they were wearing I could see. tag number and the like. I stopped at a little truck stop and called our safety dept.I gave them them the info. Later that day I called in again and was told that the women called in and said I ran them off the road. They had the tractor license number, trailer license number, trailer number and tractor number. Safety asked them after they explained the harrowing experience did they get the numbers if they were ran off the road? They hung up . Safety did call the police and gave them the information so if it happens again they have a idea it is bogus.Today a dash cam tells a very good story. Another time I was pulled over by a highway patrolman and he told me that the car behind told him I hit his car. We talked and I asked him if he would go back and ask the driver if my dash cam video will tell the same story to the judge he will tell.? Cop did. He came back laughing and told me that he said oh forget it, it’s not so bad. I did not have a dash cam then. I have one in every vehicle I own now.Going to install rear facing cameras soon.Love to annoy tailgaters.