really need some advice after rollover

i really need some inout on my situation.i drive a water tanker in the oikfield and recently had a rollover.the truck had been wrote up many times because it felt like it was goon to roll over in right handed corners and the mechanics never would even look at it and say im imaging things and to get over it and drive the truck so i did.well after i was told thay i went to my boss about it and that i didnt feel safe driving it and i was told if i didnt drive it i could go home and they would replace me with someone who would.so i drove it afraid of being fired and 2 days later i go around a right hand corner and it felt like the drivers side spring on the tractor snapped in half and it rolls and i end up goin off and down a 40ft bank with broken ribs and a punctured lung.well to make thing worse while im in the hospital i get a call from my boss say9ng the cant find my logs from all the back to last febuary and blames me (even though they were tunred in).they go over or logs with a fine tooth comb if pur hours dont add up or we miss a signature theu send em back to us and somehow i supposedly got away with out turnin them in for almost a year.im oretty sure they trashed them to cover there ### cuz theu run us like dogs and had been makin me wirk 6days a week and 90-100hrs aweek for months before the wreck.alot of people have been tryin to get me to sue even other coworkers czu theu feel if somethin isnt done they are gonna wind up gettin someone killed.my ques it do any of u think i have any legal ground to stand on?????sorry for such a long post just wanted to give the detail and ill add when my boss told me to drive it or he would repace me it was infront of 10+ drivers

 

paper log books (assuming) ALWAYS, ALWASY ALWAYS keep copies at home AND with the company. if you felt the truck was unsafe and you told them. dont drive the truck. if they fire you they did you a favor. apologise if that sounds rude. its not meant to be

 

You need a lawyer to find out the mechanical problem. Yes, sue the company. The logs are their problem, not yours. You're only responsible for keeping the last 7 days of logs. What have you been doing the last 7 days? That's all you're responsible for. Contact OOIDA about a lawyer. The website is OOIDA.com

 

i understand man lookin back now I would a done things differently but at the moment all could think about was providong a good chistmas for my family and hard to do that without a job. but instead of a good christmas they almost had a funeral on the hands.

 

i am glad you are ok. i wish you the best of luck in finding a new job.

 

You need an attorney that specializes in workplace situations.

truckersjustice dot com

 

Hi estep, wow, wow, WOW! That's intense. I don't know where to begin, except I'm glad you are alive. 2nd, like Chinatown sez, you really need a lawyer. Clearly there was problem with the truck, you don't have to be a mechanic, all you need to do, as a driver, is report something is wrong, which you did, and your responsibility stops there. Trucks used in oil field operations get very few, if any, DOT checks, so repairs can go on the "back burner". I read, with low oil prices now, companies in our oil fields are really hurting, because oil is at $49 dollars a barrel right now, making it unprofitable for our oil fields to compete, so repairs on a truck are going to be put on hold. Springs break all the time. In all my years, broken springs were just part of the job, and I've had springs break in many of the trucks I drove. I'm glad you're ok, the logs thing is just bs, because they know they screwed up, and are trying to skirt the issue with this logbook baloney. Get another job, when you can, and I'd get a lawyer, which sounds like a great case for a lawyer, they will be coming to you, and sue the pants off that company. You'll come out on top with this one, Good luck.( btw, living through a rollover like that, makes you an experienced driver, as now you know what can happen)

 

What the darn tooting,holly molley,Sam hill type story is this. In sorry dude unless you have a butt load of ttr believe anything that comes out your mouth jurors . U don't have much of a case. Your story has more holes in it then a Louisiana highway.

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know when you take a corner 2 fast you can cause the problem u heard. That tends to lead to you on your side. All this blame blame company when you are the cotton picking captain of your ship and your future. You can go cry me a river on somebody else's watch. But kid Dinomite is blowing up ya spot.

Yall be good now ya hear. Yeeeeeee hawwwww

 

I believe estep88 because a mechanical failure in a curve on a dirt oil field road with a liquid load can do exactly what he describes. No matter how slow; the truck might stop but the liquid keeps going forward in a straight line and pushes the truck. Simple physics. Same applies to swinging meat; ask any reefer driver that's hauled swinging meat.

If you plan to sue, better do it fast. Lots of companies will be bankrupt soon when oil drops to near $40 a barrel or lower. Saudi Arabia's plan is working as planned.

 

You may only be requires to keep logs in your truck for the last 7-14 days (14 in canada) but down there arent you still required by law to keep them all at home for a few years?

A lawyers gonna ask the boss and the mechanics and they will all say you never mentioned anything to them about mechanical so unless it's in writing you best believe that mechanic will save his job over your ###.

Obviously I don't know the situation but maybe the snap you heard was weak spring bushings causing a little play and you reacted when you heard the pop.

If you get a lawyer he can request a 3rd party mechanical inspection but realize that if it doesn't lead to you being paid out that you'll be flipping the bill.

I know it's different in America, you can sue for a million if someone farts near you. So maybe just all the things you say will be enough but my guess is if you don't have your copies of your logs at home to back up what you say then this thing is dead in the water.