Trucking company involved in crash that killed nursing students, named in dozens of lawsuits

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ATLANTA —

Channel 2 Action News has discovered lawsuits piling up against the trucking company blamed for a fiery fatal crash in south Georgia in April.

The company already faces seven lawsuits from the crash that killed five nursing students.

Channel 2 investigative reporter Aaron Diamant has learned those Georgia cases may impact others around the country.

Alabama attorney Shae Moore told Diamant that his team was shocked when Total Transportation of Mississippi recently reached out to mediate a lawsuit he filed nearly a year ago.

"It was a 180-degree turn from the way they've been handling the case," Moore said.

His client, Jimmy Owens, requires acute around the clock care for a severe brain injury he suffered when he got hit by a Total Transportation truck while walking home from work along a Louisiana road.

"It just messed up the hardwiring of his brain, and he can't function independently anymore," Moore said.

Moore said the trucking company's sudden call to work things out came after the Georgia State Patrol blamed a Total Transportation driver for a horrific south Georgia highway crash in April that killed Georgia nursing students.

"We believe that it directly related to, for insurance reasons, directly related to the unfortunate deaths of those nursing students," Moore said.
After the Georgia crash, U.S. Department of Transportation records Diamant dug up show over the last two years, Total Transportation drivers have been slapped with 266 unsafe driving violations.

Diamant tried asking company leaders in Mississippi about that in April.

"There were some concerns about the company's safety record," Diamant said to Total Transportation Chief Operating Officer Craig Savell.

"Please respect our time until we do this. This is more about the victims. I wish y'all would understand that," Savell answered.

Federal court records also show Total Transportation is named as a defendant in dozens of other civil cases.

When Diamant called Total Transportation headquarters Wednesday, a company exec told Diamant that, "Our thoughts and prayers remain with the victims and their families. We cannot comment on pending litigation."


http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/trucking-company-involved-crash-killed-nursing-stu/nmPyr/