Wreck involving TMC. Exit 25 I-74 in western Indiana.

nobody is paying attention to what they are doing when driving...............sad to say many truck drivers fall into that category to

 

They have electronic in the trucks now so cant say anything about logs in this incident.

 

Time will tell. If history is any sort of indicator, then TMC's insurance company (or TMC if they are self-insured) will likely pay a cash settlement to the estate of the deceased, despite the fact that the driver of the 4 wheeler was likely grossly negligent and that TMC bears absolutely no responsibility for this incident. And that will negatively affect the rest of us in the transportation industry.

 

Agreed, but in this case a van rear ending the trailer you cant say that is the fault of the truck driver. That is because to many of the 4 wheelers don't understand following distance and don't text while driving. Sad to see this had to happen but its not the first nor the last time for an incident of this sort.

 

TMC runs EOBRs but if some bottom feeder lawyer can find away they will nail the driver for it!
either way Its a tragedy and waste of life, How many times have we been in the car with the kids and something distracts you for a split second? Weve all been there. I feel bad for the family and the driver

 

Why would TMC have to pay anything, the vehicle ran into them.......

And this is a lesson to those who think they can use drugs or alcohol behind the wheel and get by with it,(Not implying any of this on the TMC driver.), but you're tested because of being involved in a fatal accident.

 

Because historically the family looks for a payout. An attorney will take their case on contingency and file a claim against TMC's insurance company. The insurance company will weigh the expense of a settlement against the expense of years of legal wrangling with a possible trial and unpredictable jury verdict and / or award. They figure it's less expensive to pay out millions for a certain outcome than risk tens of millions on an uncertain outcome.

 

And it's completely ridiculous that it has come to that these days. Too many people want to sue instead of taking responsibility for their own actions. And there are too many "get rich quick" ambulance chaser lawyers out there too. They can regulate the crap out of us, but not bad lawyers.

 

Not sure if indiana is a contributory negligence state, but the judge, or more likely a jury, could determine that the truck driver was, say, 10% responsible and the van driver was 90% responsible. Who knows what argument the lawyer could make, maybe that he slowed down unnecessarily and contributed to the accident. And if its determined that damages were $20 million, and the driver was 10% responsible, then the driver/company would be liable for $2 million (10% of the total damages). And you know if you get some ignorant jury involved anything is possible when an "evil" trucker is involved.

 

In my fatal accident, I sued the family that ran into me to cover lost wages, etc.