Survivors settle for $2M after truck accident

The latest article from Missouri Weekly discusses a case handled by Kip Robertson and Kelly Frickleton. Read the full article below – or at this link.

The family of a truck driver who was killed on the job settled with a shipping company for $2 million, according to the family’s attorneys.

Kip Robertson of Bartimus Frickleton Robertson Rader said the driver was dispatched to the defendant’s shipping facility to pick up a load of heavy construction equipment, which was to be transported to a highway construction site in Minnesota.

He arrived at the job site and began undoing the tie-downs that secured the load during transport. When he released the last tie-down, the load, which had become unstable, fell from the flatbed trailer and crushed him to death.

The man’s wife and children filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the shipper of the heavy equipment, alleging it acted negligently when staging the load for transport prior to the man’s arrival and in the way it loaded the shipment onto the trailer.

Robertson said the shipper claimed it was the driver’s responsibility to supervise the loading of the equipment and make sure the load was stable, safe and secure at the time it left the shipper’s facility. The defendant also argued that the driver failed to properly inspect the load during transport and should have realized that the load had become unstable and required additional precautions before unstrapping it.

The case settled at mediation, Robertson said.