Personal Injury Case Analysis of a Semi-Car Accident on Icy Roads

It was a normal winter day in Indiana. It was cold and it had been snowing. The temperature fluctuated to above and below freezing. The roads had been clear of snow but there were patches of ice. A wife and mother of two was cooking dinner when she realized that she needed a few items from the grocery. The husband and father took the two small children and headed to the local grocery to pick up the missing items. The three left and never returned.

Seeking Justice for an Unjust Loss in Indiana

As the mom/wife cooked, she began to get worried that it was taking too long for her family to return home. She called her husband on his cell phone but got no answer. More time passed and she began to worry. Eventually, she would be notified by the police that her husband and the children had been killed in an accident with a semi. Her husband had done nothing wrong. It appeared that the semi had crossed the center line of a two-lane highway.

I was one of the attorneys who handled the case. Unfortunately, like what happens way too often, the semi driver denied doing anything wrong. He claimed that the highway was clear and that he had hit black ice that wasn’t visible. When his semi hit the unexpected ice, he lost control of his semi, crossing the center line and striking the car with the father and two kids. He claimed to have been going the speed limit. The semi driver also claimed that the temperature was above freezing, so he had no reason to suspect ice. He said the roads were simply wet, except in this one spot.

The trucking company and its insurance company claimed it was just a freak accident and was no one’s fault. There were no independent witnesses to the wreck. This was a horrible insult to a grieving woman who had lost everything that was important to her. No apology, no acceptance of responsibility, no offer of compensation.

Once I was hired, we began to build our liability case. Although the semi tractor trailer was travelling the posted speed limit, it was clearly going too fast for the weather condition. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations require semi drivers to use “extreme caution” when facing hazardous conditions. The commercial Driver License (CDL) Manual recommended that a professional truck driver decreases his or her speed by 1/3 if the pavement is wet, decrease his or her speed by 50% if driving on packed snow and that they get off the road as soon as reasonably possible, when faced with ice.

Holding Negligence Accountable: The Legal Battle for a Grieving Widow and Mother

At the very least, the semi driver in the case did not decrease his speed by one third for the wet pavement. He also did not use extreme caution. In fact, he was driving the speed limit at the time of the collision. We hired a weather expert and were able to prove that at the time of the collision it was freezing and had been for several hours. We were able to establish through the police, firefighters, and paramedics that there were spots of packed snow and spots of ice on the roads surface.

Ultimately, the trucking company and the insurance company settled with our client. Obviously, no amount of money would ever be adequate for the horrific loss that she suffered. But she was able to hold the negligent party accountable and prove that it was the semi driver’s fault and that her husband had done nothing to cause or contribute to the cause of the wreck.