Trucking Company's Violations Lead to Fatal Iowa Collision Settlement

Spring 2004

Trucking Company's Violations of Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations Lead to Fatal Iowa Collision

Welcome

When an accident involves a large truck, the consequences are often catastrophic, involving death or serious injury with permanent disability. Driver fatigue is an important and frequently identified risk factor in accidents involving large trucks. Because of the well understood risks associated with driver fatigue, the trucking industry and the federal government, through the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, have promulgated mandatory regulations that limit driving time, require mandatory off duty time, and set other limits to help protect the traveling public. Our firm has had the opportunity to investigate, evaluate, and pursue scores of these tragic trucking accident cases. Representation of families in crisis - whether due to injury from trucking accidents or other catastrophic events - is our primary mission. In this issue, we report on trucking litigation, including an interesting story of a tragic trucking accident caused by driver fatigue.

On November 16, 2001, Shannon
Bessey was driving south on Highway 13 in Marshall County, Iowa, with her two-year-old daughter in the rear seat position in a child car seat. A dense fog covered northeast Iowa that

morning, so Ms. Bessey drove slowly and stopped when she came to a railroad crossing with red flashing signals. Turning to check
on her daughter in the back seat, she was shocked to see a large NAPA Auto Parts/Genuine Parts Company freight liner truck which instantly smashed into the Bessey vehicle, pushing it up and over the railroad crossing and onto the other side. The collision knocked Ms. Bessey unconscious, injured her front seat passenger, and caused serious and ultimately fatal injuries to her two-year-old daughter. Steve Six represented Ms. Bessey, the estate of the child, and the front seat passenger in a lawsuit filed in Polk County, Iowa against NAPA.

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