An Albemarle County jury awarded a bereaved family $5.25 million for the loss of their precious 16 year old daughter who had been killed last year when a tractor trailer ran a red light and slamming into the car she was driving. The jury’s verdict was decided with only 3 hours of deliberation following a 2 day trial in the county’s civil circuit court.

In their decision, the jury found that the Don B. Swisher Trucking Corporation in conjunction with the McCann Delivery Service along with the trucker, Kenneth Barbour, were all negligent when the semi tractor trailer ran the red light and took away the young girl’s life that fateful day of May 9^th, 2008. The video below serve as an example of the devastation a truck can have when it slams into much lighter passenger vehicles:

Tractor-Trailer Truck Collision

The truck driver is currently serving an active 2 year prison sentence from his involuntary manslaughter and reckless driving when he pleaded guilty in a criminal trial that was held earlier this year in Albemarle County. The girl’s parents filed a $15 million civil lawsuit against all of the defendants in October 2008 accusing them of negligence and requested punitive damages.

Openly weeping, the victim’s father, mother and brother listened as Circuit Judge Cheryl Higgins read the verdict:  $5.25 million. The family’s attorney mentioned that the family felt vindicated with the judgment. Also, there were no further comments or speculation of seeking possible appeal from the trucking company’s attorney. We would like to congratulate the winning attorney, J Gregory Webb.

The intent of the lawsuit was to inflict as much financial pain as possible to the trucking company responsible for Barbour’s lack of training as a driver as to effectively prevent the company from  continuing their negligent operations or at least force them to change their safety training protocol, if they even had one.  The lawsuit accused Barbour of not slowing down when he approached the northbound lane of the intersection. The victim was making a left turn onto U.S. 29 southbound when the 1999 Chevy Cavalier was struck by the tractor-trailer. The complaint accused Barbour’s employers didn’t train him properly and did not supervise him adequately by allowing him to drive a rig with defective parts.

About the Editors: Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton is a law firm which focuses on injury and accident law and our attorneys have experience handling truck accident cases. Check out our case results to see for yourself. Our primary office in based in Virginia Beach, Virginia (VA) although our lawyers hold licenses in NC, SC, WV, KY and DC. We are ready to talk to you by phone right now—we provide free initial confidential injury case consultations, so call us toll free at 1-800-752-0042. Our injury attorneys also host an extensive injury law video library on Youtube . Furthermore, our lawyers proudly edit the Virginia Beach Injuryboard and Norfolk Injuryboard as a pro bono public information service.

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It what can only be described as being in the wrong place at the wrong time, tragically a passenger riding along in a Fed Ex truck was killed last week when the vehicle overturned on Fentress Airfield Road. Virginia Beach Police have identified the victim of this accident  as Andrew Copeland, 38, or Virginia Beach.

The fatal Fed Ex truck crash occurred around  4:25p.m. close to the intersection with Long Ridge Road,  according to Gus Mojica, the Police Dept spokesperson.

The driver of the Fed Ex truck was going south and had veered slightly to the right as the oncoming traffic was approaching, said Mojica. The Fed Ex truck ran off the shoulder and as the driver attempted to pull back onto the road the entire truck rolled over instead. The driver was taken to a hospital for treatment and his name has not been released.

Deeply saddened friends and family of Copeland never expected that his life would be cut short so suddenly and severely. This incident shows just how deadly a trucking rollover accident can be and should wave a caution flag for all to think twice prior to riding in the cab of any  commercial truck such as the one involved with this Fed Ex  accident. It makes you wonder if safety is their number one issue or if it is just convenient to put in their mission statement? It seems that speed and corporate profits might fit into the puzzle as well, maybe too much?

Given the large size and weight of heavy trucks, especially commercial trucks such as tractor-trailer vehicles, a serious safety threat can be posed to the vehicle’s occupants in the event of a rollover collision. It has been clearly demonstrated that a large number of incapacitating and fatal injuries have occurred when the occupants were contained in the cab during rollover accidents. In many cases when a rollover occurs in a heavy truck and the occupants were not ejected, injuries sustained were either incapacitating or fatal.

About the Editors: Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton is a law firm which focuses on injury and accident law and our attorneys have experience handling truck accident cases. Check out our case results to see for yourself. Our primary office in based in Virginia Beach, Virginia (VA) although our lawyers hold licenses in NC, SC, WV, KY and DC. We are ready to talk to you by phone right now—we provide free initial confidential injury case consultations, so call us toll free at 1-800-752-0042. Our injury attorneys also host an extensive injury law video library on Youtube . Furthermore, our lawyers proudly edit the Virginia Beach Injuryboard and Norfolk Injuryboard as a pro bono public information service.

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