Illinois trucking company files for bankruptcy after nuclear verdict

Besides the $10 million verdict, Marvin Keller is affected by 'increased fuel, other market conditions'

Illinois-based Marvin Keller Trucking files Chapter 11 following nuclear verdict. Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves

An Illinois-based trucking company has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing a jury award of $10 million in December after a 2019 fatal truck crash involving one of its drivers.

Joseph Keller, president of Marvin Keller Trucking, headquartered in Sullivan, Illinois, filed the first of several emergency motions in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of Illinois on Friday, stating the bankruptcy filing is necessary to “avoid irreparable and immediate harm” to the carrier’s operations.

In the filing, Keller wrote that the “substantial money judgment” against the trucking company, stemming from the jury verdict is the “main event” for the family-owned trucking company, founded by his father, Marvin Keller in 1965, to file Chapter 11. 

“With an agreed forbearance on collection of the judgment about to expire, and the debtor [MKT] unable to pay the judgment amount, the debtor filed a voluntary petition under Chapter 11 to maximize the potential recovery to its creditors and for the benefit of the other parties in interest including its employees,” according to the trucking company’s emergency motion.

A hearing on Marvin Keller's emergency motions is set for Wednesday.

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    Clarissa Hawes

    Clarissa has covered all aspects of the trucking industry for 18 years. She is an award-winning journalist known for her investigative and business reporting. Before joining FreightWaves, she wrote for Land Line Magazine and Trucks.com. If you have a news tip or story idea, send her an email to chawes@firecrown.com or @cage_writer on X, formerly Twitter.