Reading the two post-verdict recaps of an almost $90 million verdict handed down this week against Werner Enterprises, it’s clear the jury made its choice from two highly different views of the tragic events.
A jury in Harris County, Texas handed down a judgement just under that amount in connection with a collision in late 2014 in wintry conditions near Odessa in West Texas. A Werner official who spoke to Freightwaves said it was by far the biggest judgement that the company has ever had against it, and this website–though unverified–does quote figures of Werner-related settlements far less than the Texas case. This story from a few years ago about rising truck settlements quotes figures for other cases that indicate the Werner verdict is one of the biggest ones ever.
Werner’s primary post-verdict statement on the jury’s action came in an 8-K filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, filed when a company has a material event that could affect its financial conditions. In the 8-K, Werner said its maximum liability for the accident is $10 million, with “premium-based coverage above this amount.” That $10 million will be accrued in its second quarter earnings. Werner’s net income in the first quarter was $27.8 million.
It also said it would appeal.
Here are some of the highlights of Werner’s recap of the crash, which took the life of a 7-year-old boy, left his 12-year-old sister with “catastrophic” brain injuries, and injured the childrens’ mother and another brother:
A Werner driver was westbound on interstate 20. The pickup truck carrying the family that suffered the fatal and non-fatal injuries was traveling eastbound–the mother was not the driver–lost control, went through a grassy median “and directly into the path of the Werner unit.” The pickup truck had turned around, so its rear was hit by the oncoming Werner truck.
“Werner’s driver did not receive a citation, and the investigating officers placed no blame on the Werner driver,” the company said in its filing. “The Werner driver was traveling well below the posted speed limit, did not lose control of his tractor-trailer, and even brought the unit to a controlled stop after the impact.”
The recap from the Penn Law Firm, one of two firms representing the plaintiffs, paints a very different picture, not of the accident itself but of the conditions prior to the wreck.
There apparently were differing views in the testimony about whether there were icy conditions, but clearly, the roads were not great. “Werner’s witnesses testified that Werner did not allow Ali, its student driver, to have access to basic safety equipment, such as an outside temperature gauge or the CB radio, either of which would have alerted him to the dangerous road conditions at the time,” the Penn statement said. A National Weather Service warning about the poor conditions was not communicated to the driver, according to Penn, “allowing (the driver) to average over 60 mph while driving unsupervised through the icy conditions because (the driver) was on a Just-In-Time (JIT) load, requiring delivery to California by the next day.”
“Ali averaged in excess of 60 mph for the 52 miles he was driving in icy conditions prior to the crash, and was traveling over 50 mph seconds prior to the collision,” Penn said.
If the driver was traveling 50, that would support Werner’s contention that he was below the speed limit. The question then was how slow the truck should have been going given the conditions, and the jury sided with the plaintiffs.
36 Comments
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Keith
I have to agree with the majority here. Don’t see how Werner was at fault. Sounds like a jury of truck haters.
Gerald Vaughn
Werner drivers speed is not and has nothing to do with this accident type. The driver who crossed center median driving a pick up truck known for light rear end becasie engines of pick up trucks sit in front weighting down front wheels and leaving rear very light and suceptable to coming around on wet roads and icy roads is completely at fault for driving to fast for conditions. She caused the wreck not werner. She killed her kid and maimed her kids. The same questions brought up by the ladies attorney apply to her, she didn’t have an outside thermometer or a cb radio and she was driving to fast as evidenced by her loss of control and failure to maintain her lane if traffic. She also didn’t check weather conditions on her phone or computer before taking to the hwy. in addition she takes no responsibility at all for her actions by suing werner. She should have been ticketed and arrested and charged with involuntary homicide and child endangerment at minimum. Why didn’t police charge her in accident she clearly caused. Why isn’t state bar looking st ambulance chasing lawyer she hired. This is what’s wrong with our courts frivolous lawsuits. Anyone who crosses onto incoming traffic for no good reason like she was cut off is the party at fault, period. On appeal I hope court awards all attorney fees back to werner that they’ve incurred defending suck a frivolous lawsuit in the first place.
Jim
If these are the true facts of the case, Werners lawyers did a half ass job. The truck driver was supposedly a student, which implies he had a driver trainer, as an inexperienced truck driver he supposedly maintained control of a tractor trailer at a speed od 60 mph. On ice covered roads, submitted evidence shows he had exercised his own judgement, and slowed to 50 mph just prior to the crash, most probably because that was when the road actually became slick. The police, in a state that rarely miss an opportunity to write a trucker a ticket, found no fault on his part. This is a glaring example of how a jury threw out the law, and rendered their verdict based on sympathy for plaintiffs. Not only should Werner appeal, but they, and their driver should counter sue.
Steve
Ok, one of the driver’s lost control and caused a wreck, and one never lost control but was hit by the other. The way I see it, maybe the trucking company might donate the money they should receive for their damaged vehicle as a donation to the family that lost their family members/ or not.
Melinda
This is so wrong. Truckers always at fault when the four wheeler clearly caused the accident
F García
Wow, truckers always pay the consequences. The jury or judge doesn’t know if a law suit this big goes through, it can deteriorate a company as big as Werner, taking at least 1000 jobs with it.
Bobby
This are the same type juries that let cops that kill unarmed black men go free
James
Bobby, you talkin about the black men that are resisting, or running, dis-obeying orders in some way, and are part of a huge group that have conditioned the cops by their own illegal behavior? Is that who your talking about, dear racist Bobby, who just has to inject race into this conversation? Go listen to sounded smart black men like Larry Elders and Thomas Sowell and then come back and maybe we’ll talk.
Jim Cannel
I feel terrible for the families involved, but how crazy has our justice system become when a pickup truck crosses the median in front of a legally driven big rig, and the big rig company gets fined!