Defendants agree to pay $2.9M for driver struck in intersection

Pennsylvania - Motor Vehicle Collision

A van driver who sustained multiple fractures in an intersection crash with a Mack truck received $2.9 million in court-appointed mediation. Joel Aponte, then 22, was struck by Francis Hacker who ran a red light. Aponte fractured his pelvis, femurs and C6 vertebra. He also suffered significant internal injuries that required stomach and bowel reconstruction. The settlement consisted of $1.9 million of Hacker's $2 million insurance policy and the $1 million limits of an underinsured motorist policy applicable to the van Aponte was driving.
 
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Superior Court upholds case of girl's fire hose death

A Pennsylvania appeals court upheld a $4.5 million jury verdict Tuesday against a truck manufacturer over an accident near Pittsburgh four years ago in which a six-pound fire hose nozzle became a fatal projectile.

The lawsuit was filed by two families over an August 2004 incident in Coraopolis in which a hose dangling from a moving fire truck became stuck under a parked car, then whipped around and struck two 10-year-old girls standing on a nearby lawn.

Erin Schmidt died of head injuries and her close friend and classmate, Joeylynne Jeffress, suffered extensive injuries but survived.

Erin Schmidt died of head injuries and her close friend and classmate, Joeylynne Jeffress, suffered extensive injuries but survived.

The plaintiffs also include three witnesses to the accident: Erin's mother, Joyce A. Schmidt; Erin's 13-year-old sister, Lindsay; and Joeylynne's 14-year-old sister, Lauren.

A divided three-judge Superior Court panel said state law allows bystanders who witness injury to a close relative to collect damages for emotional distress under certain circumstances.

"The courts have generally concluded that the definition of 'physical harm' encompasses injury that solely manifests itself in the form of emotional shock and disturbance," wrote Judge Cheryl Lynn Allen for the majority.

The court also ruled that Sinor Manufacturing Inc. of Clinton, Okla., which purchased at least parts of the company that manufactured the fire truck, inherited liability for the accident. Sinor is now known as Freightliner Specialty Vehicles Inc.

Unhealthy neglect of CDL standards in Pennsylvania

This is an editorial in the Towanda Daily Review on an item that we already wrote about in our library section.  You can see our article here on unfit and unhealthy truck and bus drivers.

From the Editorial....

In 2006, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation, 5,300 people died and another 126,000 were injured in accidents involving large commercial vehicles. In 12 percent of those crashes, the professional driver was found to have a physical impairment that contributed to the accident, from heart disease to sleep apnea.