Amazon and Trucking Company Named as Defendants in Fatal Crash

Two more accident victims have filed lawsuits after being injured in a crash on I-35 that killed five people and wounded 11 others. The crash occurred on March 13 in North Austin. It caused an 18-car pileup with a semi-truck hauling Amazon products, two truck tractors, two semi-trailers, and 13 passenger cars.

The plaintiffs are seeking $1 million in damages from Amazon, the truck driver arrested in connection with the crash, the truck driver’s employer, and a construction company. This is the latest of a slew of lawsuits to come out of the crash following $100 million and $50 million lawsuits filed originally.

The newest lawsuit is filed against ZBN Transport LLC, Pulice Construction Inc., Amazon, and the driver of the semi-truck who allegedly caused the crash. According to the lawsuit, Pulice Construction controlled the temporary work zone where the crash occurred. ZBN Transport owned the semi-truck that caused the initial crash.

The driver of the semi-truck was charged with five counts of intoxication manslaughter with a vehicle and two counts of intoxication assault with a vehicle involving serious bodily injury after the crash. Police believe the driver failed to slow down for backed up traffic on I-35 and was under the influence of depressants, according to his arrest affidavit.

According to the lawsuit, I-35 lanes were reduced from three to one which created a bottleneck in the work zone. This resulted in a “high-risk environment for traffic backups.” The lawsuit further claims there was not enough space to merge lanes and signage to alert drivers of the work zone.

The lawsuit also stated that the driver of the semi-truck had several hours-of-service violations while driving the truck in the week leading up to the crash. The driver claims that the truck’s brakes weren’t functioning properly at the time of the accident, but his arrest affidavit says police checked the truck’s functionality and did not find any glaring issues.

Elements of negligence

 This is an extreme example of a very common accident caused by truck drivers operating big rigs. In this case, the defendant failed to stop for stalled traffic and drove into a line of vehicles that had bottlenecked due to a construction zone. This, unfortunately, happens all the time. Since semi-trucks cannot stop on a dime, their drivers must be that much more aware of their surroundings to ensure that the truck rolls to a safe stop. In this case, the driver failed to stop in time and caused an incredibly large accident with five deaths. In addition to those allegations, the driver is alleged to have been inebriated on depressants at the time of the accident. Further, he failed to rest as required by federal law and had several hours-of-service violations.

Talk to a Tulsa, Oklahoma Truck Accident Attorney Today 

Levinson Law, P.C. represents the interests of traffic accident victims in truck accident lawsuits. Call our Tulsa truck accident lawyers today to schedule an appointment, and we can begin investigating your claims right away.

Source:

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