In February, a big rig carrying 75,000 pounds of dog food overturned on a Sylmar, CA, freeway. The truck with its trailer tipped over onto its side on Sylmar’s 210 Freeway, near the 5 Freeway Interchange. While the incident caused major traffic hiccups for two or more freeways, no one got hurt. It’s unclear if the truck or its trailer suffered major property damage, but the dry dog food bags needed removing before the truck could be repositioned and towed away. Videos highlighted crew members carefully stacking the dog foods onto wooden pallets.
The accident caused the 5 Freeway road heading eastbound to 210 Freeway to be closed. Likewise, the southbound 5 Freeway road connecting to the southbound 14 Freeway road was also closed.
The trucking company or their insurance company may have suffered losses that day and, of course, no one likes dealing with traffic tie-ups, especially when they use a freeway frequently. Fortunately, no one, including the driver, appears to suffer any damage. Drivers and passengers could have suffered from major injuries, either by the truck tipping over itself or because of falling dog food.
If an injury did occur, determining who’s at fault could be challenging. The driver themselves could be held liable, especially if there was reason to believe foul play occurred, like a driver engaging in distracted driving.
The company the driver worked for could potentially be held liable too or the trucking manufacturer if the truck had any defective parts. It’s also possible to sue the manufacturer, wholesaler, or retailer of the dog food as a product liability case, but this would be much harder to prove.
Determining who’s at fault in a case like this often requires help from a legal professional. An attorney can review the details of a case and determine what party or parties should be held liable. Trucking accidents typically make for harder cases than car accidents for the following reasons:
- In a trucking accident, you’re often seeking compensation from an entity like a store, trucking company, or a non-profit or government organization instead of an individual.
- Since you’re dealing with an entity versus an individual, there’s likely more roadblocks and the opposing party is more likely to have better insurance and a legal team.
- Trucking accidents typically cause worse injuries than car accidents, and this fact can cause a few issues. For starters, trying to navigate legal complexities while dealing with medical needs can prompt victims to receive the first settlement they’re offered. More severe injuries may also require more documentation, extending the time it takes to settle a case.
Fortunately, besides a potentially damaged truck and possibly some broken bags of dog food, the trucking accident this Sylmar trucking accident didn’t result in any injuries or claimed lives. Unfortunately, many trucking accidents do result in injuries and deaths, but a person can receive compensation when they call a Sylmar truck accident lawyer like Barry P. Goldberg.
