$720KImproperly secured cargo caused highway collision

A load of steel pipe shifted and came off a flatbed on an interstate grade. Our client, travelling two vehicles behind, swerved to avoid the pipe, struck the barrier, and rolled. He sustained a fractured pelvis and a degloving injury to his left forearm.

The carrier argued that the shipper had loaded and sealed the trailer and that its driver could not have known.

The federal cargo securement rules place the duty to inspect on the driver regardless of who loaded the trailer, and require re-inspection within the first fifty miles.

The driver’s own logs showed no inspection stop between the shipper and the grade. Photographs from the scene showed four tiedowns for a load requiring at least seven by the rule’s own working load calculation. We named the shipper as well, on the loading itself.

The carrier and the shipper settled jointly for $720K, apportioned between them, before the securement expert was deposed.

He has returned to full-time work. The settlement covered the pelvic fixation, the grafting on his forearm, and the eight months of lost income during his recovery.