Case Studies: UPS CASE

An elderly man was driving a small pickup truck on Highway 55 headed towards Memphis. A double-tandem 18-wheeler driving approximately 10 mph above the speed limit and asleep at the wheel came upon him. Approximately three or four seconds before impact, the driver of the 18-wheeler realized that an accident was about to happen and attempted to steer around the pickup truck catching the corner of the pickup truck and hurling him, like a pool ball, across the highway, up into the air and over into a ditch. The driver of the pickup truck was trapped inside the over-turned pickup truck and the passenger, his 85-year-old wife, was thrown out of the vehicle.

The driver of the UPS vehicle swore under oath that he was driving the speed limit and that Plaintiff/Driver of the pickup truck was "crawling along down the highway well below the speed limit." The Law Offices of Peter A. Miller obtained a printout from the "black box" or data recorder of the truck which proved conclusively that the truck driver had been speeding and had not recognized the danger until two or three seconds before impact. The elderly driver of the vehicle died as a result of injuries sustained in the accident and his passenger/wife recovered fully. The case was settled in the very high six figures.