An Alabama Circuit Court jury signed a verdict in favor of the family of Larry Albritton who was killed in a rollover crash on Oct. 7, 2013. Albritton was driving a log truck when it overturned. An eyewitness to this incident said the rollover occurred not at a high speed but as though it were happening in slow motion.

The load of logs apparently shifted when the truck rolled over and crashed through the truck’s cabin, killing the driver. The jury determined that the cab guard on this particular truck was defective in design, manufacture and in warnings. This was a truck product liability lawsuit.

The jury also determined that the manufacturer of the cab, Merritt Equipment Co., acted with reckless disregard for the safety of others and in the way it designed the guard, manufactured and provided warnings related to its cab guards and that the cab guard itself did not protect Albritton as it was designed to do. The defendants included Merritt Equipment Co. as well as Pitts Enterprises and Volvo Trucks North America Inc. Pitts and Volvo trucks settled prior to the entry of the verdict. The verdict was entered against Merritt Equipment Co. as the only defendant.

This verdict should alert the cab guard businesses that they should be making safety changes to prevent shifting cargo from contacting the cab of trucks. The cab guard in this case failed and thus resulted in the death of its driver, Albritton. It was reported that after this verdict was entered, at least two cab guard manufacturers now say they do not use cab guards on log trucks.

Jacqueline Wright, et al. v. Volvo Trucks North America Inc., et al. (45-CV-2013-9000091.00).

Kreisman Law Offices has been handling product liability cases, automobile defect cases, truck product defect cases, pharmaceutical defect injury cases and truck collision lawsuits for individuals and families who have been harmed, injured or died as a result of the carelessness or negligence of another for more than 40 years in and around Chicago, Cook County and its surrounding areas, including Streamwood, South Barrington, Bellwood, Maywood, Rosemont, River Grove, Elk Grove Village, Country Club Hills, Countryside, Calumet City, Deerfield, Dolton, Worth, Blue Island, Chicago Heights, Lincolnshire, Vernon Hills, Gurnee, Chicago (South Shore, North Lawndale, Lake Calumet, Hegewisch, East Side, Hyde Park, Kenwood, Jefferson Park), Bensenville and Arlington Heights, Ill.

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