New Prime on hook for $16.5M for fatal multi-vehicle crash

New Prime will owe nearly $16.5 million after a Texas state appeals court affirmed a lower court’s decision that it is responsible for the death of another trucker as the result of a multi-vehicle crash.

On Nov. 30, the Fifth District Court of Appeals in Texas denied New Prime’s appeal in a wrongful death lawsuit. New Prime was found responsible for the death of Bhupinder Singh Deol after a multiple-vehicle crash in November 2013 on Interstate 40. A trial court jury awarded the family of Deol nearly $16.5 million in actual damages.

In November 2013, a New Prime driver jackknifed her tractor-trailer on an unlit stretch of Interstate 40 going eastbound in Texas near the New Mexico border. The trucker had lost control of the tractor-trailer after applying the brakes and sliding on a patch of ice. The cab was partially on the left shoulder with the trailer blocking all of the left lane and half of the right lane of traffic.

The trucker abandoned the truck without activating its emergency flashers or setting out any reflective triangles or flares. Along with her team driver, the two walked through the center median toward the westbound traffic to get to a safe area.

Soon after, six tractor-trailers and two passenger vehicles crashed into or around the New Prime truck. Deol’s tractor-trailer was the first to strike the truck. In total, four people were killed, including Deol, and several more were injured.

Deol’s family filed a lawsuit against New Prime. Before the trial, New Prime claimed that the other trucking companies involved in the crash were responsible third parties.

The trial court dismissed those designations. The jury found the New Prime trucker 55% responsible, New Prime 30% responsible and a trucker for P&O Transportation, another trucking company involved in the crash, 15% responsible.

New Prime disputed that its driver was negligent. However, both the trial and appellate court pointed out that the inclement weather was foreseeable with a National Weather Service winter weather advisory. Additionally, the trucker drove into slippery conditions going 58 mph on cruise control.

Regarding the lack of warning signals, New Prime argued evidence that the other tractor-trailer drivers in the accident did not activate any warning systems shows its driver did not violate the standard of care. In denying that claim, the courts point to the fact the trucker had enough time to exit the vehicle, retrieve her teammate and walk again to safety. On the other hand, others involved in the crash did not have the same luxury of time. Also, the “sudden emergency” defense does not apply to an event caused by negligence. LL