Trucking company avoids punitive damages in faulty brake lawsuit

North Carolina trucking company AK Creation avoided punitive damages in a crash lawsuit involving a tractor-trailer with failed brakes.

On Oct. 2, a Georgia federal court granted AK Creation’s partial summary judgment for claims of punitive damages and bad faith damages. Consequently, attorneys for the plaintiffs have indicated that they have reached a settlement.

The lawsuit deals with a crash that involved a truck with faulty brakes. Questions surrounded whether the trucking company was negligent in having the truck on the road. An annual inspection report was crucial in the court’s decision in favor of the trucking company.

The crash

Angel James started AK Creation in December 2021. Edward Bethea began driving for the company in early 2022 in its lone tractor-trailer.

Bethea had a valid commercial driver’s license with no restrictions. However, his motor vehicle report did reveal one prior wreck in his personal vehicle. There were no issues otherwise.

According to court documents, Bethea had complained about the tractor-trailer’s brakes two or three times. On March 2, 2022, James’ friend, Lawrence Oliver, took the vehicle to get inspected. The tractor-trailer passed the vehicle inspection, with the “Brake System” section marked “OK.”

On March 5, 2022, just three days after the inspection, plaintiff Lynn Brooks was driving north on Christmas Avenue in Barrow County, Ga., near the intersection with University Parkway. According to the complaint, while crossing the intersection, Berthea ran a red light in the tractor-trailer, and the two vehicles collided. Consequently, Brooks suffered several injuries.

Brooks claims that Berthea ran the red light due to defective brakes. Following the crash, the Georgia Department of Public Safety determined that two brakes on the tractor and two brakes on the trailer were inoperative.

Brooks v. AK Creation

Brooks filed the complaint in a federal court in Georgia on Oct. 24, 2022.

The complaint accuses AK Creation of breaching its duty to properly inspect, maintain and repair the tractor-trailer that Berthea was driving. Brooks also accuses the company of negligent hiring, retention, training and supervision.

“The AK Creation truck in question should never have been on the road on March 5, 2022, due to its poor condition in multiple parts of the truck, including but not limited to the brakes,” the complaint states.

The complaint calls for punitive damages, bad faith damages and damages claimed. In July, AK Creation filed a partial summary judgment for punitive damages and bad faith damages.

In its motion for partial summary judgment, AK Creation claims that “there is no evidence in the record supporting plaintiff’s bald assertion that defendant AK’s actions were willful, wanton or demonstrate a conscious indifference to consequences.”

First, AK Creation points out that Berthea acquired his CDL in 1999, maintained that license when hired by the company and that the license had no restrictions at the time of the crash. The company also trained and instructed Berthea, including providing him with a safety booklet that stayed in the tractor-trailer at all times.

Second, AK Creation claims it could not have reasonably known about any brake defects on its tractor-trailer following a passed inspection just three days before.

“However, just because it appears that the truck’s brakes may have failed at the time of the accident does not automatically mean that defendant AK was negligent, and it certainly does not mean that defendant AK acted willfully or with a conscious indifference to the consequences,” AK Creation states in its motion. “In fact, the evidence suggests the opposite, namely that defendant AK was concerned about inspecting the vehicle (and did so) and took measures to ensure that its driver was ‘a good person, a good driver.’”

In its order, the Georgia federal court points out that Brooks pointed to no evidence that Oliver doubted the veracity of the annual inspection report. Furthermore, Brooks did not point to any evidence that there were any reports of brake problems between the date of the inspection and the date of the crash.

“Plaintiffs contend that AK Creation acted in bad faith because it decided to put its vehicle on the road despite Bethea’s past reports of brake problems,” the court order states. “As noted previously, it is undisputed that AK Creation had the vehicle inspected three day before the wreck and that the brakes passed the inspection.”

Consequently, the court ruled in favor of AK Creation’s motion for partial summary judgment. The following day, Brooks filed a notice of settlement to the court. The conditions of the settlement are still pending as of Oct. 9. LL