Family Sues Department of Transportation after Trucker's Death
A 56-year-old man was killed last year when his big rig fell off the side of the Bay Bridge in California. Now the man’s family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the California Department of Transportation and other companies arguing that they were negligent in the construction of the bridge and roadway. The incident occurred on November 9th when 56-year-old Tahir Sheikh Fakhar was driving his big rig transporting fruit and was unable to negotiate an S-curve on the bridge.
The truck then rolled over and fell 200 feet off the bridge. According to the report, the lawsuit claims there was insufficient signage posted to alert drivers of the S-curve in the road. In addition, the family is suing several other companies that were involved in the loading and transportation of the fruit in Fakhar’s truck arguing that the truck was overloaded beyond the legal limit of 80,000 pounds.
Many accidents occur as a result of unsafe road conditions or poor road design. In many cases, new developments in the roadway may be unexpected and drivers are unable to alter their speed and/or direction accordingly. In order to prove that a person or company is negligent in their actions, there are four things that need to be proven. The person or company must have some sort of duty to uphold, proof of failure to uphold that duty must exist, there must be proof of causation (meaning there must be reasonable proof that a person’s action or inaction caused the accident), and there must be proof of damages.
In this instance, the article states that signs regarding the new roadway construction were posted AFTER the fatal accident occurred. If they were not posted before, the Department of Transportation could be held liable for Fakhar’s death. The department of transportation has a duty toward the public to maintain its safety and that duty was breached when Fakhar’s vehicle fell over the bridge, causing Fakhar’s death. In any instance when the negligence of one party directly results in another party’s death, the deceased’s family deserves some form of justice.
