The California Supreme Court has reinstated a San Bernardino County tractor-trailer truck crash verdict that a state appeals court had overthrown. As a result, Ralphs Grocery Co. must now pay the widow of Adelelmo Cabral $475,298 for his wrongful death.
Cabral, a construction worker, was killed in February 2004 when his pickup truck drove off Interstate-10 at speeds of 70-80 mph and rear-ended a parked Ralphs' tractor-trailer. Although the area where the truck was parked had been designated for emergency parking only, truck driver Hen Horn chose to park to eat a snack.
Per testimony by medical personnel, Cabral likely was suffering from an undiagnosed condition or fell asleep at the wheel when he drove his vehicle off the road and collided with the large truck. There is no evidence that he tried to avoid the crash.
A jury found Cabral 90% liable. It found Ralph's 10% liable. $475,298 is 10% of the $4.33 million in noneconomic damages awarded, with damages for the semi-truck also deducted from the original verdict.
The state appeals court overturned the San Bernardino County wrongful death verdict. That court found that the grocery chain was not legally obligated to protect drivers from a truck that had been negligently parked because such a roadside crash was only a remote possibility. However, the California Supreme Court disagrees, finding that such a collision was "clearly foreseeable."
The California Supreme Court's ruling in Cabral v. Ralphs Grocery Company is a clear example of why it is important that you have an experienced San Bernardino County truck crash law firm representing you. It would have been easy for the victim's family to assume that they weren't owed any damages because Cabral appeared to have been mostly at fault. However, upon further examination, a jury, and later the state's highest court, agreed that truck driver negligence partially contributed to causing the California semi-trailer accident, which is why Cabral's family will receive some financial recovery.
Parked trucker's boss liable for fatal crash, San Francisco Gate, March 2, 2011
S.C. Revives Lawsuit Against Ralphs by Widow of Negligent Driver, Metropolitan-Enterprise, March 1, 2011
Related Web Resource:
Cabral v. Ralphs Grocery Company
More Blog Posts:
Recent Los Angeles County, Riverside County, and San Bernardino County Truck Accidents Cause Injuries, California Injury Lawyers Blog, December 7, 2010
Trucker Who Lost Control of Big Rig in Multi-Vehicle Los Angeles Traffic Crash on 405 N Had Suffered Fatal Heart Attack, California Injury Lawyers Blog, October 29, 2010
Woman Injured in Fountain Valley Truck Accident, California Injury Lawyers Blog, October 18, 2010
