$1,000,000.00

Highest FTCA Award Nationwide

Verdict Truck Accident Wrongful Death

Early one morning, while driving down a freeway exit ramp, the driver of a U.S. Postal Service tractor-trailer truck jumped out of his truck, allowing it to crash into an apartment building at the bottom of the ramp.

The runaway postal truck caused substantial damage to the apartment building and came to rest literally inches from our client's head as he was lying in bed. The collision caused the family's two young children to be buried in the rubble and although our client valiantly attempted to rescue his children, his three-year old daughter was killed.

Contrary to the claim of the truck driver that the airbrakes on his truck had failed, inspectors found no evidence of a mechanical defect. It was later discovered that the postal truck driver suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of a fatal tank accident that occurred previously while he was in the United States Army. As a result of this psychiatric disorder and disability, the driver suffered from flashbacks and it is believed that this is what caused him to jump from the U.S. Postal Service truck. This information was known by the U.S. Postal Service at the time the driver was hired.

In conjunction with counsel for the mother of the deceased child, we pursued a Federal Tort Claim against the U.S. Postal Service for the wrongful death of the child as well as our client's personal injuries.

Following trial, a verdict was returned by the court that experts noted was the largest award to date for the death of a minor child in a Federal Tort Claims Act lawsuit.