Confidential
Settlement – $200,000Judge
Court
L.A. Superior Compton
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Abram C. Zukor
(Zukor & Nelson)
Defendant
James E. Siepler
(Law Offices of Craig A. Holtz)
Experts
Plaintiff
Harry J. Krueper Jr.
(technical)
Joyce Elaine Pickersgill
(technical)
Defendant
Charles F. Plemons Jr.
(technical)
Ralph B. Wood
(technical)
Facts
The decedent, a 19-year-old male, was a full-time student and employed on a part-time basis as an independent
contractor by the defendant, Jonel Inc. and the defendant, Wilcin Transportation. On Friday, Dec. 3, 1999, at
approximately 1:35 p.m., the decedent, a passenger in a tractor-trailer truck driven by the defendant Jonathan
Boone Williams, arrived at the defendant Bekins Moving and Storage yard located in the City of Carson. The
decedent assisted in the unloading of a sixty-foot 18,000-pound International flat-bed low boy attached to the
tractor-trailer truck. It was loaded with crates that weighed 8,000 pounds.
The decedent unloosened the straps on the right side of the trailer while another worker was doing the same on
the left side. Defendant Williams, an independent contractor, backed the trailer-truck up in order to unload and
was instructed by the defendant BekinsÆ warehouse supervisor to back the truck all the way to the roll up gate,
located on the north side of the building. This was, apparently, a break from their normal habit of backing up to
load, but not as far back as instructed on this occasion.
The decedent lost his balance and fell under the right wheel section of the truck and was
run over. Paramedics were summoned to the scene and he was pronounced dead at 1:45 PM.
Other Information
A mediation was held before Jeffrey Krivis.
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