Facts

On Sept. 10, 2012, shortly before 5:55 a.m., plaintiff's 22-year-old son, Michael, was driving his 1998 Mazda Protege northbound on Kendall Drive in San Bernardino. He was on his way to his job, where he worked as a security officer for a distribution center. Defendant Jesus Mendez was operating a tractor-trailer owned by defendant MAC Transport and was pulling out of the company's yard on Kendall Drive and across Michael's lane of travel when a collision occurred. Plaintiff's son sustained critical injuries and died days later.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
Plaintiff claimed Mendez pulled into Michael's lane of travel totally blocking both northbound and southbound lanes. Due to the completely dark pre-dawn lighting conditions, Michael was unable see and unable to avoid striking the trailer and drove his car underneath the rear portion of the trailer just in front of the rear tandem wheels. Michael was survived by his mother, Karen Benvenisti who filed this wrongful death claim.

Plaintiff contended that defendants were negligent in the ownership and operation of the tractor-trailer rig at the time of this incident and that negligence directly resulted in the death of decedent. Plaintiffs contended that the negligence consisted of several things that the defendants did that fell below the standard of care for the owner and operator of a commercial vehicle. Plaintiffs argued that prior to the date of the incident, defendant Mendez, the driver at the time of this incident, had never operated a tractor-trailer rig with a 53-foot box trailer attached to the truck.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS:
The defense contended that everything the driver did was proper and that the accident was entirely caused by the inattention of the decedent and the fact that he was going 65 mph in a 55 mph zone.

Result

Defendant MAC Transportation was found 40 percent at fault for failing to properly train and vet a new driver. Defendant Miguel Sanchez was found 20 percent at fault for failing to properly supervise driver while pulling from yard. Defendant Jesus Mendez was found 10 percent at fault for negligently operating truck and pulling into road and stopping. Plaintiff decedent was found 30 percent comparatively negligent for driving 65 in a 55 zone. Binding Arbitration award of $1,350,000 gross, reduced to $945,000 for decedent's comparative negligence.

Other Information

EXPERT TESTIMONY: Plaintiff's commercial vehicle operator and motor carrier expert Lew Grill testified that the hiring practices and safety culture at defendant MAC Transport led to collision as they placed an inexperienced new driver into a position that he could not handle and that was main cause of collision. MAC Transport failed to properly vet and observe new drivers ability to drive this truck and tractor combination and had him attempt to exit a complex driveway in the dark without properly determining if he had the skill to do so. In addition, Grill testified that the driver was negligent in attempting a very tight right hand turn out of the business driveway in the early morning hours while still dark onto a 55 mph two lane road. Plaintiff's accident reconstruction expert Richard Ziernicki calculated the decedent's speed pre-skid to be in the vicinity of 65 mph. This was a 55 mph zone. Ziernicki also testified that due to the darkness as well as the unusual condition of the tractor/trailer completely blocking the roadway without effective side marker lighting that decedent's ability to perceive and react was lengthened beyond the customary accepted perception reaction times. Zeinicki also testified that if decedent was traveling 55 mph he could have stopped in advance of striking the side of the trailer. Defense commercial vehicle expert Larry Miller testified that defendant driver was within his rights to exit the driveway as he did and that right turns are usually safer and easier than left turns in these situations. In addition, he testified that once the tractor and trailer were in the roadway it had established the right of way and all approaching vehicles needed to yield. Defense accident reconstruction expert Kerry Berg, testified that the decedent was traveling 65 mph as he approached the collision location. That he should have been able to perceive and react to the presence of this tractor and trailer completely blocking all lanes of traffic far enough in advance of the collision to avoid it. In addition, he testified that if decedent had been traveling the speed limit of 55 mph he would have had more than enough distance to stop his vehicle before the collision.