PLAINTIFF RECEIVES AFTER SEVERE TRUCKING ACCIDENT

This was a Motor Vehicle Accident involving an 18-wheeler and the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD). The plaintiff ran into the back of an 18-wheeler that was stopped on the shoulder of I-10 in West Baton Rouge Parish. The accident was found to be the fault of DOTD for not properly demarking the shoulder and the trucking company for having an illegally parked tractor and trailer on the shoulder of the eastbound I-10 on-ramp. The tractor and trailer was parked between five (5) “No Parking” signs lining the shoulder. The truck driver violated the law on several accounts by: failing to turn on his hazard lights; parking with his running lights on; failing to place the required advanced warning devices, failing to operate his trailer without the proper safety reflective tape; and parking tractor and trailer within 500 feet of the curve from the northbound entrance to said on-ramp. The driver had also fallen asleep in his tractor’s sleeper berth. Plaintiff Richard suffered multiple facial and groin lacerations, bilateral pulmonary contusions, right wrist fracture, left femur fracture, ruptured anterior cruciate ligament, severed medial collateral ligament, posterior capsule injury to his left knee, surgery to repair his right wrist, and surgery to install a rod in his left femur following the accident. Because of his injuries he was prevented from continuing his training as a boat captain.