Amazon and Trucking Company Named in Massive Multi-Plaintiff Truck Accident Lawsuit

Two additional plaintiffs have been added to a truck accident lawsuit filed by several victims of an I-35 crash that killed five people and left another 11 injured. The crash occurred on March 13 in North Austin causing an 18-car pileup with a semi-truck hauling Amazon products, two truck tractors, two semi-trailers, and 13 passenger cars.

The plaintiffs are seeking $1 million in damages from Amazon, the truck driver who was arrested in connection with the crash, his employer, and a construction company. These are the latest lawsuits stemming from the crash. Others are seeking $100 million and $50 million from the defendants.

The newest lawsuit is filed against ZBN Transport LLC, Pulice Construction Inc., Amazon, and the semi-truck driver who allegedly caused the crash. According to the lawsuit, Pulice Construction controlled the work zone where the crash occurred. ZBN Transport owned the semi-truck that allegedly caused the accident.

The 37-year-old driver was charged with five counts of intoxication manslaughter with a vehicle and two counts of intoxication assault with a vehicle involving serious bodily injury after the crash. Police believe that the semi-truck driver failed to slow down for backed-up traffic on I-35 and was under the influence of depressants, according to his arrest affidavit.

The lawsuit contends that I-35 lanes were reduced from three to one. This created a bottleneck at the work zone, which, in turn, resulted in a “high-risk environment for traffic backups.” The lawsuit further claims there wasn’t enough space to merge lanes and signage to alert drivers of the work zone. Pulice Construction purportedly has a $606 million contract with the Texas Department of Transportation, according to the lawsuit.

In addition to being under the influence of depressants at the time of the crash, the driver had several hours of service violations while he was operating his truck in the week leading up to the crash. The driver claimed that the truck’s brakes weren’t operating properly which led to the crashes. However, police checked the truck’s functionality and found no issues with the brakes.

Elements of negligence in a truck accident lawsuit 

You see enough of these accidents, and they’re all the same. There’s a slowdown in traffic due to heavy traffic or a construction zone, traffic is stopped, and the semi-truck plows into the back of a row of vehicles. How does this happen so frequently? Well, semi-trucks are not like smaller commuter vehicles; they cannot stop on a dime. They roll to a stop and that takes extra time to execute. In this case, the driver of the semi-truck was too late in stopping and ended up killing five people. To boot, there are allegations that he was under the influence of drugs and had several hours of service violations that contributed to the crash.

Talk to an Oakland, CA Truck Accident Attorney Today

Venardi Zurada represents the interests of injured plaintiffs in truck accident lawsuits filed against negligent trucking companies. We serve the Bay Area from our office locations in Oakland and Walnut Creek. Call our Oakland personal injury lawyers today to schedule an appointment, and we can begin investigating your claims right away.