BENTON – Daimler Trucks seeks permission to investigate a $25,000 settlement of a fatal crash as a possible trick to shift liability from the person who caused it.
Daimler expressed suspicion in U.S. district court on Jan. 19, as a wrongful death defendant pursuing a third party claim against driver Rebecca Anderson.
“Daimler should not be saddled with liability for Ms. Anderson’s reckless conduct,” wrote Daimler counsel Michael Kleffner of Kansas City, Mo.
“There is a question whether Ms. Anderson was texting prior to the subject accident.”
He claimed she belonged on the verdict form so jurors could determine the relative fault between her and Daimler.
The accident occurred in March 2018, on U.S. Highway 67 in Arkansas.
Anderson, driving a car her parents owned, crossed the centerline and collided with a truck.
The impact disabled the truck’s steering mechanism, and it crossed the centerline and collided with a truck behind Anderson’s car.
Victor Morris, driver of the first truck, survived the impact but died when diesel fuel ignited and flames engulfed his cab.
His son Kaleb Morris sued Daimler last March as estate administrator.
Estate counsel Lanny Darr of Alton claimed the truck didn’t have an emergency portal or a device to protect its steering components.
He claimed the fuel tank wasn’t properly placed or protected, that the truck didn’t bear adequate warnings of the danger and that Daimler built the other truck and it suffered similar defects.
Daimler filed a third party complaint for contribution against Anderson in August, claiming she caused the collision.
Kleffner wrote that the driver of the second truck and a witness said Anderson’s car swerved into the northbound lane.
He wrote that police selected code numbers for inattentive or erratic operation and failure to keep in proper lane.
He wrote that Anderson’s mother Cynthia Huskey admitted she deleted messages from Anderson’s cellular telephone following the accident.
He wrote that Anderson looked at her phone or otherwise operated it directly prior to the accident, diverting her attention.
In December, Anderson moved for summary judgment that Daimler couldn’t bring a contribution action because she settled with Morris’s estate in good faith.
Her counsel Paul Festenstein of Chicago wrote that Anderson was a permissive driver under her parents’ policy with Southern Farm Bureau Casualty.
He wrote that Southern Farm Bureau approved a settlement effective Aug. 22, 2018, and the estate deposited a $25,000 check on Sept. 18, 2018.
He wrote that there was no evidence that Anderson or her insurer engaged in any wrongful conduct, collusion, or fraud.
Kleffner responded that a genuine dispute of material fact existed whether the settlement was made in good faith.
He claimed necessary discovery remained as to why Huskey deleted texts from Anderson’s phone days after the accident.
He wrote that she destroyed potentially relevant evidence.
He wrote that Anderson answered an interrogatory by stating she converted her mobile device to a device for downloading music.
He wrote that according to her, any data that existed on her phone no longer exists.
He wrote that she caused a terrible wreck and that according to the estate she caused a man to burn alive.
He wrote that many questions remain and Daimler should be allowed to investigate them before the court rules on her summary judgment motion.