Wicomino County, MD — The driver of a pickup truck was killed in an accident with a semi in Wicomico County, Maryland, on Tuesday, November 25, 2014. The accident took place around 3:15 in the afternoon.
Local news outlets don’t have many details on how the accident occurred, saying only that a semi and a pickup collided head-on near the intersection of Gumboro Road and East Line Road.
The driver of the pickup was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the semi was taken to Peninsula Regional Medical Center. The extent of his injuries is unknown. Neither man was identified.
No other injuries were reported. The investigation into the accident continues.
Scene of the Accident
Commentary
Virtually no details about how this accident occurred have been released, so I can’t talk much about who’s liable for what happened. However, I can say that the fact that a trucking company is involved muddies up the waters. Trucking companies are notorious for defending accidents, regardless of who’s at fault. Commercial vehicles are required to carry large amounts of insurance, and frankly, leaving that amount of money on the table eats too far into their bottom line. That’s just something a trucking company isn’t going to let happen. For one, it sends the message to anyone who may file a frivolous lawsuit that if they did it once, they’ll do it again, but there are also more practical concerns that have to be considered. Being found at-fault for an accident like this can have a big impact on a company’s ability to do business in the future. If the company is small enough, that can be ruinous. So when looked at from that perspective, trucking companies have to defend these cases. Unfortunately, that means they even defend the ones where they’re clearly at fault. Those involved in these sorts of accident have to be aware of these things, if only to know that the trucking company won’t take this sort of thing lying down.
— Grossman Law Offices
