WHITE TOWNSHIP, MN — Ellen and Camden Lauseng were hurt in an accident between their car and a septic pump truck that happened in White Township, Minnesota on Wednesday, January 7th, 2014. News reports said that the accident happened at about 12:40 Wednesday afternoon.
47-year-old Ellen Lauseng and her son, Caden Lauseng were hurt when the minivan they were in and a septic pump truck collided while driving on Trigstad Road at the intersection with Highway 99. Authorities think that the septic truck may have ignored the right-of-way at the intersection.
Ellen and caden Lauseng were taken to area hospitals with unspecified injuries. The driver of the septic truck was identified in the report as 41-year-old Daniel Scott, who is currently being investigated for the possibility of drunk driving in connection with the accident.
State Patrol is helping with the accident investigation at this time.
Scene of the Accident
View from the Road
Commentary:
Whenever I see an accident fact pattern where the driver of a commercial vehicle is suspected of being under the influence of drugs or alcohol, it sends a chill down my spine. If the investigation shows that the driver of the septic tank truck in this accident was drunk, then the company behind him is going to be in some pretty hot water, as they should be. Now, if my 25 years of experience dealing with cases like this one, I wouldn’t be shocked if the company behind the driver tried to distance themselves from him by saying “he was so far out of his job description, that we are not responsible”, but any attorney worth their weight can twist this back on them with what we in the legal field called “doctrine of respondeat superior”, or “the master answers”, meaning, the boss is responsible for the actions of the subordinate. If you asked me, the company needs to answer for the accident if their employee was intoxicated. Without question.
— Grossman Law Offices