DeFuniak Springs, FL — The news in Defuniak reported that a truck driver from Destin was badly injured after his dump truck was hit by a semi-truck on Thursday of last week, March 19, 2015. Police said that John Rogers, 37, was injured on Thursday when Terry Mills, 33, crashed his semi-truck into th eback of Rogers’ dump truck.
This happened in the afternoon hours, along the westbound lanes of I-10. The FHP said that Rogers was driving his dump truck west when he was suddenly hit from behind by Mills semi-truck, causing Rogers’ dump truck to swerved off the road and lose the back part of his truck.
His cab then overturned and Rogers was actually trapped inside until emergency workers could help him out. He was taken to a hospital and was in serious condition as of Friday.
The other truck driver lost his trailer as well, but his cab stayed stationery and he was not harmed. The cause of the accident is still being investigated, but it looks like Mills was charged with careless driving.
Map of the Defuniak Springs
Commentary:
I won’t pretend to know all the details here, but it sounds like the dump truck driver here didn’t do anything wrong, which leads us to the next question. What in the world was that semi-truck driver doing to not notice a large dump truck in front of him? Perhaps the dump truck had just cut him off or something similar, but it doesn’t sound like that’s the case.
Whoever employed the truck driver has probably already started the process of filing for workers’ comp benefits to take care of things like medical bills and lost wages. However, that may not be the end, so to speak. Since the semi-truck presumably didn’t work for the same company as the victim, it’s very possible that there would be a “third-party” claim to be made here against the semi driver and his company.
Of course, I want to reiterate that I’m just speculating here. That’s how the law would play out if the two drivers weren’t working for the same company, though I’m absolutely not saying that someone should file suit or anything like that.
— Grossman Law Offices