Lebanon, MO — The owners of the Starnes Auto Body & Glass business of I-44 in Lebanon were both injured about two weeks ago when a semi-truck driving by lost a tire and it hit them. Alva Starnes and his wife, Sonja Starnes, were both injured after the tire flew into their lot and hit them, plus an SUV.
This accident happened around 2:45 p.m. in the afternoon, the news said.
Both Alva and Sonja Starnes were standing out in their parking lot, next to a red SUV, when a passing semi-truck suddenly lost a wheel. It flew off and went over their lot’s fence, where it struck the Starnes and then the SUV, leaving massive dents in the SUV.
It’s not clear how badly the Starnes were injured in their accident, but it appears they were taken to a hospital.
The truck driver who lost the tire wasn’t identified and it’s not clear if he was ever cited/charged.
Map of Starnes Auto Body & Glass
View from the Road
Commentary:
While it may not be a ticket-able offense in Missouri for a tire to fly off a semi-truck, I think we can all agree that it’s definitely negligent. The key concern I have here is with the maintenance of the semi-truck, or lack thereof. When was the last time this truck was serviced? Had it been in any recent wrecks?
The bottom line is that the company that owns this semi-truck is going to need to take responsibility for what happened. If I go to a Domino’s Pizza store and their driver runs me over in their parking lot, Dominos is liable. If I go to Wal-Mart and am hurt by a display that fell over because it wasn’t set up correctly, then Wal-Mart is liable for my injuries. It’s the same idea here, this trucking company may very well be liable for these folk’s injuries if it turns out they failed to maintain their truck.
A common excuse is, “Well, I just didn’t know about it,” but that’s no excuse when it comes to maintaining a professionally-used truck. It’s the owner’s duty to proactively ensure that their trucks are roadworthy and safe. When they fail to do that, they can’t just plead ignorance and hope it all goes away. Like I said, if it turns out that this truck had maintenance issues or that the tires were long overdue to be changed out, then this trucker and his company need to be held liable for what happened here.
— Grossman Law Offices
