Sterling Anthony, CPP, expert witness, packaging, human factors, cargo loading & securement
Case synopsis:
A man operating a motorcycle sustained serious injuries when he collided with one of several industrial rolls of paper that had spilled off of an overturned flatbed trailer truck and onto the highway.
The ensuing litigation against the trucking company alleged negligence, claiming that the rolls had not been loaded and secured in accordance with applicable standards. Suit was also brought against the state of California, claiming inadequate maintenance of the involved stretch of highway.
I was retained by the attorney for the trucking company Defendant.
My opinions:
The loading and securing of the cargo was subject to federal standards, both the general requirements governing all categories of cargo plus the commodity-specific requirements governing rolls of paper weighing 5,000 lbs. or more.
The rolls of paper had been loaded and secured in accordance with the applicable standards. The claim that they hadn’t been, based on their having spilled onto the highway, was not justified. No standard——federal or otherwise——sets forth an expectation that cargo must remain contained and intact in the event of a truck rollover.
The rollover was not the result of improper loading, for example, improper weight distribution. Nor was the rollover the result of improper securement; for, prior to the rollover, the cargo had remained restrained in place.
Discovery revealed that the curved section of highway where the rollover occurred had been the scene of other such rollovers. Discovery also revealed that the driver of the truck had been ticketed for having negotiated the curve at too high a speed, given road conditions and ambient lighting.
Plaintiff’s expert opined that, had an enclosed trailer been used instead of a flatbed, the cargo would not have spilled onto the highway. Such an opinion was hypothetical, at best; more relevantly, the applicable standards allow for the use of flatbeds.
Whatever factors were causal to the accident, inadequate loading and securement of cargo was not among them.
Result:
The case settled.
Sterling Anthony, CPP, is a consultant to the industrial, institutional, and government sectors and an expert to the legal community. He is a former manager at Fortune 100 companies and a former instructor at two major universities. His contact information is: 100 Renaissance Center-Box 43176, Detroit, MI 48243; (office) 313-531-1875; (cell) 313-623-0522; (fax) 313-531-1972; thepackagingexpertwitness@gmail; www.thepackagingexpertwitness.com