{"id":46308,"date":"2018-12-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-13T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.powerrogers.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/power-rogers-secures-21-6m-verdict-for-truck-driver-and-wife\/"},"modified":"2024-03-26T16:46:35","modified_gmt":"2024-03-26T21:46:35","slug":"power-rogers-secures-21-6m-verdict-for-truck-driver-and-wife","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.powerrogers.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/power-rogers-secures-21-6m-verdict-for-truck-driver-and-wife\/","title":{"rendered":"Power Rogers Secures $21.6M Verdict for Truck Driver and Wife"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last month, Power Rogers Partner Joseph A. Power Jr.<\/a> and Attorneys Sean M. Houlihan<\/a> and James Power<\/a> secured a $21.6 million dollar verdict on behalf of a truck driver and his wife.<\/p>\n

Our client suffered a traumatic brain injury<\/a> after a defectively designed grab handle on his truck broke and caused
\nhim to fall. The case involved many disputes about jurisdiction and where the case was to be heard and was recently featured in
\nan article<\/a> published by the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin.<\/p>\n

About the Case<\/h3>\n

Our firm\u2019s client, Bennie Wood, had purchased his commercial tractor-trailer in 2002 from a dealership in Texas owned by Navistar International. Though the truck was manufactured in Canada and warranty work performed before Wood purchased the truck was completed in Texas, the case fell under Illinois jurisdiction because Navistar is based in the village of Lisle in DuPage County.<\/p>\n

As the lawsuit notes, Wood\u2019s injury occurred while transporting merchandise in his truck from Texas to a Mattel Toy Store in El Segundo, California. When exiting the truck, the vehicle\u2019s driver-side grab handle broke and detached, causing then 59-year-old Wood to fall backward and hit his head on the ground. As a result, he suffered a traumatic brain injury, hemorrhaging, and other injuries.<\/p>\n

In 2009, Joseph A. Power Jr. and his team filed a lawsuit against Navistar Inc. and Navistar Canada Inc. on behalf of both Wood and his wife. The lawsuit alleged strict liability and negligence against the truck manufacturer<\/a> for designing a handle and fastening system in a way that made it susceptible to corrosion and weakening. It sought economic and non-economic damages suffered by Wood as a result of his injuries, as well as damages for his wife\u2019s loss of consortium.<\/p>\n

In response, the defense argued the truck was over 8 years old, had accumulated nearly 1 million miles, and had replacement bolts which didn\u2019t meet the manufacturer\u2019s specifications. They also argued our client should have known the handle was loose and should have repaired it.<\/p>\n

The defense also filed several motions pertaining to where the case should be heard, and what state law would apply. In one motion, Navistar attempted to dismiss the case and transfer it to DuPage County, where Navistar had its headquarters. That motion was granted and later reversed by an appeals court, stating the defense failed to show how having the case heard in Cook County was inconvenient. Another motion filed by Navistar to apply Texas law was initially denied and later reversed by the appellate court.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the case was heard in Cook County and tried pursuant to Texas law. The jury sided with our attorneys\u2019 arguments and ruled Wood was not negligent in contributing to his injuries. They awarded him and his wife $21.6 million in damages.<\/p>\n

As Partner Joseph A. Power Jr. told the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, \u201cOur firm is pleased to have secured this positive verdict for our clients, and is happy justice prevailed once they had their day in court.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last month, Power Rogers Partner Joseph A. Power Jr. and Attorneys Sean M. Houlihan and James Power secured a $21.6 million dollar verdict on behalf of a truck driver and his wife. Our client suffered a traumatic brain injury after a defectively designed grab handle on his truck broke and caused him to fall. The case involved many disputes about…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":703,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[24,28,25,33],"tags":[],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.powerrogers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46308"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.powerrogers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.powerrogers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.powerrogers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/703"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.powerrogers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.powerrogers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46308\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.powerrogers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.powerrogers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.powerrogers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}