Overweight Towing Crash Results in Charges

[jtryon]

No profanity please

Edited November 17, 2021 by Ronnie
Profanity

[oldjeep]

32 minutes ago, Texan32 said:

LLC established in 2012.  Question is, where all does the liability rest?  Driver for disregarding defective trailer (assuming he knew)?  Driver for ignorance (assuming he didnt know the trailer was defective)?  LLC for allowing driver to tow with defective trailer?  Trailer owner (if not owned by the LLC) for renting defective trailer?

Seems there are many ways that this could go.  But ultimately, the driver has the responsibility to make sure he can safely tow.  He did not, but still got behind the wheel. 

LLC for allowing a driver without a CDL drive a commercial load for them.

[shawndoggy]

52 minutes ago, Texan32 said:

LLC established in 2012.  Question is, where all does the liability rest?  Driver for disregarding defective trailer (assuming he knew)?  Driver for ignorance (assuming he didnt know the trailer was defective)?  LLC for allowing driver to tow with defective trailer?  Trailer owner (if not owned by the LLC) for renting defective trailer?

Seems there are many ways that this could go.  But ultimately, the driver has the responsibility to make sure he can safely tow.  He did not, but still got behind the wheel. 

Driver likely has personal liability for negligence / gross negligence 

If driver was an employee, LLC would have liability for actions of employee

Even if driver was an independent contractor, LLC could have direct liability if it knowingly sent un/under licensed driver out to do job with LLC's insufficient equipment.

Trailer owner could have some liability though seems like there could be a lot of wiggle room there (brakes worked last I checked, rental agreement has LLC assuming risk, etc etc).  Did the trailer owner know that the LLC was going to pull the trailer out to NV to pick up a boat?  Or were they just using the trailer to move big dogs around in a FL boat yard?

If principals of LLC (i.e. the breathing humans behind it) were the ones who sent the driver out on the road knowing he was un/under licensed and knowing the truck wasn't DOT registered and the trailer was defective, seems like they could have some negligence liability personally as well.  LLC can't shield living breathing people from liability for their own negligence.  If that worked, everyone would drop their kids into an LLC the minute they were born.

The real question in all this is who has money to satisfy a judgment?  IIRC FL is pretty generous with its BK exemptions?  The most likely defendants are whomever in the chain have insurance.  

Edited November 17, 2021 by shawndoggy

[oldjeep]

1 minute ago, shawndoggy said:

Driver likely has personal liability for negligence / gross negligence 

If driver was an employee, LLC would have liability for actions of employee

Even if driver was an independent contractor, LLC could have direct liability if it knowingly sent un/under licensed driver out to do job with LLC's insufficient equipment.

Trailer owner could have some liability though seems like there could be a lot of wiggle room there (brakes worked last I checked, rental agreement has LLC assuming risk, etc etc).  Did the trailer owner know that the LLC was going to pull the trailer out to NV to pick up a boat?  Or were they just using the trailer to move big dogs around in a FL boat yard?

If principals of LLC (i.e. the breathing humans behind it) were the ones who sent the driver out on the road knowing he was un/under licensed and knowing the truck wasn't DOT registered and the trailer was defective, seems like they could have some negligence liability personally as well.  

The real question in all this is who has money to satisfy a judgment?  IIRC FL is pretty generous with its BK exemptions?  The most likely defendants are whomever in the chain have insurance.  

My .02 - they have an LLC for shipping where their tow vehicle is a 2017 F350 - they got no money.  I'm curious if their listed insurance policy would even pay out with an unlicensed/improperly licensed driver.

[shawndoggy]

1 minute ago, oldjeep said:

My .02 - they have an LLC for shipping where their tow vehicle is a 2017 F350 - they got no money.  I'm curious if their listed insurance policy would even pay out with an unlicensed/improperly licensed driver.

100%.  Undersized truck, janky trailer, under-licensed driver, overweight load... this reeks of the low bid on uship.

[Fffrank]

Didn't an earlier article say it was being hauled to storage?  Weird for a FL transporter to be involved, right?!  And not quite as strange but can you imagine having a $1.5m+ boat and going with the lowest bid on U-Ship for cross-country transport?

[oldjeep]

2 minutes ago, Fffrank said:

Didn't an earlier article say it was being hauled to storage?  Weird for a FL transporter to be involved, right?!  And not quite as strange but can you imagine having a $1.5m+ boat and going with the lowest bid on U-Ship for cross-country transport?

Lots of folks have stuff they can barely afford the payments on

[carguy79ta]

On 11/11/2021 at 11:17 PM, Sparky450 said:

This just reminded me. Back when I was 18. My employer sent me to the lumber yard for a load of lumber. I was young and had not pulled/loaded many trailers. I was going down the highway and jackknifed it at 60 mph. It was loaded tail heavy, tongue light. Luckily I held it long enough fir the traffic to give it room to happen. I have never loaded a trailer tail heavy since 

Yep I towed 1 trailer that was tail heavy. Never have since.

[shawndoggy]

traffic cam pics came out today

 

Edited November 23, 2021 by shawndoggy

[oldjeep]

Wow that boat is huge

[Slayer]

WOW!!!  That's absolutely insane!!  

 

[shawndoggy]

the sad part is there is a runaway truck ramp a mile or so back.  He could've ditched.  Hindsight is always 20/20

[bretcole]

So shawndoggy have you towed the a24 with the ecoboost yet?

Edited November 24, 2021 by bretcole

[shawndoggy]

55 minutes ago, bretcole said:

So shawndoggy have you towed the a24 with the ecoboost yet?

I have. Just around town (less than 55 mph) but it seems to tow fine. I’m probably going to end up upgrading the transmission cooler out of an abundance of caution but the truck seemed to tow and stop just fine. 

[bretcole]

lets hope we don't have a repeat of this

 

Edited November 24, 2021 by bretcole

[shawndoggy]

43 minutes ago, bretcole said:

lets hope we don't have a repeat of this

 

Indeed!!!!

[martinarcher]

On 11/23/2021 at 9:31 PM, shawndoggy said:

Indeed!!!!

Haha, that thread resulted in his best tow vehicle to date.    

Disclaimer....I may or may not still be rocking the same rig with a 6 speed manual.   

[Infowarrior]

New to this site but saw the thread on the runaway Riva and since I live in the area and my friend was on scene as a first responder I can tell you more than the driver is in deep! The owner and the marina will more than likely be in court Over this unless some good ole nevada judge that knows Don let’s him slide by. The boat weighed 41,000 pounds, the trailer could handle 11,000 pounds, the truck was a tiny little vehicle in front of that diesel yacht. The trailer was not meant for that boat at all and yes it appears brake lines were cut probably to get the failed brake system to let go of the rotors possibly, in Tahoe it’s common people share trailers or get trailers somehow someway from who knows where every fall because they can’t let their shiny yacht get snowed on. Honestly that boat should never have been pulled out of the lake at all it’s a four season yacht once you get it up there, somebody has a sunseeker Manhattan that stays in year round so it’s not uncommon. The owner got denied on many attempts to move it so he went the sketchy route and used a company that sent an illegal with no drivers license and doesn’t speak English to haul the Riva down to a warehouse right by my shop that currently has the boat in it as of now. Long story short he roasted the little dually’s brakes at the end of spooner, panicked and had no idea how to ditch the truck and boat into the 3 miles of dirt he had next to him so he sent it through the intersection, truck hits Silverado and instantly kills the older couple, boat breaks away and goes airborn over a witnesses car and lands on the other side of the intersection and coasts roughly a quarter mile down on its own. The yacht looks like it made it relatively unscathed, no idea how that trailer even survived but kudos to a twin beam aluminum trailer those things are stronger than they look, it’s still on it haha. Moral of the story when pulling boats up and down from Tahoe, always have more truck than boat if you can, gear down before your decent, and if you have a yacht that weighs 40,000 pounds use a peterbilt and a lowboy. 

[hethj7]

The boat went airborne over another car, landed still upright and in the same plane of motion such that it could then just coast to a stop?   I am not saying that couldn’t/didn’t happen, but what are the odds?

[RADRAIDR]

This just in..... from The Nevada Appeal:

CARSON CITY, Nev. (KOLO) - The man who caused a deadly crash at Spooner Junction in Carson City was sent to prison on Thursday.

According to First Judicial District Court documents, Roney Gonzalez Otazo pleaded guilty to two counts of reckless driving causing death causing substantial bodily harm in May. Gonzalez Otazo will serve at least three years in prison but could serve up to 10. He was also ordered to pay restitution to the victims.

In November 2021, Gonzalez Otazo was towing a large boat and failed to stop at a red light. The boat was reportedly 16,000 pounds over the recommended weight limit for the truck he was driving. According to Nevada State Police, brake failure may have been to blame.

A husband and wife were killed in the crash, and several others were injured.

Sad, on many levels.

[oldjeep]

Pay restitution?  Yeah, that'll happen.