Top Ten HIGHEST Florida Semi-Truck Accident Settlements or Verdicts

As a Florida personal injury, wrongful death & semi-truck accident lawyer, I wanted to share the top ten HIGHEST Florida semi-truck accident settlements or verdicts, which have been *reported.*

You should know that the vast majority of settlements are NOT reported, so this list is DEFINITELY incomplete. But this will give you an idea of the type of potential value a tractor trailer accident settlement *might* command, with similar facts. (For example, we recently settled a wrongful death tractor trailer accident for just shy of 2 million. But we did not report that settlement in the list below.) But the examples below will give you an idea of the potential & average values of an Orlando or Florida tractor trailer accident, involving serious injuries, or death. (However, all cases are different, and even slightly different facts could raise or lower the potential value.)

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Which Semi-Truck Accident Cases Usually Have The Highest Verdicts?

One thing true for all accidents is that catastrophic injuries requiring a lifetime of care, such as a serious brain injury, usually lead to higher settlements than even accidents that led to death (because the defendant must pay the cost of lifetime care for the plaintiff), assuming the defendant’s FAULT in causing the accident is clear. Additionally, sometimes the value can be higher when there are substantial, lifetime lost wages (which happens if the plaintiff has evidence to prove that he or she is no longer able to perform his or her job, such as employer and/or treating doctor testimony — a high burden that requires good evidence of permanent inability to work).

Examples of Semi-Truck Accident Jury Verdicts

So, without further ado, here are some example cases:

• Dellinger v. National Freight. $750,000. Kissimmee, Florida. A 38 year old female county employee was struck head-on by a semi-truck, while driving her car. She suffered 5 severe fractures, and made a particularly good witness
• S. Austin Carr (personal representative) vs. Cargill. $1 million. Orlando, Florida. A 55 year old truck driver, and father of a 14 & 16 year old, who was walking down the street (a pedestrian), was killed by a semi-truck collision nearby. This one million dollar settlement provided $500,000 to each of the surviving children. (This is low for a wrongful death / tractor trailer accident, so there may have been some negative evidence.
• Roberts v. Tri-State Carriers. $1.6 million Maitland, Florida. A 51 year old electrical lineman’s vehicle was struck from the rear, then struck again from the side, by a semi-truck. The accident resulted in a skull fracture and moderate brain damage. His symptoms included memory loss and a reduction in intellectual abilities.
• Alterman v. Zep Construction. $4.2 million. Altamonte Springs, Florida. A 42 year old father of one minor child was killed when his car was struck from the rear by a semi-truck, while he was sitting in traffic at a construction zone. In this particular case, the construction companies were sued(not the semi-truck company). The allegations were that the defendants failed to train their construction workers, failed to properly direct traffic, failed to have adequate lighting in the construction zone,and failed to warn drivers about known dangerous conditions.
• Mckenzie v. Crete Carrier Corporation; Peterson. $860,000. Central Florida. A male truck driver suffered a pelvis (hip) fracture when he was struck by a semi-truck at a loading dock. The plaintiff alleged that the truck driver didn’t maintain a proper lookout, should have used a spotter to back up, and should have had a backup warning device on his semi-truck.
• Lymon v. Bynum Transport Inc. $65 million. Orlando, Florida. A 19 year old woman was struck broadside, while driving through an intersection, by a tractor trailer. She suffered severe brain damage with a significant speech impairment, along with permanent bladder and bowel incontinence, and regular seizures. She also suffered left side partial paralysis, a temporary coma, and fractures to her left femur and scapula. Her lawyer argued that the semi-truck driver was negligent, by failing to keep a proper lookout, and failing to yield the right of way. She also argued that the company that owned the semi-truck failed to properly train and supervise its drivers. The semi-truck company offered to settle for 2 million before trial. Worth noting: SEVERE brain injuries from semi-truck accidents are often the highest value cases, because of the cost of a lifetime of care. This was an extreme outlier as a result of the extensive care she needed, and the degree of the semi-truck company negligence in training and supervision of their drivers.
• Torres v. Liberty Trucking Inc. $1.54 million. Altamonte Springs, Florida. A 42 year old father of two minor children was killed by a semi-truck, when the semi-truck improperly changed lanes, and collided with his vehicle.
• Clara Santos v. Sun Country Citrus Hauling, Inc. $630,000. Dr. Phillips, Florida. A 67 year old woman was a passenger in a car driven by her daughter. Her daughter crashed into a semi-truck parked on the side of the road. They alleged that the tractor trailer was improperly parked, so partially blocking the road. The plaintiff suffered a closed head injury resulting in seizures, and neck pain requiring a 4-level anterior cervical diskectomy and fusion surgery.
• Tolfa v. Alden Transport. $600,000. College Park, Orlando, Florida. A 54 year old female secretary was hit by a semi-truck, which failed to stop at a stop sign in a residential neighborhood. The plaintiff suffered permanent double vision, limited peripheral vision loss, and associated headaches, which resulted in a very large lost wages claim (she could no longer do her job as an administrative assistant).
• Parker, Estate Of v. Harris Trucking, Inc.; Shamrock Trucking, Inc. $500,000. Winter Park, Florida. A 39 year old male teacher was killed when a semi-truck, propelled through a stop sign by another vehicle, which hit the truck, hit the deceased’s vehicle. The jury awarded his wife $500,000. This was a low verdict for a wrongful death / trucking accident case, which suggests that there was some bad evidence in the case, not shared in the reported results.
• Gene A. Reid vs. Yellow Transportation, Inc. $974,000. Maitland, Florida. A 47 year old male sheetworker was rear-ended by a semi-truck. There was only minor damage to his vehicle, but he suffered a herniated disc at L5-S1, and needed a discectomy (surgery to repair the discs in his back). And he had good evidence that he wasn’t able to return to work after his surgery, resulting in a large reward for lost wages. (The breakdown of the jury verdict was: $33,353 – past medical expenses; $69,250 – present value of future medical expenses [over 26 years]; $216,865 – past lost earnings; $615,000 – present value of future lost earnings [over 15 years]; $40,000 – future pain and suffering).)
• Katiuska Rivas vs. Roderick A. Wall & Able Sanitation, Inc. $1.51 million. Casselberry, Florida. A male freightliner driver collided with a semi-truck driver, and was killed in the accident. He had a minor daughter & son, who recovered this money. However, he was found 35% negligent (meaning partially to blame), so the judge only awarded his estate 65% of the total jury verdict.
• Valdes v. Rock & Sod Connection Inc., & others. $1.93 million. A male motorcycle driver was hit by a semi-truck, and suffered very serious injuries. This award included his past and future medical expenses, past and future lost wages, and past and future pain & suffering.

If you would like us to evaluate the potential value of YOUR serious injury or wrongful death tractor trailer accident, please call to discuss the best strategy in your case. We have a small team of very experienced & award-winning tractor trailer lawyers. We focus on low volume and the highest level of service. You are welcome to text or call (407) 803-2139 for a FREE case evaluation 24/7/365. If we are able to accept your case, then we will provide an extensive consultation regarding what you should expect, including how to maximize your case value.

We have a highly experienced & award-winning semi-truck accident lawyer team that WILL get you the absolute highest value for your semi-truck accident case. Please call us today to discuss our previous settlements, verdicts, and awards, during your free & extensive consultation.

Text Or Call 24 Hour Semi-Truck Accident Lawyer Hotline (407) 803-2139

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