Products Liability Law Reporter

Truck driver Leonard Street was driving a 2023 Western Star truck carrying wood products when a pickup truck crossed the center line into Street’s lane and hit his front wheel. The impact forced Street’s truck off the road, resulting in a 360-degree rollover. Street suffered a fractured neck that left him with incomplete quadriplegia. His medical expenses were approximately $800,000.

Street and his wife sued Daimler Truck North America and Western Star, alleging defective design of the driver’s suspension seat and the heavy truck’s roof, which was crushed in the collision. The plaintiffs also alleged wanton design.

The 2023 Western Star truck had a defective roof designed in 1995, which remained unchanged for nearly 30 years, the plaintiffs argued. Moreover, the plaintiffs claimed, Daimler Truck refused to make standard a Rolltek seat, which has a system that pulls the seat to the floor automatically when a rollover is detected.

The jury awarded $160 million, including $75 million in punitive damages and $10 million for loss of consortium.

Citation: Street v. Daimler Truck N. Am. LLC, No. CV-2023-900002 (Ala. Cir. Ct. Clarke Cnty. Sept. 6, 2024).

Plaintiff counsel: AAJ member Benjamin E. Baker and Kendall Dunson, both of Montgomery, Ala.; AAJ members Wyatt P. Montgomery and R. Edward Massey, both of Mobile, Ala.; and Matt Drinkard, Grove Hill, Ala.