Utah Law Talk

A 28-year-old pregnant woman from Califonia died in Utah on Tuesday, November 11, 2009 when the semi-truck she was riding in crashed. This Utah trucking accident happened at around 3 p.m. on the ramp to eastbound Interstate 84 from Interstate 15.

According to standard.net, the semi-truck was carrying apples and rolled over on the bridge. “The driver was not injured,” said Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Cameron Roden. “But we did have a female passenger who was ejected that is deceased.” According to the investigation, the pregnant woman, Martha Pichardo, was thrown from the sleeper of the truck. Martha was the wife of the semi driver.

Speed appears to be a factor in the crash. The driver could not make the turn and flipped the truck over the side. The driver reported that he felt the truck jump or lift from the left lane into the right and the trailer started to weave. The driver attempted to brake but lost control of the vehicle. The semi flipped onto the passenger side onto concrete barriers where it slid and came to a rest blocking both traffic lanes.

Mrs. Pichardo’s body was found under the semi truck, against the concrete barrier. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver was taken to Ogden Regional with minor injuries.

My thoughts and prayers are with this family. Mr. Pichardo is undoubtably experiencing great heartache from the loss of his wife.

In a difficult situation like this, it could be hard to think about the potential legal claims that could be made. However, in this situation, the family of Martha Pichardo may wish to consider a claim against the insurance company that insures the truck. Every day, injured spouses make claims against insurance companies for driving errors made by their significant others. It’s nothing personal, because most of these claims are resolved between the injured party and the insurance companies, without needing to file anything.

The persons who would be able to make such a claim in this circumstance could be limited, since the spouse who was driving may be excluded from making a claim. If this is the case, under Utah law, Ms. Pichardo’s parents and/or children may be able to make such a claim. In Utah, there is a two-year window to do this.

A bigger question in this case, however, may be whether this road is unreasonably unsafe. From reading this story, it sounds like other have had problems with this very same ramp. There was some discussion about improving the signage to warn of this sharp turn, but it is unclear if UDOT ever did this. If they knew about this problem through past accidents and did nothing to improve the warning to motorists, then there may be a claim against UDOT as well as the truck insurance policy. I would recommend that the family contact and experienced Utah accident and injury lawyer who can help them explore all legal remedies available during this difficult time.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 12th, 2009 at 2:42 pm and is filed under Utah Trucking Big Rig Accident, Utah car accident, Wrongful Death, utah fatal car accident. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.