Delivery Man Drops Crate On Customer
Attorney
(866) 735-1102 Ext 645
A furniture delivery trucking company has agreed to pay $650,000.00 to their customer after its deliveryman pushed a 400 pound crate from the inside of a truck towards the tail of the truck, lost control of the crate and caused it to fall onto the customer.
The impact of the crate falling upon the victim crushed his pelvis and hip. The victim required two surgeries including a total hip replacement.
The customer's medical bills were $176,280.69. He lost wages in the amount of $31,670.41.
The 60 year old victim met the tractor trailer delivery truck that the curb of his home. The truck was to deliver a crate of furniture that the claimant ordered from a manufacturer in Vermont.
The crate was supposed to be delivered at "residential and inside delivery."
The experts hired by the claimant's lawyer were prepared to testify that the term, "residential and inside delivery" were terms of art which means in the trucking industry that the load was to be taken inside of the claimant's home without any help from the customer.
The claimant contended that he had requested that the delivery company provide a truck with a hydraulic lift gate and asked the personnel to protect the contents of the crate from damage during delivery.
The delivery truck driver appeared at the victim's house alone and without a lift gate truck. The victim began discussing the specific delivery request with the truck driver when the driver began pushing the crate from the inside of the truck towards the rear of the truck. The driver then lost control of the crate, which toppled over onto victim standing on the curb.
The weight of the crate of furniture crushed the victim's hip.
As its defense, the delivery truck company claimed that the 400 pound crate of furniture was incorrectly listed by the manufacturer as weighing 200 pounds and that it relied upon this statement from the manufacturer in providing only one driver. As a further defense, the trucking company claimed that the victim himself was negligent because he stood in front of the tailgate of the truck as the crate was being moved.