A jury has last week awarded an Alabama woman $12.5 million in a wrongful death suit against Schneider National Inc. and Schneider National Bulk Carriers Inc., along with company driver Thomas Bradley, who has had a history of health problems, The Birmingham News reported. Bradley fainted while driving a tractor-trailer and struck her husband’s car on Sept. 3, 2003.
Plaintiff attorney Lanny Vines said that Schneider National Inc. and Schneider National Bulk Carriers Inc. failed to routinely monitor and investigate Bradley’s health condition or medical records, The Birmingham News reported.
Schneider National did not comment on whether it intends to appeal.
“Two years ago I’d say the [award from the litigation] is unheard of but they have been increasing,” Jim York, manager of Zurich Service Corp.’s Risk Engineering Transportation Team, told Fleet Owner. York noted that a $6.8 million jury award against KLLM Transportation Services in 2002 was considered “runaway” by the trucking industry at the time.
