A must read for Noobs....
 

You can substitute Swift, Schneider, Werner etc ... for Crash and Roll England.....


Oregon lawsuit puts big trucking into spotlight

by Bryan Denson, The Oregonian Friday August 21, 2009, 8:42 PM


Jesus Nieves Olivares was candid with a Utah trucking outfit four years ago, when he applied to become a driver: He had gone to prison for killing three men, and he had once been a cocaine user. But this didn't stop the company from giving him a few weeks training and pointing him at the open road.
Nieves Olivares, who hailed from Puerto Rico, wanted to better his life. But U.S. highways quickly proved too much for him. On his first two days on the road, he was ticketed twice for driving too many hours. He got another citation after running off the road in Georgia. Then another when California authorities detained him for lack of rest.
On Nov. 8, 2005, pressured by dispatchers to get a load of bananas to the Winco grocery in Woodburn on time, Nieves Olivares ran a red light and collided with a Ford Escort station wagon, severely injuring 85-year-old Marjorie Dunn.
Mistakes made by the rookie driver, now 54, are expected to take center stage Monday in Portland's federal courthouse, where trial begins in a civil complaint originally brought by Dunn and now -- two years after cancer took her life -- her daughter, Andrea Lister. The lawsuit accuses Nieves Olivares and trucking giant C.R. England Inc. of gross negligence.
Lister's suit alleges that C.R. England, which bills itself as the nation's largest refrigerated trucking company, looked past Nieves Olivares' past and rushed him onto highways whose signs, in English, were hard for him to comprehend.
The lawsuit accuses the company of keeping the rookie driver on the road -- with no additional training and no drug or alcohol testing -- even after two accidents and multiple tickets. By federal law, drivers must be tested for drugs and alcohol after an injury accident.
"The most sinister part is not even really the driver," said plaintiffs attorney Thomas D'Amore of Portland. "It's the company that brings in these kinds of drivers and puts these folks on the road. ... You are putting them in a highly dangerous instrument on our freeways, exposing us all to them."
Lister's lawsuit seeks $430,000 in compensatory damages and unspecified punitive damages.
Court papers filed by C.R. England's lawyers say the company should not face punitive damages because one of its drivers ran a red light and caused an accident. The company is not liable for such damages, they wrote, because it did not act maliciously or with conscious indifference to anyone's health, safety or welfare. C.R. England's attorneys in Portland did not respond to requests for comment.
Jury selection begins Monday before U.S. District Judge Michael R. Hogan in Portland.
Plaintiffs attorneys are expected to make much at trial about Nieves Olivares' shortcomings as a driver and the pressure C.R. England put on him to keep his freight moving.
But his troubles began long before C.R. England hired him. In the early 1980s, he was convicted of assault. He later obliterated the serial number of a handgun and shot six people in what he described in a deposition as self-defense. Three of his victims died.
Convicted in Puerto Rico of homicidio, Nieves Olivares drew a 20-year prison sentence. He got out in 10, went to work as a temporary laborer and attended college. But he couldn't find permanent work.
Friends at church told him about C.R. England, which was advertising for drivers in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory, and its residents are U.S. citizens. Nieves Olivares picked up the phone, hoping that his dream of one day building a house for his daughter might come true.
On Aug. 11, 2005, Nieves Olivares told his prospective employers about the killings and his earlier drug use. C.R. England found that the trainee met minimum hiring qualifications, according to a company document filed in the lawsuit.
Nieves Olivares made a home in a company dorm in Salt Lake City to attend driving school. In a deposition, Nieves Olivares recalled that his training lasted three weeks and that he had a hard time following the lessons because they were given in English.
On Oct. 11, 2005, he earned his commercial driver's license. But 27 days later -- after a slew of tickets and other mishaps -- Nieves Olivares was so fed up with the hassles of driving a big rig he was ready to quit and go home to Puerto Rico.
At a weigh station in Cottonwood, Calif., on Nov. 7, 2005, he sent angry text messages to dispatchers on his onboard computer. "IM (OUT OF) USA AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, I RESIGN," he wrote. "NO MAS."
A dispatcher asked where he was shut down and how much weight he was carrying so she could keep the load moving.
Fifteen hours later, after paying a ticket in Red Bluff, Calif., the rookie driver sent a note to his handlers: "IM UNDER SNOWY WEATHER AND CHAINS ARE REQUIRED AND I DONT KNOW HOW TO INSTALL THEM." A dispatcher encouraged him to find someone to assist him.
The next afternoon, Nov. 8, 2005, one of Nieves Olivares' handlers sent him an apologetic text: "I know we are pushing you and I am sorry but I have to get this trailer to winco asap."
At 4:03 p.m., Olivares ran a red light and missed a gear as he drove into an intersection in Woodburn. He did not see Marjorie Dunn behind the wheel of her Escort station wagon, which punched into the rear wheels of his truck and flipped into a light pole, according to a witness account in a police report.
Nieves Olivares found Dunn behind the wheel. There was blood on her deployed airbags. The woman, holding her bloody nose, looked at the driver with wide eyes and slumped to one side.
"Oh, lady," the truck driver recalled saying in a deposition, "please don't die on me."
Emergency workers pushed him away and whisked Dunn to an emergency room in Salem.
At the end of that month, as Nieves Olivares faced termination, he sent a text message to the company that he wanted his money back for the truck driving school. And he typed a few lines about the day of his Woodburn wreck, saying two of his handlers were "rushing me to get a load of bananas ... and made me have an accident."



C.R. England's drivers were involved in 13 fatal crashes in the past two years, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Government regulators give the company a satisfactory safety rating, owing to the huge volume of miles driven each year by its 5,200 drivers.
Jurors will hear much about Marjorie Dunn, by all accounts an outgoing octogenarian who took pride in her independence and ability to drive. They will hear how she lived in pain the last 19 months of her life, the result of a fractured cervical spine and lingering soreness.
In court papers, family members describe her as a vibrant woman left so depressed after the crash that she lost the will to live. Dunn survived the accident but succumbed to cancer diagnosed in the final days of her life. She died June 22, 2007.


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I can't believe that it has taken 12 years to come to trial. This is a good example of why drivers should be fluent in English. I am surprised that he didn't speak fluent English since he grew up in Puerto Rico. Some carriers do push new drivers. It is up to the driver to say no or that he doesn't have enough hours to get a load to it's destination. It is hard to believe that CR England has a satisfactory safety rating with so many fatalities within such a short time.

Good post Big D. England puts this guy on the road with little training. He gets two HOS tickets in his first two days but they dont think they should be held responsible? And he wants his money back for his training? It is obvious he didnt read the fine print in his contract. Good luck building that new straw hut in Puerto Rico stupid.

The accident happened less than 4 years ago.

He knew enough English to get along it doen't take much to know how to drive and read signs. His text read okay. He served his sentence in prison, when does a person get a chance? It sounds more as if he was intimidated by England to run longer than he should or maybe didn't know how to figure out his hours. It also sounds as if he was pressured by dispatch to deliver a load and had an accident because of his wanting to please dispatch. Those two things happen to many new drivers who speak English and have no criminal records.

WOW that is a real eye opening post. It is hard to believe this guy was given a driving job with his past including killing people and also hard to believe he wasnt fired for so many tickets etc. It is up to us drivers to protect OUR CDL and to not let a company push us to run illegal once again its not their license it is ours.When I decided to get in to trucking I had many people try and convince me that I didnt need to go to school to get my CDL but my response was I want to do this right and get the training so myself and others would be safer.I am very glad I chose the driving school I did because the instructors were top shelf people who really cared about putting educated safe drivers on the road. While at school there were a handfull of people the state was paying for and they were treating it like a 3 week summer camp instead of taking it serious and many of them were set back weeks and told if they didnt get serious they woulnt ever graduate.I take my new career very serious and fully understand the responsibility that comes along with it. I will be representing a proud profession and plan to not let my fellow truckers down with my actions behind the wheel.It is a real shame this guy caused the damage he did to others. Sorry for the long post.

Oops. I misread the date of the woman's death. What can I say. It was late. :confused:

What gets me, is that everybody thinks that the tickets and the failure to yield accident prooved he shouldn't have been behind the wheel. I would like to see his agility tests and other 'tests' he had at training. There are always warning signs about a drivers ability when his skills are THIS lacking. two tickets in two days, running a red light, being put OOS are just the climax. If England did not see this coming during their training...then heads need to roll.

AND for the company to say they arent responsible would be like NASA saying they arent responsible if one of their highly trained commanders crashes the shuttle on landing.

Here is the link for those that wish to leave comments on the article....


Oregon lawsuit puts big trucking into spotlight - OregonLive.com

Yeah right. Conscious indifference, or what I call willful ignorance, is all over that story.

Sooooooo who are you defending ???? Crash and Roll ??? The ex-con driver who suposedly no habla'd engrish, or the system who allows Crash an Roll England, Swift, Werner, Schneider to operate in this manner??

Defending? I'm not defending anyone. I was pointing out that I think the arguement against punitive damages is ridiculous.

They're all guilty as hell!

1. C.R.

2. Mr. No Hablo Pablo.

3. The system that allows stuff like this to happen.

This is so outrageous that I wouldn't even mind seeing some liability thrown on the shipper if it would help prevent it from happening again.

Please keep us posted on the outcome

How did he spend 15 hours getting from Cottonwood to Red Bluff? And then couldn't make Woodburn til the next day?

Why should the shipper get some of the liability? They hired CRE to haul a load for them, It was CRE's responsibility to have a safe, competent driver take the load from point A to point B. Now, If the shipper loaded the load overweight or in a manner that caused the trailer to tip and be a factor in the crash then maybe.

England is going to settle this case. There is little doubt this guy shouldn't have been out on his own and I doubt England wants to sit around too long while the jury gets better educated as to the extent of that doubt.

Under similar circumstances I would SPECULATE that Swift (and the others) would have repowered the load.

The first line after "NO MAS" implies that England was trying to get the load repowered. Despite the inflamatory quotes provided, I suspect there were at least a few routine messages which might help to explain why the load was not repowered and how this driver continued on to Woodburn.

. . the system who allows . . is the system of your making. The pay per mile fraud which companies like yours continue to perpetuate will keep the doors open to an endless stream of rookies and keep slamming the doors on good drivers who need to support a household.

Defending the mega-carriers as usual..... But I guess that is what a Swift recruiter does....

I am going downtown for a lunch meeting today, I think I will stop by the courthouse and have a look see....

My comments were clearly a condemnation of all carriers who engage in and perpetuate the pay per mile fraud, mega or otherwise, yours included.

Rather than pay a competant driver, England chose to roll the dice and bleed this freak for all he was worth. Now, England will pay. It's in the business plan, business as usual.

I have done well by Swift and speak well of them but I can't recruit for them. That would require too much line 4 time and diminish the profitability of my truck.

I'm surprised CRE didn't settle: "Look, here's $500,000 (or whatever), you agree to keep quiet, we admit no wrongdoing. Sign here." It would be a small sum for them. But they didn't settle, and, if they don't, a jury will get that education. However, the case is also about unspecified punitive damages. In a recent Swift case in Kansas (?), the jury decided that $13.5 million (?) was suitable punitive damages (Swift wouldn't produce a driver's logs). Swift appealed. This case could be about big bucks--I doubt CRE really cares about the publicity; the story will fade. If CRE does lose, they'll appeal and appeal and appeal and drag it out for years. We'll see.

Clearly, Mr. Olivares shouldn't have been on the road. Wouldn't most carriers kick him to the curb PDQ?

How did he get through training? Why didn't they fire him? I hope those questions are answered at trial.

Last I read . . this can change and it does . . typical coverage is self insured up to the first "x" million and the insurer kicks in after that. It's a contract thing that changes everytime they find a better contract.

I'm guessing that England's circumstances are similar but to what level, I have no idea. England's election not to settle pretrial is not unusual. Pretrial motions are in front of a judge, alone, and are based on the law and civil procedure . . not the kind of artistry you save for a jury. England knows it's in hot water and is gambling that they can save some money by proceeding to trial on the facts. The plaintiffs are gambling that they can make more money on their presentation of the facts, the unique circumstances, their theatrics and influence over the sympathies of a jury.

England is going to need an enormous break to overcome the state of mind of their desperate, (admissable in a civil trial) convicted murderer. That's why I think they'll settle.

You are correct. Basicly it is a million dollar deductable. .... least for Swift it is.

I was able to catch the last few minutes of Crash and Roll's opening statement and the plaintiffs first witness, a forensic investigator. It appears to me that CRE is trying to place the blame on the crash victim.... The plaintiffs expert was explaining to the jury on how logs and HOS works, it was entertaining that the expert was wrong on numerous occasions regarding HOS and Duty status, but CRE did not dispute the expert's explanation.... The driver was not in court and CRE stated he would give his testimony over the phone, the Judge had no part of that and ordered CRE to fly him to Portland from Puerto Rico so he can be on the stand Wednesday......

:thumbsup: Do you plan to go again?

So if these so-called training companies are doing this sort of thing, where is the best place for someone to get their training, get their finishing, and drive for a decent company? I'm 52 and REALLY want to hit the road for the rest of my working career. I enjoy traveling, the outdoors, driving, and being on the move...so fill me in on what to do next? By the way, I live and currently work in Delaware, OH, just north of Columbus, OH or the I-70/I-71 interchange...

Thursday, if the trial is still in session...

Interesting stuff. I'd go if I had time. 'Preciate the thread.

When I was a Background Investigator at my PD, we had a big sign in our work area:

"The best indicator of future performance is past performance".

It was true then, and it is true now.

Just look around here and start researching. Ton's of info already here on just about every company

I think the shipper needs to be aware of of the safety record of whoever it hires. If shippers were accorded some liability freight wouldn't automatically go to whoever is willing to haul it the cheapest, which IMHO would be a good thing for the entire industry.

I think that there are a few shippers and brokers who do check safety records before tendering a shipment to a carrier. I have had 2 or 3 in recent years to mention to me that the reason they called was my safety record. I don't think it is very widespread. It may have had something to do with the product they were selling, although I don't recall anything special about any of the products of those who mentioned my safety record. Any way you can take away some competition would be good for rates.

The trial is still happening today, I am going to catch the afternoon session.

All of the training companies are crap really. Getting a good trainer is kind of like rolling dice. I went through 3 trainers during my training and all of them were crap. I basically drove all night without supervision while they slept for six weeks. I quit the first two trainers because they were crap. When the third one was crap too, I just basically held my nose and completed my training. However, I was always a motivated and determined individual, and basically trained myself once I went on my own.

That isn’t to say that there aren’t some really good trainers out there. However, they are far and few between and getting one of them is a roll of the dice.

Hell, I could be a hell of a trainer, but I refuse to live with another individual in a truck 24 hours a day. If I could drop the trainees off at the end of the day, then I wouldn’t mind doing it.

We're waiting for the update?

I think CR made the usual low ball offer and the family told them to stick SLC up their ***** and CR could end up paying out some serious money on this. Serious enough to hurt the company financially and seriously effect their insurance standing.

Personally, I hope it goes all the way so we do find out who gets what. If they make a settlement, it will surely be a closed deal and we will never know.

It was all over by the time i got downtown this afternoon. I do not know the result. But I have a call and an email into the reporter who was covering the trial. Once I find out the result , it will be posted.

Good thing they (CR) didn't settle like some suggested. I didn't catch the part in the first story where the lady was stopped in the intersection and hit the rear wheels of the truck, seems like too much was made of irrelevant info in this case.

I didn't read anything in either story from the links, that the woman was "stopped" at the intersection.

The first article had a line which stated she "punched into the truck's rear wheels". That would indicate to me that her car was moving.

Some information is missing. What did the video from the traffic cams at that intersection show? Yes....There are traffic cams at all the intersections there, all the way from two intersections east of I-5, to two intersections west of the WINCO warehouse area.

If something got CRE off in a Portland jury room, it was video evidence. :surrender:


Portland folks are more liberal than Seattle folks!!! :lol2:


Unless CRE got a bunch of Eastern Oregun Republicans bussed in to be on the jury!!! :lol:

In my opinion the plaintiffs took the wrong tact.... What little I observed, they were focusing to much on the actual accident.... They should have been focusing on the HOS issues and the lack of training...

+1 To late to advise the lawyers now!!