They will not come after your husband for whatever they may pay out in damages. The trucking companies Insurance will pay it. They chose to seperate employment, but they will still cover an claims that occured while he was employed with May. They will actually be on your husband's side and provide him with help, as this also helps mitigate thier cost's. Granted in this case they are pretty much stuck with the whole cost, but if this would have been an accident with injury, they would have provided him counsel, to help lower thier cost's. I would contact the local DA, this is the person whom can most help/hurt you. Don't play attorney with these people, it annoy's them. If you want to contest the charge, get an attorney. If you just want to lessen them or get probabtion before judgement, contact the DA. Plead your case, new driver, first time out, etc.. DO NOT make excuse's, remember like you said, you just want to move on. Facts are he drove the truck, had an incident...The cause to plead is he didn't know what to do, or was scared. The police have already acceptted the security guards account, no point beating your head there. Good Luck!

GrannyJan

Thank you for the compliment! I try to tell it like it is. I know sometimes there will be good days and sometimes not so good days. I know my husband's trainer really likes country western music and that is not my husbands bag. My husband is a sports nut and it does not sound like the trainer is a big football fan. So at this point I just hope that it is little things that annoy one another and that he is getting good training.

Living with someone in such small quarters and being around them 24/7 I bet people can sometimes get on each others nerves. And I am hoping that is all that it is. I know my husband loves driving.

Goin Fer It's Wife

Believe me I am not going to have my husband go down for an arraignment hearing without an attorney. I am not going to let him go down without me either. They would set his bail and the money we would have to come up for bail would more than pay for his attorney. I am going to get the money from my mother as we do not have it.

I have spoken to the Lawyer at Road Law and he wants a flat $3,500.00 to represent my husband through pre-trial. If it goes to trail it will be another $1,500 to $2,000. I also spoke to Larry Workman and he did not sound very promising he does not seem to know much about CDL's.

I am going to send the information packet out Monday for the other Trucking organization and by Wednesday I will have someone retained.

First thing the attorney will have to do is change the date Friday I received out hearing date for Federal Bankruptcy Court our meeting of the creditors and of course it falls on the same day November 30, 2006.

I am doing the research and will be in the background and the one in contact with the attorneys. I studied to be a para-legal and was two legal classes short of a degree. I have helped in cases before.

Goin Fer It's Wife

May Trucking is self insured. I am going to call Monday and find out if they have paid the claim yet. I am considering adding them and the BLM (the tree and light pole place) to our Chapter 7 Bankrupcy just in case.

With the Criminal Charges filed against my husband for Criminal Mischief in the first degree, and Criminal Mischief in the second degree there has to be intent. Which would mean that he intentionally damaged the property.
I can not see a company or insurance being held liable if their employee with Criminal Intent went and destroyed something.

As far as Failure to Perform Duties of a Driver the law states
ORS 811.700

(c) If the person is the driver of any vehicle involved in an accident resulting only in damage to fixtures or property legally upon or adjacent to a highway, the person shall do all of the following:

(A) Take reasonable steps to notify the owner or person in charge of the property of such fact and of the driver’s name and address and of the registration number of the vehicle the driver is driving.

(B) Upon request and if available, exhibit any document issued as official evidence of a grant of driving privileges to the driver.

Being Property damage that is all my husband was legally required to do.

I know that Jackson County seems like a very corrupt place and I have been reading up on other cases and things down there.

Goin Fer It's Wife

My husband is going to Plea Not Guilty to all charges. We will not deal directly with the DA's office as they had to know that this was not intentional and yet they have already taken this before a grand jury and convinced them that husband should be charged with intentionally doing this and a Class C Felony.

The police elected to leave out much of what my husband told them and of course the whole part of the aid he received getting out of the parking lot from the security guard and some other guy. He did not put that the security guard even spoke to my husband and did not identify himself. He just said for the security gourd's statement that he saw the truck come in and last saw it leaving on such and such road. He left out ALL the pertinent information in the case. This will all come out. The police officer intentionally left it out I believe because if he really believed that a crime occurred he would have had to write up the two guys that helped my husband out of the parking lot for aiding and abetting.

"A person aids and abets another person in the commission of a crime if the person, with the intent to promote or make easier the commission of the crime, encourages, procures, advises or assists, by act or advice, the planning and commission of a crime. And again with respect to the phrase 'with intent to promote or make easier the commission of a crime,' a person acts intentionally or with intent when the person acts with a conscious objective either to cause a particular result or to engage in particular conduct.

And if my husband did intentionally commit a Felony and the two guys who helped him out after they knew that he had damaged the property they could also be held responsible for this act. My husband had NO IDEA who either one of the guys were. He did not know what they were doing in a dark parking lot after the business closed. He did not know if he got out if they would attempt to rob him. He only knew they were anxious to help him get out of the parking lot.

ORS 161.155 Criminal liability for conduct of another. A person is criminally liable for the conduct of another person constituting a crime if:
(1) The person is made criminally liable by the statute defining the crime; or
(2) With the intent to promote or facilitate the commission of the crime the person:
(a) Solicits or commands such other person to commit the crime; or
(b) Aids or abets or agrees or attempts to aid or abet such other person in planning or committing the crime; or
(c) Having a legal duty to prevent the commission of the crime, fails to make an effort the person is legally required to make. [1971 c.743 §13]


I still need to see if I can find anything on the Duties or Responsibilities of a Security Guard as the police officer only wrote up in the witness statement that the guy was an employee and worked late that night. I have a feeling and I may be wrong but that there is some reason he elected not to write up the fact that a security guard was there.

I think the police officer was mad at my husband because he went out and looked for him and contacted May Trucking. My husband was at a rest area only five miles away from were this occurred and this was about 4 hours later. I think the officer wanted to be really nasty and throw the book at my husband. So he wrote up everything so it looked different. But in court this will all come out.

Goin Fer It's Wife

Have you contacted May Trucking to see if they're aware of whats going on?

Seems to me those kind of charges also reflect badly on the Company and they may possibly be willing to at least point you in the direction of a knowledgeable attorney.

Good luck to ya!

Thank you! I am going to contact May Trucking Company on Monday. I have been very busy doing research to find out what is going on.

Goin Fer It's Wife

You should check and see if your homeowners or renters policy will help with the legal bills under the liability section.

I know it was a truck accident, but policies have a personal liability portion that follows you. There was a guy in San Diego that stole $5 million from people and his homeowners policy paid his legal bills and some of the people. He was convicted of several fraud charges. It's a long shot, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

Thank you for trying to help but we have no home owners policy or renters insurance.

Goin Fer it's Wife

Best of luck with the charges. I hope it works out. In my limited interaction with the judicial system, I doubt that in court the judge will take your husbands word over the security guard or the police officer. Thats why I said plead your case, as for spending 3-5000 dollars on an attorney, that seems a bit much with no promise's on the outcome. I know you are tied emotionaly to the case, but i would look at just the facts, and take teh best course. Sometimes being riight isn't enough. And the other poster was right, contact May, they have an interest in this outcome. Being that your husband, didn't call May worite away, and didn't call the authority's, it "looks" like he was trying to get away with it. I am sure thats not the case, but apperance is reality in today's world. Get a copy of the orientation guide from May, did they cover what to do in case of an accident or incident? They probably did, as liability is a big concern for any trucking company. if for some reason they didn't, it could help your case.