Musings from Brian J. Noggle: Now That's Thorough

Now That's Thorough

Relatives of five people killed July 28 in a fiery wreck on Interstate 44 in Eureka, near the Six Flags St. Louis amusement park, have filed wrongful death suits in St. Louis County Circuit Court.

The suits were among 1,400 filed in the county last week, before a new law capping damage awards in civil cases took effect.

The situation:

A dump truck loaded with rock and driven by Thomas Miskel, of Imperial, smashed into the back of Huckaba's 2000 Dodge Caravan, shoving the minivan into four vehicles and across a frontage road before the wreckage erupted in flames.

How many suits? Five: one for each victim of the single accident.

The plaintiffs?

The driver of the truck, natch.
Bourbeuse River Hauling, the company that owns the truck.
H & H Freight Services, which provided the contract driver for Bourbeuse.
Millstone Bangert Inc., the company that hired the truck to deliver the rock to its construction site.
Kenworth of St. Louis, the mechanics who worked on the truck and should have known it wouldn't stop in time.
Six Flags, for apparently building a theme park nearby which people would look at or attend.
The state of Missouri for its poor design of the highway.
The city of Eureka, for not stopping traffic backup at the highway exit where the accident occurred.

Why not sue Dodge, for not making fourth, fifth, and sixth brake lights? The parents of the driver, for bringing a child capable of such evil into the world? The painting contractor who puts the lines on the highways and the makers of the asphalt for not providing enough traction for stopping?

Perhaps those are defendants for another day.

- posted by Brian J. @ 1:48 PM