FATAL SEMI TRACTOR TRAILER COLLISION
Clifford, et al. v. Blea, et al.
Case #2005CV1415
Judge: Paul A. King
Court: Arapahoe District Court
Plaintiffs’ Attorneys: Larry
D. Lee of the law firm of Larry D. Lee, P.C. and Robert Reimann of the law firm
of James Freemeyer, P.C.
Defendants’ Attorneys: Brett
Huff of the law firm of White & Steele, P.C.
Type of Claim: Fatal semi-tractor trailer/passenger
vehicle collision. On March 13, 2004, in Parker, Colorado, Nicole Clifford,
then aged 17, was driving the family vehicle in which her brother, Brian, then aged
15, was a passenger. (And Brian was sitting in the front passenger seat.)
They were driving from the family home to the local library to return a book on
the scholastic aptitude test (SAT). Brian was a high school student at the
time of this collision, as was his sister, Nicole. Nicole turned left in front
of the oncoming tractor trailer rig. The rig struck the Clifford vehicle at
the passenger side front door, killing Brian and severely injuring Nicole.
The collision occurred due to the rig’s excessive speed, failure to “cover,”
inattention, and lack of proper lookout, and failure to take evasive action.
The black box data showed that the rig’s driver was depressing the gas pedal
and accelerating into a yellow light (probably to “beat” the light).
Damages: Brian Clifford died as a result of
a laceration-transection of the aorta and the lungs in the collision. The
cause of death was exsanguinations secondary to the injury to the aorta and lungs.
The aorta injury was a function of a direct impact at the location of the passenger.
Plaintiffs’ Expert Witnesses: Carl Finnacaro,
P.E. (Ponderosa Associates) on accident reconstruction; Ben Galloway, M.D., forensic
pathologist (Douglas County Coroner’s Office)
Defendants’ Expert Witnesses: Settled
before Disclosures due.
Settlement: This case settled for a confidential
sum.