Indiana-based Wabash National faces $462M verdict in fatal 2019 crash

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Lafayette-based trailer manufacturing company Wabash National Corp. has been ordered to pay $462 million to the families of two men killed in a 2019 crash involving one of the company’s trailers.  

A jury handed down a decision in favor of the victims’ families on Sept. 5 in the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis after a two-week trial. The jury awarded $6 million in compensatory damages to the families of each of the men on top of $450 million in punitive damages.

Wabash National is the 20th largest public company in Indiana based on  2023 revenue of $2.5 billion, but its total profits from the last two years ($343.6 million) wouldn’t be enough to pay the amount awarded in the product-liability lawsuit.   

Wabash National said its insurance policies should cover the $12 million in compensatory damages, but the punitive damages could materially hurt its financial condition, operations and cash flows.

In May 2019, a Volkswagen driven by Taron Tailor traveling at a high speed during daylight hours collided with the back of a nearly-stopped 2004 trailer manufactured by Wabash. The trailer’s rear-impact guard failed to prevent the car from driving under the trailer, according to court documents.

The crash killed Tailor, 30, and his passenger, Nicholas Perkins, 23.

In filing the lawsuit, the victims’ families claimed Wabash was negligent and manufactured a defective rear-impact guard that failed to prevent the fatalities.

The jury determined the punitive damages based on the amount the plaintiff attorneys told them Wabash saved by not installing safer rear-impact guard in the 30 years prior to the crash.

In a release posted to its website on Friday, Wabash said the crash occurred nearly two decades after the trailer involved was manufactured in compliance with existing regulatory standards.  

The company said the jury was prevented from hearing crucial evidence in the case, including that at the time of the crash, the driver’s blood alcohol level was above the legal limit.  

The jury was also not informed that neither the driver nor the passenger were wearing seatbelts at the time of the crash.

Plaintiffs argued the men could’ve survived had the vehicle not broken through the guard even though it was traveling about 55 mph when it hit the back of the trailer.

“While this was a tragic accident, we respectfully disagree with the jury’s verdict and firmly believe it is not supported by the facts or the law,” said Wabash General Counsel and Chief Administrative Officer Kristin Glazner in the release. “No rear impact guard or trailer safety technology has ever existed that would have made a difference here.” 

The company said it is evaluating all legal options in response to the verdict.  

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12 thoughts on “Indiana-based Wabash National faces $462M verdict in fatal 2019 crash

  1. So they were drunk, traveling at high speed, not wearing seatbelts and hit the back of the 15 year old trailer that met Federal standards at the time. I have no clue what the jury.could have been thinking

    1. I agree with that, but at the same time, I’ve seen numerous complaints that the standards for that rear guard have always been woefully inadequate. They are basically just decorative and this might be a way to force a change.

    2. But Dan, the industry didn’t write the standards…DOT did.

      Also note that the Wabash spokesperson pointed out that the drunk driver hit the stationary trailer at 55mph…no rear guard would have prevented death or injury under those circumstances.

  2. So, two individuals who were intoxicated and wearing no seat belts hit a stationary object at 55 mph and the stationary object manufacturer is liable? Our legal system is whacked. Too many “ambulance chasing lawyers” (note the number of billboards along our highways) get these verdicts, that 90% of the time are tossed or revised downward on appeal.

  3. Drunk, Speeding, No Seatbelts. All information the jury was not allowed to hear. This is why suits are brought in jurisdictions with suspect legal credentials. Look for a plethora of appeals coming to a court soon. In mean time company may decide to pay off a negotiated settlement and save the expenses.

  4. Perfect example of why our legal system needs a makeover. The driver and passenger should have received nothing or perhaps they should have been sued for ramming the stopped truck while drunk. I hope the appeals turn this case over and they get nothing.

  5. Whomever may have written those standards, I’m certain they were not written by DOT. Published and made law by DOT, absolutely. But those standards were written by the trailer manufacturing industry, and through effective lobbying became the DOT standards.
    St. Louis is a notorious judicial hellhole. A swamp for the defense; a white sandy beach for the plaintiff bar. Years ago I investigated a similar claim in southern Indiana. Drunks in a VW hit the back end of a parked trailer. Not only the car was decapitated…. But that claim went nowhere in Indiana.
    As for a makeover, keep in mind its your neighbors on the juries who keep making these awards. No, they didn’t hear the entire story, but they set the number. It’s commonly called nuclear verdicts, or social inflation, or my favorite, the Kardashian Effect. People today have no sense of what $1M is, and they see themselves as plaintiffs someday and hope a jury will give them similar consideration.

    1. No, they’ll be right whereever the rest of us are…Trial Lawyers are doing their jobs for their clients. Right now they’re doing it better than defense lawyers, with better cooperation among them and probably better stories to tell. Should this jury have known about the drunk driving and speeding? Maybe. But that wasn’t the legal issue. The legal issue was whether the rear bumper bar was designed and constructed in an appropriate fashion. 15 years ago, it might have been. but people who become jurors don’t think about 15 years ago. The judge should have done a better job. And perhaps an appellate court will correct the errors. But jurors think about themselves, their families, and their neighbors. Would they want one of their family or friends to die because a manufacturer saved $100 on each bumper, knowing it wasn’t enough and a better design was available. That sort of cost benefit calculation is well known to send jurors into a frenzy. The actual damages here are about $6million each, or $12M. Punitives of $450M. That’s almost 40 times non-punitive, and is unlikely to survive appelate review. The US Supreme Court limits, in most cases, punitives to single digits. So could still be a little over $100M. But not likely the current verdict. Plaintiff lawyers know it, the trial court knows it. This seems to be a verdict, not a judgment. A motion for remittitur will be filed, and this will likely resolve for a more reasonable sum in the $50M range.

  6. And, if a jury is that “inflamed” that it could award those punitives, then the entire verdict should be vacated. The judge should have done that during post-trial motions.

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