Callahan & Blaine

Driving down the highway is a safe experience for the majority of people on the road. But carelessness on the part of commercial trucking companies can all too often put other drivers at risk of injury or death. That was the case in Orange County, Indiana recently, where police are saying that the steel coil that rolled off the back of a semi-trailer truck along a busy highway was not properly tied down. The 44,000 pound piece of flying road debris killed three innocent people and injured an eleven year old girl before coming to rest on the side of the highway.

The truck was hauling several of the massive steel coils along a heavily travelled section of Highway 37 in Orange County around 8:30 pm. When the truck rounded a corner, the poorly-secured coil came crashing off the back of the semi and first struck a pick-up truck carrying Zachary Staggs, Shannon Steele, and eleven year old Mackenzie Taylor. Staggs and Steele were killed instantly; Mackenzie was airlifted to the hospital in fair condition. The coil then struck a car killing the driver, Michael Daugherty.

The driver of the semi-trailer was given a ticket for driving with an improperly secured steel coil.

At Callahan & Blaine, California’s premier litigation firm, our attorneys are practiced at negotiating and litigating complex personal injury cases like this one. Our firm recently negotiated a $28 million settlement in a similar personal injury case, where a man was left blind and brain damaged as a result of an accident caused by negligent maintenance practices by a trucking company that led to flying road debris.

Callahan & Blaine uses its 25 years of experience to accomplish record breaking jury verdicts and settlements. If you or someone you know has been catastrophically injured or killed in a road accident, contact Callahan & Blaine for expert personal injury representation.