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Suit involving driver run over by own big rig reaches settlement
Los Angeles Sep 22, 2021
|Photo courtesy of █ Slices of Light ✴ █▀ ▀ ▀ (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
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Relatives of a Riverside County man killed in 2017 when he was run over by his own big rig as he was examining the underside of his vehicle on a freeway near Montebello have reached a settlement with the towing company whose driver was taking the disabled vehicle back to the decedent’s workplace.
Donna Lamb, the widow of the late 70-year-old Stephen Lamb of Moreno Valley, and her four children reached the resolution of their case against Navarro’s Towing LLC as a jury was being picked for trial of their lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court.
No terms were divulged and Judge Ruth Kwan, after announcing the settlement to prospective jurors on Tuesday, subsequently dismissed them.
The accident occurred at about 1 a.m. on June 9, 2017, on the shoulder of the westbound Pomona (60) Freeway, east of Findlay Avenue, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Freddy Richard Ron, the then-54-year-old driver of the 2014 Peterbuilt heavy-duty tow truck, pulled over onto the right shoulder of the freeway because of possible brake problems with the tow assembly, according to plaintiffs’ attorneys’ court papers.
In a statement released at the time, the CHP said Ron and Lamb both got out of the hauler and that Ron tried to fix the problem, then returned to the tow truck to move it forward.
“For unknown reasons, (Lamb) crawled under the rear axle of the vehicle in tow, without advising (the tow truck driver),” the CHP said. “As a result, (Lamb) was struck by the rear wheels of the vehicle in tow and was pronounced deceased on scene.”
The plaintiffs attorneys’ court papers said Lamb was a driver for Matheson Tri-Gas and was married to his wife for 49 years. They further stated that Ron “was massively negligent and violated a bushel-basket of industry standards, as well as Navarro’s standards.”
The papers cited Ron’s statement to police.
“I entered my tow truck and checked the mirrors but it was too dark and I could not see anything,” Ron said. “I drove my tow truck forward at less than one mile per hour. I got out and walked along the right side of the vehicle and saw (Lamb) on the ground and I realized I had run over him.”
In their court papers, lawyers for Navarro Towing argued that Lamb did not act prudently by getting outside of the tow truck while Ron was working.
“While Mr. Ron worked to release a right rear brake, Mr. Lamb stood on the right shoulder to observe,” the defense lawyers stated in their court papers. “Mr. Ron warned Mr. Lamb on at least four occasions to stay in the vehicle, stay back and let him work.”
Ron told Lamb that he was going to move the vehicles forward to check that the brakes were released, the defense attorneys stated in their court papers.
“Short of restraining Mr. Lamb, there was nothing that Mr. Ron could have done to prevent the accident,” the Navarro Towing lawyers argued.
Lamb, who was last seen standing on the right shoulder, got under the right rear tires of his tanker truck for unknown reasons while it was being moved by Ron, causing his death, according to the Navarro Towing lawyers’ court papers.
