Tractor-Trailer Accident Occurs On I-44
Ryan Bradley | January 6, 2012 | Truck Accident
Two tractor-trailer occupants were injured in a Missouri truck accident on Interstate 44 in Webster County. The accident occurred on June 1, 2012 at 5:45am.
Darrell E. Jones was in his 2004 Freightliner Tractor-Trailer driving eastbound on I-44 and roughly five miles west of Marshfield, Missouri shortly before the accident. Jones stopped his vehicle on the shoulder of I-44 for unspecified reasons. The emergency flashers of Jones’s tractor-trailer were activated when he pulled off to the shoulder of the highway. At the same time, Rodney W. Brunker was also traveling in his 2009 International Tractor-Trailer eastbound on I-44 not too far behind Jones’s vehicle. Brunker was also traveling with James D. Peterson. For unknown reasons, Brunker’s tractor-trailer struck Jones’s trailer in the rear. Jones’s trailer sustained extensive damage as a result of the accident. Brunker’s trailer sustained total damage.
Trooper T. A. Badgett, Sergeant J. B. Johnson, and Chief R. L. Talbert of the Missouri State Highway Patrol promptly responded to the accident. Brunker’s passenger, Peterson, was injured during the course of the accident. Jones was also injured. Both injured parties were sent to Cox South Hospital in Springfield, Missouri for medical treatment.
A Missouri truck accident lawsuit can become quite complicated for many reasons. The Missouri lawsuit may be complex if a Missouri semi-truck accident involved two Missouri semi-truck drivers as opposed to one semi-truck driver and one normal motorist. Second, if any vehicle that was involved in the accident had passengers, those passengers may also be a part of the lawsuit. A person who is responsible for the accident may find themselves liable for the injury and destruction of property of not one, but two or more victims.
Litigation is not the sole method available for resolving this kind of complex Missouri semi-truck accident. Courts in recent decades have been more accepting of the concept of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). ADR includes processes like mediation, arbitration, negotiation, conciliation, or other meetings meant to resolve the overall dispute. ADR processes allow parties to better understand an overall legal dispute if it involves multiple parties or if all the parties do not entirely understand the conflict in similar ways. In processes like arbitration and mediation, a third-party neutral evaluator will hear all sides of the argument. Arbitration evaluators closely resemble legal judges in the sense that they pass final and binding decisions. In mediation, the neutral third-party will instead assist all parties in making their own resolution to the overall dispute.
The use of a lawyer in an ADR process is still incredibly vital. For instance, the term “mediation advocacy,” using a lawyer during mediation, creates advantages like effective negotiation, argumentation, and better structuring of a party’s “case.” At times, ADR can very much resemble a litigation battle. For the scenario of a Missouri semi-truck accident that reaches ADR first as opposed to normal litigation, it is highly recommended that you contact a Missouri semi-truck accident lawyer.
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