Court rules truck companies have duty to perform due diligence when hiring
Nassau County court in Florida awarded $1 billion dollars to a family in a case in which two trucking companies hired drivers without conducting adequate background checks or ensuring the drivers could safely operate the companies’ vehicles. Because of their negligence, according to the court, they are responsible for the death of an 18-year-old victim, Connor Dzion, who was killed after one truck hit him, while he was stopped on the highway because of another truck crash in front of him.
The case was based on the accident, which occurred in 2017, after one truck crashed into a car trailering an RV, causing a standstill on the highway. The driver of the truck, Russel Rogatenko, who worked for AJD Business Services, was found by investigators to have a history of aggressive driving and speeding, and had, according to records from the scene, been using a cell phone at the time of the wreck. In addition, he did not possess a commercial driver’s license. This initial accident caused a traffic standstill for miles on the road, which the victim was stopped by.