Fatal Dump-Truck Crash Results in $1.9 Million Settlement

The children of a woman killed in a fatal crash involving a dump truck have agreed to settle their wrongful-death lawsuit against the truck’s driver and two associated companies for $1.9 million, according to the family’s lawyers.

Andrew Nantz and Todd Johnson of Votava, Nantz & Johnson in Kansas City, the plaintiffs’ attorneys, said the case was settled September 5. As part of the settlement agreement, the identities of the woman, the truck driver, companies and defense attorneys are confidential.

The crash occurred in October 2017 on Missouri Highway 7 in Blue Springs, Johnson said. The woman had just left the home of one of her children and was making a right-hand turn from a side street onto the highway when the dump truck struck her vehicle.

“The dump truck failed to stop at a stop light and went through the intersection and collided with our clients’ mother,” Johnson said. 

She suffered injuries to her torso and pelvis before she died at an area hospital. Johnson and Nantz said in a release that, at the time of the crash, the driver of the dump truck was driving a truck owned by a sole proprietor who owned two dump trucks. The truck owner sent the driver to the Kansas City area to haul loads for a construction project.

A separate trucking company had responsibility on the same project to locate and borrow additional dump trucks to help haul loads from local quarries to the construction site. The plaintiffs alleged the owner of the second company sent text messages to the driver of the truck with dispatch instructions. They also alleged that the owner of the dump truck was paid by the second trucking company for loads hauled by the driver and that the dump truck was returning to a drop lot controlled by the second trucking company at the time of the crash.

Johnson said proving the links between the parties was key to reaching the settlement and ensuring an adequate recovery for the clients.

Nantz said the clients’ mother “was their rock.”

“They spoke to their mother on a daily basis, sometimes just to say hello,” he said. “It was an honor to represent such great people with a tragic loss.”