Truck driver killed in accident

A speeding car hit a tractor trailer last week in Connecticut, causing the truck to jackknife and rollover.  The driver of the truck was killed in the accident.  According to news reports, the cab of the tractor trailer came apart during the rollover accident.

As an experienced Chicago personal injury lawyer, there are a few things that come to mind when reading a story like this:

• The family of the deceased truck driver is entitled to worker's compensation benefits;
• A skilled lawyer will know to look into the issue of whether the truck driver is covered by uninsured and/or underinsured motorist coverage through the policies on the truck he was driving at the time of the accident.  These can provide a significant additional amount of compensation for the family of the deceased truck driver; and
• It is worth investigating whether a products defect suit against the tractor manufacturer is viable.  The power units in a tractor trailer are not subject to the same kinds of regulations that cars are, but the basic design principle of crashworthiness still applies -- that truck drivers should be able to survive foreseeable crashes such as the one involved here.