Runaway wheel case settles for $600K

A man injured when the car he was driving hit a wheel that had fallen off a trailer on the interstate has settled his lawsuit against a trucking company and its owner for $600,000.

Michael Forktus was driving on I-26 in Orangeburg County when the wheel separated from an auto hauler in the opposite lane, according to one of his attorneys, Melissa Mosier of McWhirter, Bellinger & Associates in Lexington.

The runaway wheel rolled into Forktus’ lane, causing the vehicle in front of him to swerve out of the way, which left Forktus with little time to react, Mosier said. His car was launched into the air when it hit the wheel, but it did not flip.

Forktus was able to regain control of the vehicle, bringing it to a stop, according to a report provided by another member of Forktus’ legal team, William Padget of the Finkel Law Firm in Columbia.

The accident left Forktus with back injuries that required two surgeries, according to Padget. He said the accident left Forktus with $323,509 in medical costs and $300,000 in past and future lost wages. Forktus had worked as a courier.

He and his wife, Janet, who filed a claim for loss of consortium, sued the owner of the truck, Brian Crawford, and his eponymous trucking company in Orangeburg County’s Court of Common Pleas.

After filing suit, Forktus’ legal team got a nasty surprise when they discovered that he had a history of significant back problems, a fact that came to light only after the defense subpoenaed records from Forktus’ family doctor, according to Mosier.

“The client was less than forthcoming about his history of back problems,” she said.

After the crash, Crawford closed his business and sold the trailer that was involved in the accident. The trailer’s VIN number was incorrectly recorded during the transaction, making it virtually impossible to track down, Mosier said. They also could not recover the wheel.

“So we couldn’t be sure of the size of the trailer involved or the size of the wheel,” Mosier said.

While Crawford denied any wrongdoing and contested liability and damages, Forktus and his team alleged that Crawford had failed to maintain the trailer axle, causing the wheel to detach. They also said Crawford had failed to keep his maintenance records for the trailer.

“There was some risk that maybe a jury would take the easy way out and say that our expert [an engineer] wasn’t able to do a proper failure analysis” of the trailer axle, Mosier said. “But what I really think made the case settle was the prior issues with his back, which were a lot more serious than any of us had anticipated.”

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PERSONAL INJURY – NEGLIGENCE

Case name: Forktus v. Crawford Hauling

Court: Orangeburg County Court of Common Pleas

Date of settlement: April 10

Amount: $600,000

Attorneys for plaintiff: William Padget of the Finkel Law Firm, Columbia, and Melissa Mosier and Lisa McPherson of McWhirter Bellinger & Associates in Lexington

Attorney for defendant: Jonathan Roquemore of Turner Padget Graham & Laney in Columbia