The troubled Ralph Smith Co., the trucking company temporarily banned from working on I-15 last week, has been slapped with a personal-injury lawsuit involving a fatal car crash last October.
The suit filed in 2nd District Court seeks damages up to $1 million.
According to the Utah Highway Patrol, on Oct. 18 at 5 p.m. truck driver Ronald M. Hunt pulled in front of oncoming freeway traffic, causing drivers to slam on their brakes. One southbound car, driven by Cory Johnson, 18, went out of control and veered into northbound freeway traffic resulting in a head-on collision.
Heidi Linge, 18, was killed and Jess Hulse was injured. Hulse, who was 26 at the time of the accident, is suing Ralph Smith Co., Hunt and Johnson.
Hunt later plead no contest to failure to signal and three counts of using defective equipment on a motor vehicle, all class-C misdemeanors.
Ralph Smith Co. vice president Doug Smith said Johnson was traveling at excessive speed, which caused him to lose control and hit Hulse's car.
"The allegation of (Ralph Smith Co.) driver error is being vigorously defended," he said.
Hulse's lawyer, James Black, said Ralph Smith Co. is at least partially at fault.
"Ralph Smith is responsible for the conduct of its drivers and can be held accountable for employees' actions while they're on the job."
The October wreck left Hulse with multiple fractures to his right leg, severe muscle pain and strain of chest, neck, back and shoulders. He is seeking to recover medical expenses, wage loss and miscellaneous damages.
Black said it was "purely coincidental" that one day before he filed the lawsuit the Utah Department of Transportation suspended Ralph Smith Co. from working on the I-15 reconstruction project.
UDOT cited "serious mechanical problems" on a "large number" of Ralph Smith Co. vehicles as reason for the 60-day no-work penalty.
During the past 12 months Ralph Smith Co. trucks have been involved in two fatal accidents.
On June 21 Penny Kristina Whaley, 47, was killed when she lost control of a company tractor-trailer truck on U-167 near Huntsville. Smith acknowledged that the brakes failed on Whaley's truck but blamed the accident on driver error.
Ralph Smith Co. has also been hit with a lawsuit filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court by Jakeco Enterprises alleging the trucking company gave preferential treatment to I-15 dirt haulers who agreed to make "extorted payments" in the form of cash, gifts and services.
E-MAIL: bsnyder@desnews.com