Blame anything but the truck
A father and son were rear-ended at highway speed by a pipeline company’s truck. The company’s response came from the standard playbook: blame the road, blame the other driver, blame anything but its own vehicle and its own driver.
The playbook has a weakness. Modern commercial trucks record their own behavior — speed, braking, and inputs in the seconds before impact. The truck was a witness, and it hadn’t been coached.
The truck’s own data
We built the reconstruction on the truck’s own recorded data. It did not match the company’s version. Faced with its own record — the same kind of digital evidence that decides these cases over and over — the company stopped arguing.
The case resolved at ADR in 2025 for $6,000,000.
What the evidence showed
- The reconstruction was built on the truck’s own recorded data.
- The pipeline company’s truck struck the family’s vehicle from behind at highway speed.
- The company’s initial defense blamed everything except its truck and driver.
- The truck’s recorded speed-and-braking data contradicted the company’s version.
- Resolved at ADR in 2025 for $6,000,000.
The company’s story, and the truck’s
Commercial trucks record the truth in the seconds before impact. The companies just hope nobody asks for it.
More from the record
Every case is different. Prior results depend on the facts of the individual case and do not guarantee a similar outcome.