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Personal Injury Blog

Comedian Tracy Morgan Sues Over Disastrous Semi Accident

Friday, November 06, 2015

Our readers may have heard about the awful crash that badly injured comedian Tracy Morgan and killed another man in New Jersey last month.

In case you need a refresher, Morgan and several other comedians were returning from a performance at a Delaware casino on June 7 when their vehicle was rear-ended by a semi truck. A 62-year-old man on Morgan's vehicle was killed and Morgan was hospitalized with very serious injuries. For a time, it seemed as though Morgan may have needed to have his leg amputated, although fortunately that did not happen.

Several weeks after the accident, Morgan filed a lawsuit against Walmart, the company for which the semi truck was making a delivery. In the suit, he alleged the driver had been awake for more than 24 hours and was on a 700-mile commute from Georgia to Delaware, a trip that was "unreasonable."

In the lawsuit, Morgan called Walmart's conduct "reckless, willful, wanton and intentional."

The 35-year-old driver of the semi has been charged with death by automobile and assault by automobile. He has pleaded not guilty. Those are criminal charges, meaning they are brought by the state against an individual. Morgan's lawsuit is a civil action, meaning it is brought by one individual against another. It is based in the concept of respondeat superior; in layman's terms, that refers to a lawsuit that holds the party that controls an individual's actions responsible for the individual's conduct. (So, Morgan is alleging that Walmart should not have let the trucker act as he did; had he not, the accident would never have happened.)

As personal injury lawyers, we've followed this story with some interest, because it bears some strong similarities to cases we handle for Indiana clients. If you're interested in learning more about our work, please feel free to contact us.