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Moore v. Pitt-Desmoines8/9/2000
EL-80
EL-79
John W. Moore was a relief-driver riding in a R & L Carriers, Inc. tractor-trailer driven by his co-worker Shawn Andre Searcey when the vehicle was rear-ended by a Pitt-DesMoines, Inc. tractor-trailer driven by Robert Thomas Cheatham. Moore collected workers' compensation from R & L Carriers, Inc. for his injuries and sued Cheatham and Pitt- DesMoines, Inc. for his injuries; R & L Carriers, Inc. intervened to protect its subrogation lien. The trial court granted summary judgment to the defendants. We reverse, because there exists a jury issue as to negligence.
In the early morning hours of July 3, 1996, four tractor-trailers in convoy traveled West along I-20 from South Carolina to Atlanta. The lead vehicle was a Pitt-DesMoines, Inc. tractor- trailer driven by Marvin Sharpe. The second vehicle was R & L Carriers' truck driven by Searcey with Moore as relief driver. In the third vehicle, another Pitt-Desmoines truck, was defendant Cheatam followed by a fourth vehicle and a third Pitt-DesMoines tractor-trailer driven by Ralph. While in convoy, the Pitt-DesMoines, Inc. drivers, including Cheatham, kept in constant communication by CB radio. Searcey monitored the CB talk of the Pitt-DesMoines, Inc. drivers and heard Cheatham on the CB.
About 4:15 a. m., as the convoy approached Augusta near the overpass and Exit 64 for the I-520 Bobby Jones Expressway Interchange, Searcey saw three broken 80 pound bags of cement in the road ahead with cement dust kicked up by vehicles in front of him; there was about two inches of cement dust lying on the road. Searcey was about 100 feet East of I-520 when he first saw the cement dust in the air. Searcey's truck was in the right lane and another truck in the left lane caused the dust to become worse as they drove through it. At the same time that he saw the cement dust, Searcey heard Sharpe in the lead Pitt- DesMoines, Inc. warn of the dust ahead over the CB; the evidence reflected that Sharp had also seen a truck ahead drop the cement bags on the interstate. Searcey realized what was happening and woke Moore to warn him to brace himself. He was worried about hitting a car in the dust cloud and began pulling onto the right emergency lane as soon as he cleared the overpass.
Richard T. Dedeaux was driving between 65 and 70 m.p.h. in his car when he came to the overpass and saw the concrete dust. He was passing Searcey in the left lane, following another tractor-trailer, when he entered the concrete dust. He saw the concrete dust about 10 to 15 seconds before he hit the truck ahead of him. The car-truck collision was near where Searcey finally stopped, which was on the far side of the interchange beyond the overpass. The truck he hit kept going and never stopped after the collision. Mrs. Dedeaux stated that apparently Cheatham's truck was "flying towards us. . . . If they had been in our lane . . . we would have been dead." Prior to the second collision, the R & L truck stopped to their right. After the second collision between the trucks, Dedeaux pulled his car over into the left emergency lane.
When Searcey first saw the dust on the overpass, he was driving 55 m.p.h. but immediately began slowing down, because of the hazardous condition. At the time of impact, he had reduced his speed to about 20 m.p.h. when he was impacted from the rear. At the time of impact, he had pulled over onto the emergency lane prior to stopping. When he cleared the overpass and was 3/10th of a mile away from the overpass, Searcey pulled into the emergency lane and began to stop. Cheatham followed Searcey into the emergency lane instead of staying in the right lane. Searcey stated that Cheatham's tracto
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