A student’s short walk home from school ends in death as a street sweeper operator neglects to ensure a clear path.

This incident involved the death of an 18-year-old young man who was walking home from high school when the operator of a street sweeper struck and killed the boy. The boy’s parents, the Plaintiffs, sued the owner of the street sweeper for negligence and premises liability. The driver failed to follow corporate policy for operating the vehicle.

The Plaintiffs also argued that the Defendant school district allowed a dangerous condition by failing to maintain sidewalks in the area, which tended to force children to walk in the street during the rainy season.

The Defendants countered that the Plaintiff’s son was negligent by not responding to the street sweeper’s back up alarms, which were determined to be functioning at the time of the accident. The Defendants also argued that the young man jumped onto the rear bumper of the backing sweeper to ride it to the top of the hill. When he fell off, they claimed, he was caught under the sweeper’s equipment.

CMS&C gathered technical specialists, including an accident reconstructionist, a human factors expert, a traffic engineer, and a biomechanical expert, along with a neurospsychologist, to demonstrate the Defendant’s liability. The case was settled for $900,000 before the trial. so