A new wrongful death lawsuit was filed by the parents of a child who was injured and killed in a fatal semi truck accident.

The semi truck accident occurred two years ago on Jan. 31, 2016. The natural parents of Brandon S. and plaintiffs in this case —Tabitha H. of Marietta, Ohio and Clyde S. of Vienna, W.V. — have registered their legal claim against Qualified Trucking Service Inc., a corporation which filed for dissolution in 2018.

Despite dissolution, according to the lawsuit, a shareholder may be sued in the name of the corporation as indicated in California Corporations Code Section 211. Qualified Trucking Service Inc. was located out of Rowland Heights, Calif., although it did business in the State of Missouri where the fatal semi truck accident occurred.

Junfeng Z. was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), shareholder, and registered agent of Qualified Trucking Service at the time of the unfortunate collision.

The Fatal Semi Truck Accident

The lawsuit indicates that Brandon was riding in a 2009 Ford Focus in the right lane of eastbound I-44 in Franklin County, Mo. While there was no reference to whether the driver or his charges were seat-belted at the time, the complaint does say that the car was being driven at an expected highway speed.

Meanwhile, the driver of a 2009 Volvo tractor-trailer was also driving eastbound after merging into the left lane from a rest stop between the eastbound and westbound sections of this thoroughfare. Plaintiffs say the driver, Lei L., was driving a vehicle weighing more than 26,000 pounds slowly when he decided to change into the right lane.

Allegedly, Lei guided the tractor-trailer slowly into the right lane without properly judging the speeds of other traffic. This made it impossible for the Focus driver to stop and prevent a collision with the massive truck, the parents claim. The fatal semi truck accident allegedly caused severe injuries to Brandon S. which led to his death soon afterwards.

The parents are accusing both the Lei L. as agent of the defendant and the defendant of negligence and negligence per se leading to the death of their son.

Tabitha and Clyde argue that the company was irresponsible in hiring an unqualified driver and in failing to train him to perform the duties necessary to ensure the safety of the public while on the roadways. They are hoping for compensation for their mental anguish, funeral expenses, and loss of companionship of their son.

Some 2,000 children a year under the age of 16 lose their lives in car and truck accidents each year. It is an excruciatingly painful loss for the families connected to these young people, and many turn to the courts for justice.

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), 4,102 people died in crashes with large trucks in 2017. A full 68 percent of these deaths were occupants of passenger cars and other automobiles.

Although Brandon’s death occurred the year prior to this statistic, he falls into the same unfortunate category, as he was a passenger in a car driven by a trusted adult other than his parents.

Filing a legal claim with a specialized attorney will not bring back a beloved child or even ease the mental anguish surrounding the death, but it can help regain some financial footing after paying for a funeral and burial services.

The Qualified Trucking Services Lawsuit is Case No. 4:19-cv-00102-RWS in the Circuit Court of Franklin County, Missouri.