Maine Injury Lawyer Blog

Christopher Breingan of Norridgewock was seriously injured Wednesday in an early morning collision with a tractor-trailer, the Morning Sentinel reported on September 10th. Mr. Breingan, 25, suffered head and hip injuries after being pinned inside his 1987 Chevrolet pickup truck.

The accident happened at around 3:30 a.m. at the intersection of Main Street, Perkins Street and Bridge Street, on U.S. Route 2. A Kenworth tractor-trailer owned by Tremblay & Levesque Inc., driven by William Spencer, 67, of Howland, slammed into Mr. Breingan's pickup truck on the driver's side as the truck was proceeding through the intersection toward Perkins Street. Breingan was trapped inside the truck, and was rescued by members of the Norridgewock Fire Department using hydraulic cutting tools.

The pickup truck was totaled and tractor-trailer had approximately $10,000 in damage, according to police. Breingan was taken by helicopter to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston. There is still no word on his condition.

The cause of the accident is still under investigation and it is as yet unclear who is at fault. As Portland and Bangor personal injury attorneys, we know that several factors can contribute to accidents like this one, including alcohol, road conditions and other vehicles. Our firm has investigated similar incidents in the past and employs expert reconstructionists to determine the cause of accident and who ultimately was at fault.

Andrew St. Laurent was driving with Randall Black when Black's truck plunged off a one-lane bridge in Monmouth and into an Annabessacook Lake tributary, the Kennebec Journal reported on September 2nd.

The crash occurred around 3:30 p.m. when Black's Pat Jackson Inc. septic truck hit a flatbed truck being driven by 74 year-old Perry Malcolm. Black says he was unable to stop, and drove his truck to the right, through the guard rail and off the bridge to avoid a head-on collision. St. Laurent, whose son will marry Black's daughter in a few weeks, reached across the top of the cab to hold Black's head above water until rescuers could free both men.

St. Laurent was checked at the scene, but Black was rushed by ambulance to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston. He suffered no broken bones, but his kidneys may have been damaged when he was crushed between the truck and guard rail. He is scheduled for medical tests to see how badly he was hurt.

So far it is unclear who is at fault. Malcolm, who was driving the flatbed for Sandelin Precast Products and Foundations, claims he slowed before going on the bridge and claims that Black was speeding. But Black disputes this account, insisting he was driving well under the limit and it was Malcolm who was racing down the one lane bridge.

Although there were no other eyewitnesses, there are still several ways to determine who's at fault for this accident. As Portland and Bangor personal injury attorneys, Peter Thompson and Associates have handled scores of cases where the cause of the accident is initially unclear. We employ expert accident reconstructionists who study physical evidence at the scene, and we analyze witness statements, looking for inconsistencies, to determine the true cause of the accident. If Malcolm was indeed speeding, he or the company he works for could have to compensate Black for his medical bills, lost income, any permanent impairment as well as his pain and suffering.

One person is dead in Franklin County after a serious accident involving a tractor-trailer, a sedan and a pickup truck.

It happened on U.S. Route 2 Thursday afternoon. Route 2 is shut down from the Route 17 intersection in Dixfield to Morrison Hill Road in Carthage.

Investigators say a person in the sedan was dead at the scene. Four people in the pickup truck were taken to the hospital with serious injuries. The driver of the tractor-trailer was not injured.

An accident between a car and a semi truck injured both drivers and narrowly missed causing a serious toxic spill, the Bangor Daily News reported June 29. According to the Daily News, a Montville man pulled his Lincoln Town Car into the path of the tractor-trailer. The truck was pulling a tanker full of sodium hydroxide -- a chemical most people know as lye or caustic soda. Both the driver of the Lincoln, 28-year-old William Mathieson, and the trucker, 51-year-old Raymond Pottle of Carmel, were taken to the hospital. The truck rolled over near Half Moon Stream, but a hazmat crew was able to prevent the lye from spilling into the water.

According to the article, Pottle's truck hit Mathieson's car on the driver's side door, causing head injuries and internal injuries to Mathieson. Authorities called a LifeFlight helicopter for Mathieson, but the foggy weather prevented it from taking off, so he was taken to Waldo County General Hospital and then to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. Pottle, who said his ribs hurt, was also taken to Waldo County General Hospital. Meanwhile, crews were working to keep the load of 8,000 gallons of lye, originally intended for a paper mill, from spilling out of the tanker. The tanker had not been ruptured, and authorities were able to keep it that way until another tanker arrived. The accident closed Route 137 for four hours.

While the injuries in this accident could be quite serious and should not be overlooked, as a Bangor, Maine semi truck accident lawyer, I'd like to discuss the lye spill as well. Lye has household uses, most commonly as a drain cleaner, in laundry and, until recent decades, as a hair relaxer. However, if you keep lye around the house, you probably know that it's dangerous -- it burns human flesh on contact. That alone would be enough to make a lye spill into a stream an environmental hazard. But lye can also explode when dissolved and can produce volatile gases when it comes into contact with certain common metals. Without the quick action of the hazmat team, the lives of everyone nearby -- and everything that uses the stream as a water supply -- could have been in serious danger.

Judging solely by the information in this article, it doesn't look like the truck driver is to blame for this accident. However, if investigators conclude that the trucker's bad driving, defects in the tank or careless loading of the tanker was responsible for the accident, the truck driver, his trucking company or both could be legally liable for all of the injuries and costs that resulted. Just like ordinary drivers, truckers are legally responsible for making good decisions on the road, and responsible for the results when they fail to take reasonable care. Victims of those bad decisions can enforce their rights and collect financial compensation with a Maine tractor-trailer accident lawsuit.

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