Atlanta Sysco Truck Accident Lawyer

Your Rights After a Sysco Truck Crash

How to Navigate the Legal and Financial Challenges of an Accident

The Sysco Corporation is currently the largest distributor of food service industry products globally, with twice the market share of its nearest competitor in the U.S. Its trucks can be seen all over the country and beyond, delivering their cargo to restaurants, schools, hospitals, and hotels.

As an employer of thousands of commercial drivers, Sysco is responsible for the safety not only of those drivers but of everyone around them. Unfortunately, that’s a responsibility Sysco hasn’t always shown itself equal to.

The Stoddard Firm prides itself on holding large corporations accountable any time they place profits above public safety, and Sysco is no exception.

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Why Choose Us?

If you have experienced an accident involving a Sysco truck, it’s an excellent idea to consider hiring an Atlanta Sysco truck accident lawyer. With the help of a lawyer, you will have an increased likelihood of achieving a successful case outcome.

Our firm has been serving the local Atlanta community for decades, and our lawyers have extensive knowledge of the legalities surrounding trucking accidents. Our respected legal presence has made us a strong force for justice with trucking accident victims, knowing they can count on us.

If you’re debating why you should choose our firm to represent you, it might be best to look below.

We Are Experienced

Our attorneys have spent years working for the Stoddard Firm and have handled hundreds of cases reaching into various areas of law, including truck accident lawsuits. We utilize our considerable resources and in-house training to ensure our loyal clients receive the highest level of service.

For years our firm’s Sysco truck accident lawyers have led, negotiated, and resolved trucking accident lawsuits in favor of our clients to ensure they receive the compensation and justice they deserve.

We also have extensive experience in wrongful death, personal injury, burn injury, car accident, defective product lawsuits, and more, so you can rest assured we have the skills to help you bring the right case. So why not let our depth and breadth of experience guide you through the legal challenges you’re currently facing?

We Are Solution-Oriented and Client Focused

At The Stoddard firm, we are solution-oriented and client-focused. This means we don’t practice law in a vacuum and use the practical skills we have gained to give our clients a case approach that works. We always offer our clients strategic and practical advice they can follow and offer creative solutions that are best used to accomplish our client’s case outcome goals and objectives.

We Have a Proven Track Record

We can proudly state that our trucking accident clients love our work which is why we have so many glowing testimonials praising our legal services. No matter which of our past clients you speak to, you can glean why they were happy with our service, and they’ll likely tell you that our firm’s skilled attorneys are strategic legal advisors that care.

They’ll likely also say we are talented, knowledgeable, reliable, and accessible. Ultimately, we have a proven track record and can be counted on to provide a high level of service no matter the case. Once we take a case, we see it through to the end and are committed and dedicated to providing top-quality service alongside exceeding customer expectations.

We Have a Flexible Approach

Unlike other law firms, every Sysco truck accident lawyer at The Stoddard Law Firm has a flexible approach when liaising with customers, potential or otherwise. We want to make our clients’ lives easier when facing legal challenges after a trucking accident.

That’s why we truly go the extra mile to accommodate our clients while they try to navigate their new normal. We are happy to meet clients at their preferred location and time and are available 24/7 within reason, for their convenience. Additionally, we can be flexible with your case approach to ensure your legal needs are met.

How We Can Help

As you now know, The Stoddard Firm has the skills and knowledge to help you with your trucking accident case, thanks to each Sysco accident lawyer at our firm.

Yet, if you’re unsure we’re the right fit, you might want to look below. We have detailed how we can help you with your legal troubles when you’re ready to deal with your trucking accident case.

• Carefully investigate your accident:Trucking accidents can be incredibly complex and challenging to navigate, so you need an Atlanta Sysco accident lawyer from our firm. We will examine medical records, police reports, insurance claims, and other documents related to your case during an investigation. If needed, we will also gather witness and expert statements while conducting interviews to strengthen your case. In addition, you can count on us to gather information from the truck’s “black box.”
• Handle the paperwork:When you decide to file a truck accident claim, it will involve a lot of paperwork. With so much paperwork, it can be easy to make a mistake or miss filing dates. Yet, suppose you hire one of the lawyers at our firm. In that case, you can trust we will properly fill out and file your case paperwork without affecting your ability to recover financial compensation.
• Ensure you obtain proper care:Unfortunately, some insurance companies try to limit the amount of doctor visits a truck accident victim has access to. They can also claim you no longer need care for your injury. This is often done to limit costs which is why we will fight to ensure you receive the proper care you deserve for however long you need it.
• Investigate trucking companies involved: In some instances, a trucking company’s negligence leads to a crash. For example, a trucking company could have failed in its duty of care to keep a truck well-maintained, which led to the accident you were involved in. If you hire one of the attorneys at our firm, we will investigate to look for evidence of negligence.
• File a lawsuit:There are many times when insurance companies refuse to negotiate a fair settlement. If you’ve found yourself in this unfortunate predicament, we can help you by filing a lawsuit on your behalf. With our help, you can fight in court to better your chances of receiving a legal victory. If you don’t win, we can also help during the appeals process.

Some Examples of Accidents Involving Sysco Trucks

One Sysco Driver Has Been Charged with Murder

Following one of the more dramatic cases of a Sysco-involved accident, a Sysco driver is currently facing charges for two counts of murder. Local authorities believe the driver was under the influence of alcohol and prescription medication when he ran a red light and crashed into the back of a smaller vehicle, killing its driver and one passenger.

The trucking accident happened in California in February of 2019, and the family of the two victims is now suing Sysco, alleging that the company should have known about the driver’s history of red light violations and speeding, and illegal cell phone use.

Assuming the facts of the case are what they appear to be, Sysco is liable for exposing the public to an unsafe driver at the wheel of a massive and potentially highly destructive vehicle. This particular situation is fairly unusual — drunk driving is much less common among truckers than the general population — but sadly, Sysco wrecks, in general, are not. If you’re seeking legal assistance in such cases, consider contacting truck accident attorneys in Atlanta.

This Is Far from the First Blotch on Sysco’s Driving Record

Because Sysco has so many regional divisions, it’s difficult to get statistics for the company as a whole. Still, wrecks involving Sysco trucks do pop up fairly frequently, each one offering a glimpse of possible underlying issues.

Some, like the possible drunk driving case above, are highly publicized, but for each of these, it’s safe to assume there are many others that don’t even make a ripple in the news cycle. For example, one compiler of (rather Spartan) Sysco crash data shows nine incidents occurring in 2018 involving the company’s Los Angeles division alone, very few of which received any media coverage.

Even in the mildest of cases, accidents involving Sysco trucks and other big rigs can cause major disruptions on the road because of their size. For example, in March of 2019, a Sysco driver crashed into a low bridge in Iowa, blocking a major avenue.

Local police acknowledged that this was not the first time a truck driver had been tripped up by the bridge, in spite of its clearly posted signs. However, they also stated that most similar crashes have involved U-Hauls and other rental trucks, not experienced truckers who are familiar with their vehicles’ dimensions.

One month earlier, another Sysco truck rolled onto its side, causing delays on a highway in Salt Lake City. It’s not clear what caused that wreck, though there was snow on the road that day, which the driver may or may not have been experienced in navigating.

The Wide Turning Radius of Big Rigs Can Be Especially Hazardous

Of course, Sysco trucking accidents that only delay other vehicles rather than directly involving them are the lucky ones. More often, wrecks involve two vehicles or more, and as with any fleet of big rigs, Sysco’s trucks are especially susceptible to collisions during the extra wide turns their size requires.

In Texas in 2011, a Sysco truck taking a wide turn into a parking lot got into an accident with a passenger sedan on its right, rupturing the Sysco truck’s fuel tank and spilling 30-40 gallons of diesel.

Thankfully, no one was hurt except for a small child in the car who bumped his nose on the window and was treated on the scene, but the incident was a vivid reminder of just how dangerous these vehicles are.

This kind of spill is not uncommon for big rigs with delicate aluminum fuel tanks mounted on either side of their cabs, and a spark is all it would have taken to turn this brief inconvenience into a smoldering tragedy.

In December of 2018, a nearly identical accident occurred in Philadelphia, with a Sysco truck taking a wide turn into a parking lot and running afoul of a car on its right. The fuel tank didn’t rupture in this case; instead, the car became wedged under the Sysco truck’s trailer.

Counting turns onto streets as well as into parking lots, 2018 was a rough year for Sysco in Philadelphia. In February, a Sysco truck turning onto Frankford Ave collided with a bus that was traveling straight, injuring 15 of its passengers.

Although the injuries were widespread in that case, at least none were extremely serious. That’s more than can be said for the crash in Wyoming in 2015 when a Sysco truck took a left turn into the path of a squad car. Local authorities cited the Sysco driver for failure to yield to oncoming traffic, and the officer in the car was pinned inside it by the crash, suffering spinal injuries. He later filed a suit against Sysco.

Sysco’s Idea of Addressing the Problem Has Arguably Made Things Worse

Unsurprisingly, a food distributor as large as Sysco has had its share of mishaps on the road. The question, as ever, is whether the company has taken all reasonable measures to protect the safety of its drivers and those around them.

Sysco has taken measures, to be sure, but the reasonableness of those measures is debatable.

In 2010, Sysco installed a system called DriveCam in its vehicles. A DriveCam setup includes an inward-facing camera that records the driver throughout the workday. When the system detects unusual movement — potentially caused by an impact, a bump in the road, or a sudden deceleration — it saves the footage from immediately before and immediately after the event and forwards it to the driver’s supervisor.

The company that sells DriveCam (now known as Lytx) touts it as a technological wonder, giving companies the power to monitor their drivers for unsafe practices and easily disprove false claims against them when they drive safely.

However, in 2017, the Supreme Court of Quebec sided with workers and worker advocacy groups who argue that inward-facing cameras create a hostile, “big brother” working environment for drivers.

Truckers rely on their cabs as a home-away-from-home more than most kinds of workers rely on their workplaces due to their long hours and heavy travel. In relation to the Quebec case, Sysco employees noted that they often take their breaks and even change clothes in their cabs and that the cameras sometimes switch on at random without being jostled.

In addition to crossing lines of privacy, the cameras were also found to be a distraction to the drivers, potentially worsening safety instead of improving it. Yet two years after the ruling forced Sysco to remove DriveCam from its Quebec-based vehicles, Sysco drivers in the U.S. are still being subjected to this distracting and intimidating surveillance.

Employers Are Responsible for Their Drivers’ Actions

Companies like Sysco are responsible for ensuring their workers behave safely, to the best of their abilities, which is why technologies like DriveCam can be so tempting. Consider the case of the alleged drunk driver in California, for example.

If Sysco knew (or should have known) that the driver could not be trusted behind the wheel of a big rig, then the company had a duty not to put him there. In addition, even if Sysco could not have expected the driver to kill two people, the company can still be held liable simply because the unsafe driver acted on its behalf.

DriveCam is marketed to prevent exactly this sort of incident. It’s designed to alert management to willfully unsafe driving habits, like drunkenness and handheld device use, before they have the chance to cost lives and, from Sysco’s perspective, money. It’s worth noting, however, that although DriveCam had been standard in U.S Sysco vehicles for years at the time of the crash, the system failed to prevent those two deaths.

Perhaps, if technology like DriveCam could be correctly calibrated to capture only essential moments, and if companies like Sysco could find the restraint to use it only for curbing illegal infractions, then it might serve some purpose in improving road safety.

However, Sysco instead seems to be using DriveCam primarily to make its drivers’ jobs more miserable, unhealthy, and unsafe.

Safety Violations Are Often Tied to Worker Mistreatment

While reckless drivers make for snappier headlines, the far more pervasive causes of trucking accidents continue to be fatigue, haste, and other symptoms of worker abuse, rather than willful irresponsibility on the drivers’ part.

Multiple Sysco drivers have reported that one of their primary fears while working under DriveCam surveillance is being caught and fired for drinking water. That’s right; in their zeal to make sure their drivers’ attention to the road is beyond reproach, Sysco forbids its employees to eat or drink anything, including water, even during long, hot stretches of driving.

This is in spite of the fact that dehydration can severely impair cognitive function. In fact, dehydration has been shown to make drivers just as unsafe as a blood alcohol level above the legal limit, especially on the long, monotonous stretches of road that make up a large portion of many truckers’ routes.

Dehydration has even been declared the cause of at least one non-Sysco accident as recently as September 2019. While it could be argued that Sysco’s water rule is simply a misguided bit of over cautiousness, the company has a history of making its drivers unsafe in other ways as well.

In August of 2013, an investigation by NBC found that Sysco drivers had been made to work more than one 16-hour shift per week — in violation of federal law — over 100 times that month alone.

It’s possible that the month in question was out of the ordinary, but the speculated reason is hardly an excuse. At the time of the study, Sysco had just been exposed for storing perishable food items in unrefrigerated sheds.

In response, it had changed its trucking patterns to eliminate the use of the sheds. Needless to say, just like improperly stored perishables, sleep-deprived drivers pose an unacceptable danger to the public’s health and safety, one that Sysco had a duty to prevent.

The Stoddard Firm Holds Corporations Accountable for Endangering the Public

If you’ve been injured or lost a loved one due to an accident involving a Sysco vehicle, the Stoddard Firm can help you get the compensation you deserve. Our experts are passionate and knowledgeable about corporate responsibility and can explain in court what duty Sysco had to ensure your safety and exactly how it failed to do so.

We’ll make sure the full details of your case are known, along with all past incidents that should have served as warnings and learning experiences for the company before now. Immediately after an accident, the important thing is to seek all necessary medical attention, preserve any evidence, and avoid provocation or persuasion by Sysco or its insurance representatives.

You may be offered an unfairly small settlement, blamed for the accident, or encouraged to assign blame to something other than Sysco. Engaging directly with these representatives is risky, as one offhand comment can cause permanent damage to your case. That’s why it’s critical to reach out to a professional like those at The Stoddard Firm as soon as possible.
Whenever you’re ready, we’ll be happy to provide you with a free consultation to discuss the details of your case. Just reach out through our online chat function or give us a call at 470-467-2200 today!

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Robert P.

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Matthew Stoddard and his staff are wonderful people. This law firm is a no complication type of place. They always answer the phone without the hassle of going through 30 different people and always return emails just as quick as they are received. Thank you gentlemen for everything y’all do.

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