After being seriously injured in a fatal car wreck on the New Jersey Turnpike last month, comedian Tracy Morgan and several other plaintiffs are suing Wal-Mart for negligence. The tractor-trailer that crashed into Morgan’s van — killing one and seriously injuring several others — was driven by Kevin Roper, a Wal-Mart transport employee. Roper had not slept for nearly 24 hours prior to the accident and due to sleep deprivation, fell asleep at the wheel minutes before veering into another lane and striking Morgan’s vehicle.
Roper has been charged criminally, but Wal-Mart had not been brought into the case until now. The suit is for an unspecified amount of money but cites damages lost due to an inability to work currently and possibly into the future for Morgan. Morgan’s assistant, Jeff Millea, was also seriously injured in the crash, and the lawsuit names him and his wife as co-plaintiffs. And with one friend, James “Uncle Jimmy Mack” McNair, killed in the accident, there’s sure to be a civil suit brought up sooner or later for wrongful death.
The suit claims Wal-Mart was negligent in keeping records on their driver’s sleep schedule, and the company should have known Roper had not slept for more than 24 hours. Truckers are required to log hours with their management, and if those numbers do not add up based on mileage, the driver is usually pulled off the road. Wal-Mart transport division may have had lax rules regarding this safety measure. What we do know is due to some oversight, one person is dead and several others are seriously, if not permanently, injured.
Assuming Morgan’s monthly income is more than most people make in a year, and the media attention this story is getting, Wal-Mart is going to want to settle this one out of court or face a serious financial burden and lessen what is already a major public relations disaster.
Morgan remains in a rehabilitation center where he is receiving intensive physical therapy while he recovers from his injuries.
