Brown Trucking employee Evans Tshongwe was driving a tractor-trailer on I-285 when a van pulled in front of him and slowed to exit the highway. Tshongwe began to slow down, and, according to the defense's account in the pre-trial order, the truck's emergency braking system engaged, causing it to come to a complete stop in the middle of the road. Credit: Jonathan Weiss/JetCity Image/Adobe Stock Brown Trucking employee Evans Tshongwe was driving a tractor-trailer on I-285 when a van pulled in front of him and slowed to exit the highway. Tshongwe began to slow down, and, according to the defense's account in the pre-trial order, the truck's emergency braking system engaged, causing it to come to a complete stop in the middle of the road. Credit: Jonathan Weiss/JetCity Image/Adobe Stock

Plaintiff's attorneys Joe Fried and Michael Goldberg of Fried Goldberg and Karina Deochand and Romi Jayswal of Karma Injury Law recently secured a $16.6 million verdict out of DeKalb County in a case where a trucker's automated emergency braking system failed, causing the truck to stop suddenly and their client to hit him.

Fried, an advocate for trucking safety and telematics systems to monitor truck driver performance, said this is one of the first cases he's aware of where technology designed to avoid a crash instead set one up.

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