The Arizona Supreme Court has reversed a ruling that allowed the family of a victim of a fatal car crash to pursue punitive damages against a trucking company, reasserting its holding in a 1986 decision that negligent acts alone are not sufficient to tack on extra damages. The case is Swift Transp. Co. v. Carman, No. CV-20-0119-PR, 2022 Ariz. LEXIS 243 (Aug. 23, 2022).
The case stems from a car accident that occurred one night in January 2018 when Brian Vanderhoff, a driver for Swift Transportation, was driving an empty tractor-trailer to Phoenix on a rainy night when his truck hydroplaned and jackknifed. Another truck, attempting to avoid Vanderhoff's truck, collided with two other vehicles, killing two people and injuring three.
Vanderhoff admitted that he had been aware of several hazards that increased the likelihood of an accident.
|- He had been driving with the "Jake Brake" engaged. The device uses the friction of the motor to slow the truck, but is supposed to be disengaged when it is raining.
- He engaged the cruise control despite knowing it was dangerous to use cruise control in the rain.
- He knew driving without a trailer made the truck less stable and more likely to hydroplane.
- He was traveling at 62 mph during heavy rain and lied to investigators about the speed he was traveling at the time of the crash.
- He chose to pass a vehicle on the right while going downhill around a curve at that excessive speed.
- He was talking to his daughter on a Bluetooth device at the time.
- After the accident, he waited five minutes before getting out of the truck to set up safety triangles to warn oncoming traffic.
Accident victims, and the husband of Julie Mountz, who was killed in the crash, sued Swift. The plaintiffs filed a motion seeking the court's permission to seek punitive damages. Yavapai County Superior Court Judge Krista M. Carman ruled that the numerous safety violations were adequate grounds for pursuing punitive damages. The Court of Appeals denied Swift's petition seeking to overturn the ruling. Swift appealed to the Supreme Court and persuaded the justices to reverse the trial court.