Truck Rollover Settlement Reached Over Defects With Navistar International 9200i

Navistar has reached a settlement to resolve a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a man who died in a truck rollover accident involving alleged defects with a 2009 International 9200i commercial truck.

The original lawsuit was filed in New Mexico state court in 2018 by D. Maria Schmidt, who is the personal representative of the estate of Ruben Guerra Guinones. However, the cas was later removed to federal court by Navistar.

After several failed attempts by Navistar to have the case dismissed, a confidential settlement was approved (PDF) by a U.S. District Judge in the District of New Mexico on April 30, but details of the agreement have not been released.

The case stems from a commercial truck rollover accident in March 2015, at which time Guinones was driving a 2009 International 9200i truck southbound on Orla Road in New Mexico, when he lost control and the truck went off the road, rolling over. He died as a result of the accident.

According to allegations raised in the wrongful death complaint brought by his family, Guiones was properly seated and wearing his seatbelt, and his death was the result of the truck violating several crashworthiness requirements and failing to adequately protect him. The lawsuit presented claims of strict product liability, breach of warranty, and negligence.

The family claimed that the 2009 International 9200i failed to meet crashworthiness standards because the cab had no structural integrity, failed to maintain survival space, failed to provide proper restraint, and literally disintegrated during the rollover accident, among numerous other structural and design failures.

Crashworthiness protection for truck accidents is defined by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHSTA) as a vehicle being able to:

• Maintain survival space
• Provide proper restraint throughout the entire accident
• Prevent ejection
• Distribute and channel energy
• Prevent post-crash fires.