ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — The surviving family members of a woman and two children killed in a fiery crash along Interstates 55 and 270 said the trucking company and bad product design are among the things to blame for the deadly outcome.
Michelle Yaeger, 45, and her two daughters, 10-year-old Natalie and 7-year-old Kenzi Brooks, died in a May 24 crash on I-270 after they crashed into the back of a lumber truck that had pulled to the side of an exit. On Monday, the father of the girls and the Yaeger's son filed a lawsuit that alleged the deadly outcome could have been avoided with proper training and the use of different hardware.
On the day of the crash, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said the driver of the lumber truck pulled to the side of I-270 at I-55 in south St. Louis County because he was worried his load was coming loose. While stopped, Yaeger crashed her 1998 GMC Yukon into the back of the truck.
The lawsuit provides additional details not previously reported, which the lawsuit said contributed to the crash and resulting fire.
According to the lawsuit, Yaeger was in the left lane of the ramp when she saw brake lights ahead. She maneuvered out of the lane and onto the shoulder to avoid the cars in front of her when she struck the back of the truck, where a forklift was loaded.
The lawsuit said the forklift caused damage to parts of Yaeger's car and pinned her and her younger daughter to their seats. The crash damaged the forklift's fuel system, which the lawsuit said resulted in the fire.
The lawsuit said the product used to load the forklift onto the truck resulted in the forklift hanging off the back of the truck while angled up and does not include an underride bar. The lawsuit said underride bar is sold separately by the company that makes and sells the product and is a named plaintiff in the suit, HIAB USA Inc.
It said the design of the mounting system was "defective and unreasonably dangerous" when paired with the forklift used in the case of this crash.
The lawsuit also claims the driver of the truck and the company he was driving for, Wil-Sites Truck Lines LLC, were at fault for the crash. The lawsuit said the driver should have known not to stop the truck where he did, should have taken proper steps to secure the payload before taking the truck onto the road and that the trucking company was negligent in not providing him with proper training.
The final party named in the lawsuit is the lumber company, 84 Lumber Company, and its holding company Hardy Holdings, Incorporated. The lawsuit said the lumber company did not properly load the lumber onto the truck on the morning of the crash.
The lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages from each of the parties for the wrongful deaths of Yaeger and her daughters and the injuries they suffered before their death.
