UPS has agreed to pay a $1,300,000.00 fine and will submit to independent New York State vehicle inspections for 5 years in order to settle allegations that it knowingly permitted unsafe delivery vehicles to operate within the State of New York. “The investigation, and settlement, should reduce the risk of UPS delivery truck accidents caused by equipment failure,” said Syracuse personal injury lawyer Michael A. Bottar, Esq. of Bottar Law, PLLC, an upstate New York law firm with nearly three decades of experience handling complex personal injury matters.
Bottar added, “sometimes, claims against couriers like FedEx, UPS or DHL are more complicated than truck driver negligence. In our practice, we are often asked to invest significant resources into determining whether it was vehicle failure, not driver inattention, that led to the accident. Certainly, businesses can be liable for allowing tires to wear, brakes to fade, and frames to crack.”
According to a March 1, 2011 press release entitled “A.G. Schneiderman Announces Crackdown on Dangerous UPS Trucks, Secures $1.3 Million In Settlement,” an OAG investigation dating back to 2004 began when a UPS mechanic advised the OAG that UPS was allowing UPS delivery trucks to be driven, despite cracked frames. Apparently, potentially dangerous trucks were identified through an “Annual Vehicle Retirement Process” but were kept in operation despite “cracked” or “rotted” frames.
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman was quoted in the North Country Gazette as stating “UPS knowingly endangered not only the lives of their own employees but the lives of the driving public.” Further, “[b]y keeping these rotting and decaying trucks on the roadways, UPS was an accident waiting to happen.” According to UPS, it “neither admits nor denies the allegations that formed the basis of the investigation.”
If you have been injured in an accident with a UPS truck, and would like to speak with a New York truck accident lawyer about your right to recover for your losses, contact Bottar Law, PLLC, at (833) 268-8277 or by email at info@bottarleone.com.