Looooong post!
TruckLover said:
jawdrop
R u selling them to the company or something? I would love to have 50 of the same company!!!!
No. I'm trying to model Dick Simon Trucking out of Salt Lake City, Utah. Here is a picture of one of like only 10-12 of the Freightliner XL classic's they had.
http://www.hankstruckpictures.com/pix/trucks/craig_wendt/dick_simon_frtlnr_classic.jpg Everything else was FLD 120's and moving into Century's. Their O/O program consisted of white Freightliner Columbia's. The company lost a lot of money to this first story but the second story put them under.
1. "Salt Lake City, UT — November 1, 2001 — A Salt Lake City jury awarded $16.4 million to an 11 1/2 year old boy, Anthony Rynes, who suffered a traumatic brain injury that he received in a head–on automobile crash. The defendant was Dick Simon Trucking Inc., whose truck went out of control, careened into oncoming traffic, and ran over the 1998 Nissan Sentra in which Anthony was a passenger. Both Anthony’s mother, who was the driver, and his half–brother were killed.
As a result of the accident, Anthony spent 15 days in the intensive care unit of Salt Lake City’s Primary Children’s Medical Center and four months in the pediatric special ward for rehabilitation. He lost both frontal lobes of his brain—areas that control “executive” decision and cognitive abilities. He also lost temporal lobe function, which controls long term memory, and suffered four burst fractures in his thoracic spine, requiring a future back fusion. Because Anthony’s attention span is now inadequate and he has lost the ability to learn, he will need constant supervision by an adult for the rest of his life.
The jury awarded Anthony general damages as well as economic damages for loss of earnings, medical expenses, future facility care and non–medical expenses. The trial took place before Judge Lee A. Dever of the Third District Court in Salt Lake City.
“We are thankful that the jury saw to it that Anthony’s future medical needs and financial security is assured,” said his attorney,
Gilbert Purcell of
Brayton Purcell in Novato, California. Anthony was also represented by
Jeffrey Eisenberg of Eisenberg & Gilchrist. Erik Ward and Chris Shaw of Ridley, Ward & Shaw in Ogden, Utah, represented the heirs of Anthony’s mother. Their case settled for an additional sum as the jury was deliberating.
2. "The State of California has sued Salt Lake City-based Dick Simon Trucking Inc to pay for damage done by a company driver who drove his big rig into the state Capitol in January 2001.
Dick Simon Trucking driver Mike Bowers, who had a history of legal and mental problems, rammed his vehicle into the Capitol's south portico. The truck, carrying a load of canned milk, caught fire, killing Bowers and leaving the building with fire, smoke, and water damage. Repairs are still being made.
According to the lawsuit, the company was aware of Bowers' emotional problems and hired him anyway. It seeks $13.5 million in actual damages and $100 million in punitive damages from Dick Simon Trucking, a subsidiary of Simon Transportation Services Inc.
Simon officials have not made any comments about the suit."
There is also some video footage of the crash in progress. My step dad started with the company about 7 months prior to this accident. The company went bankrupt after barrowing money from Swift Transportation to pay for the law suit. Of course Swift owner Jerry Moise? (if that's how you spell his last name) didn't seem to mind sense he was already buying up everything trying to monopolize the trucking industry until some time later he got his hands slapped for it by who I believe was the government.
I have some pictures of the wrecked truck that I took at the SLC yard after they hauled it back. It was burnt down to nothing. I'll try to find them if I can along with that video of the web.
I just want to model this company because it was a very good company to work for. Dispatchers went out of their way to mak sure you were getting your miles, home time. They had excilent equipment (which is were I took a major liking to FLD 120's as a favorite truck).
