St. Louis, Missouri – A St. Louis City jury rendered a $462 million verdict on Sept. 5, 2024 against a trailer manufacturer, Wabash National Corporation, finding the company responsible for the deaths of two young fathers killed when their car went underneath the rear of a trailer.
Simon Law attorneys John G. Simon and Johnny M. Simon tried the case with co-counsel Brian Winebright of Cantor Injury Law and Lisa Tsacoumangos of Brown & Crouppen. The trial lasted two weeks and the jury deliberated for about three hours before finding in favor of the plaintiffs.
“We commend the courage of the families who brought this lawsuit to hold this company accountable for decades of failures to keep the public safe from preventable underride crashes,” said John G. Simon, Founder of Simon Law. “And we commend the service of the jurors in this case for sending the message that reckless disregard for human life won’t be tolerated in our community.”
Taron Tailor, 30, and his passenger, Nicholas Perkins, 23, were killed instantly when the Volkswagen CC Tailor was driving rear-ended a trailer made by the Wabash Corporation on May 19, 2019. Upon impact, the trailer’s rear impact guard tore off and allowed their vehicle to go underneath the trailer. The accident, known as an underride crash, happened at about 2:30 p.m. on a Sunday along Interstate 44/55 near the 7th Street exit.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) defines truck underride crashes as collisions in which a car slides under the body of a truck. It is estimated that between 15 to 20% of fatal accidents involving trucks are underride crashes, which often kill drivers and passengers through decapitation. Tailor and Perkins were decapitated in the 2019 crash.
Perkins left behind a 2-year-old daughter. Tailor’s wife was pregnant and the time of his death.
At trial, the Simons proved Wabash ignored decades of research and warnings about the failures of its Rear Impact Guards, or RIGS, which are supposed to prevent vehicles from underride.
“These children had a right to a father, but because of a decision Wabash made in a boardroom, all of that was taken from them,” Johnny M. Simon told the jury during closing arguments. “They were robbed of a lifetime of love.”
Some of the evidence presented at trial dated to the infamous 1967 underride crash that killed Golden-era Hollywood actress Jayne Mansfield.
During closing arguments, Johnny Simon told jurors Wabash failed to build safer RIGs for 30 years, and, to do so, would have cost Wabash about $15 million a year.
The jury awarded punitive damages at $450 million – an amount Simon estimated the corporation saved by failing to install the safer RIGs for three decades. Compensatory damages included $6 million to the Perkins family and $6 million to the Tailor family.
“We hope the decision the jurors reached sends a clear message to the trucking and trailer industry and will finally force them to build safer trailers,” said co-counsel Brian Winebright of Cantor Injury Law.
A recent study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found inconsistencies in how police report these crashes, exposing how undercounted underride crashes are and how the true number of people killed or injured in these types of accidents is unknown.
Based on 2024 data, the Simons showed that there are at least 14,350 known fatalities involving rear underride crashes—a number that excludes deaths cauased by side underride—but the number is likely much higher.
The Simons also successfully argued that trucking industry leaders have been at the forefront of lobbying efforts to prevent federal regulations from requiring RIGs be made to prevent underride at survivable speeds.
“We hope this case will begin to stop others from dying in these preventable underride accidents, as no amount of money will ever bring back the young men who needlessly lost their lives in this case,” said co-counsel Lisa Tsacoumangos of Brown & Crouppen.
Simon Law is a St. Louis-based personal injury law firm founded in 2001. Its mission is to serve its clients with dignity, compassion, and dedication. In the past 18 months, the firm has won close to $2 billion in verdicts alone, holding companies and institutions accountable when they put profits over people.
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