Parked far off the road
Deese testified he had pulled all the way to the dirt, out of the danger zone. His own experts admitted on the stand that he was actually parked just three feet from the fog line, squarely where a swerving car would hit him.
Illegal Truck Parking Injury Case: $30 Million Verdict Over Strawberries
A 20-year-old woman was driving home on a California highway, doing everything right, when another driver made an illegal U-turn directly in front of her. She had less than a second to react. She swerved, and struck a parked tractor-trailer. She was airlifted to a hospital and died five weeks later, on May 24, 2014. The truck she struck had no business being parked where it was. The driver was not responding to a mechanical emergency. He had stopped to buy strawberries. In March 2019, a Ventura County jury looked at the evidence in this illegal truck parking injury case and returned a $30 million verdict, at the time the largest wrongful death verdict in Ventura County history.
$30M
Ventura County jury verdict
3 feet
How close the truck parked to the fog line
11 of 12
Jurors who agreed on the damages
What Happened on SR-126
On April 19, 2014, a 20-year-old woman was driving east on State Route 126, a four-lane highway connecting Ventura and Los Angeles counties, in her Toyota Camry. Near Francisco's Fruits, a fruit stand along SR-126, another driver made an illegal U-turn, cutting across two lanes of traffic directly in front of her. She swerved right to avoid a head-on collision. What she could not have known was that a massive tractor-trailer was parked on the shoulder just three feet from the fog line, not pulled completely off the road and not in any designated truck stop. Her car struck the rear of that 80,000-pound truck. She was airlifted to a hospital and died from her injuries on May 24, 2014.
Why the Truck Was There
The truck driver, Charles Deese, worked for Flat Creek Transportation. He had parked on the SR-126 shoulder to buy strawberries at Francisco's Fruits, not because of a mechanical emergency and not because he had no other choice. Truck drivers are only supposed to park on a highway shoulder during a genuine emergency, a brake failure, a blowout, a medical crisis, and even then they are supposed to pull as far off the road as possible. Deese did neither. At trial, the defense claimed he had smelled hot oil and was responding to a mechanical emergency. The evidence told a different story.
The Defense's Story, and How It Fell Apart
The defense built its case around four main claims. Each one collapsed under cross-examination.
Nowhere else to park
The defense claimed Deese had no other option nearby. That claim was destroyed by the defense's own witness, who admitted Flat Creek Transportation had no written policy at all about where its drivers could or could not stop.
A real emergency
Deese had smelled hot oil for 15 to 20 minutes before he stopped, then waited another 15 to 20 minutes before pulling over. There was no smoke and no fire. He never checked his gauges, never called anyone, and never put out emergency triangles as required. He bought strawberries.
Did nothing wrong at all
The final claim was that parking a 40-ton truck three feet from a highway travel lane, with no emergency, no warning devices, and no attempt to find anywhere safer, was completely acceptable. The jury did not believe it.
The jury rejected each version of the emergency defense and held the driver and his company accountable.
Holding the Trucking Company Accountable, Not Just the Driver
Trucking companies are required to train their drivers on where they can and cannot stop, and to have clear policies for genuine roadside emergencies. When they fail to do that, and a family is left grieving because of it, California law allows that family to hold the company accountable, not just the individual driver. Illegal truck parking cases often involve multiple potential defendants: the truck driver, the trucking company, other drivers whose separate negligence contributed to the crash, and occasionally government entities responsible for the roadway itself. California law allows a jury to apportion fault across every responsible party, which means a family is not forced to prove that one single defendant caused the entire tragedy. What matters is proving that each defendant's conduct was a substantial factor in causing the harm.
The Verdict
In March 2019, after a full trial before Judge Matthew P. Guasco in Ventura County Superior Court, the jury returned a $30 million verdict for the family, the largest wrongful death verdict in Ventura County history at the time, as reported by the Daily Journal on March 26, 2019. Eleven of twelve jurors agreed on the damages amount, and the jury assigned 40 percent of the fault to the truck driver and Flat Creek Transportation. The case later went through an appeal that reduced the award on a technical procedural ruling about how fault is divided when some defendants settle before trial. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. The Homampour Law Firm handles wrongful death cases against trucking companies on a contingency fee basis, advancing the costs of the case, so families pay nothing unless there is a recovery.
Theory pleaded
Jury finding
Verdict for the family
$30 million
Ranking at the time
Largest wrongful death verdict in Ventura County history
Jurors agreeing on damages
11 of 12
Fault assigned to the truck driver and company
40 percent
How This Case Was Won, Topic by Topic
The breakdowns below cover the parking statute under Vehicle Code 22500, industrial-corridor foreseeability, warning-device and visibility standards, and the discovery strategy that exposed the driver's timeline.
The statute under Vehicle Code 22500
California Vehicle Code 22500 Truck Parking: The Statute Behind the Verdict
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Refer a caseFrequently Asked Questions
What happened in this illegal truck parking injury case?
On April 19, 2014, a 20-year-old woman driving on SR-126 in Ventura County swerved to avoid another driver's illegal U-turn and struck the rear of an 80,000-pound tractor-trailer illegally parked just three feet from the fog line on the highway shoulder. She was airlifted to the hospital and died from her injuries on May 24, 2014.
Can a trucking company be held responsible for a driver's illegal parking?
Yes. When a truck driver parks on a highway shoulder without a genuine emergency, the company that employs the driver can be held responsible for the driver's conduct, particularly where the company failed to establish clear policies about roadside stops.
What did the jury decide?
In March 2019, a Ventura County jury awarded $30 million to the family, the largest wrongful death verdict in Ventura County history at the time, with 11 of 12 jurors agreeing on the damages amount and 40 percent of the fault assigned to the trucker and his company.