The plaintiffs - Evaline, Joel, Karen and Billy Joel White - were traveling home from Spanish Fork after attending a funeral when the truck tipped on its side near Soldier Summit and forced them to stop, the suit says.
The rollover sparked several small fires, followed by an explosion that gouged a crater in the road and demolished the truck.
Evaline was struck by metal from the exploding vehicle, according to the lawsuit. It says all four family members have suffered hearing loss, mental distress and post-traumatic syndrome.
The suit, transferred Thursday from Utah's 7th District Court in Carbon County to U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, seeks unspecified monetary damages to compensate the Whites for their injuries. In addition, it asks for punitive damages against the defendants "to punish them them and make an example of them."
Named as defendants are R&R Trucking Inc., the R&R drivers who were in the semitractor-trailer, an R&R employee the suit alleges was responsible for overseeing the loading of the truck and Ensign-Bickford Company, the owner and operator of the Spanish Fork-area plant that manufactured the 18 tons of explosives on the vehicle.
R&R Trucking denies the allegations, saying it was not reckless in loading the truck and training its drivers. In a written answer to the suit, the company alleges that the Whites' injuries were caused by acts of individuals and entities over which it had no right to control.
Ensign-Bickford had no immediate comment on the suit; its response to the allegations is due next week.
pmanson@sltrib.com
A blast from the past
A large truck carrying explosives from a plant at the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon rolled and exploded on U.S. Highway 6 near the canyon's Soldiers Summit on Aug. 11 of last year. The explosion sent about 20 other motorists and their passengers to the hospital with shrapnel wounds and ear injuries, set more than a dozen wildfires and displaced the Union Pacific rail line about 50 feet from the highway. Truck driver Travis Stewart, 31, of Rexburg, Idaho, was charged with one count each of causing a catastrophe, reckless endangerment and reckless driving, all misdemeanors. His trial is set to begin Nov. 21 in Provo's 4th District Court.
