On September 26, 2024, after more than two years of litigation in the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Kuchler Polk partners Janika Polk, Lee Ziffer, and Marcus Hunter obtained summary judgment on behalf of a heavy truck manufacturer in a products liability case in which the plaintiff was partially paralyzed following a commercial vehicle accident. The Plaintiff, an experienced commercial vehicle driver, was operating a dump truck when the dump bed collided with a highway overpass, causing him to crash into the highway support pillar. Discovery showed that the Plaintiff exited the dump yard without lowering the truck’s dump bed, and was traveling at highway speeds with the bed in an upright position when the bed collided with the overpass. The Plaintiff claimed that our client should have included interlock devices preventing the vehicle from driving above minimal speeds while the dump bed was raised, and provided audible and additional visual warnings to the driver that the dump bed was raised. The Court found that Plaintiff could not meet his burden under the Louisiana Products Liability Act that driving a dump truck at highway speeds with the bed extended was a reasonably anticipated use of a dump truck, finding that doing so was obviously dangerous, against all warnings and trainings the driver received, and that the driver knew of the danger of doing so.