Wrongful-death suit filed in Route 9 accident

Suddenly the car ahead of her swerved off the road. Police records show the woman also tried to veer, out of the way of a box truck that had crossed into her lane and was coming straight at her.

Denise Hitchens could not get out of the way. The truck struck her car, spinning it off the road and into a field. Rescue workers had to extract her from the vehicle. She died at the scene as a result of her injuries.

The truck also ran off the road, into a utility pole. Driver Pedro Wilfredo Fernandez-Rojas, two days shy of his 37th birthday, was extracted from his truck and flown to Peninsula General Medical Center in Salisbury, Md. Later, he would be charged with vehicular manslaughter.

A woman who had been driving behind the truck told police it crossed the centerline earlier, before the fatal collision. Other witnesses said the driver might have been trying to read a map held by a front-seat passenger.

Wrongful death suit

A wrongful death lawsuit filed in Sussex County Superior Court March 11 charges Fernandez-Rojas should not have been driving the truck, and by law, the truck should not have been on Route 9.

The suit charges Fernandez-Rojas’ employer, Carias Express LLC, had not properly registered the truck, did not have the required $1 million in insurance and did not train or supervise its employees. It also states required medical records and delivery logs were missing.

Hitchens family attorney Chase Brockstedt of Bifferato Gentilotti in Lewes said when a large truck is traveling from one state to another making deliveries, the federal government has a long list of safety requirements that apply to both truck and driver. The suit contends Carias ignored regulations, and Exel Inc., which had hired Carias to make deliveries, did nothing about it.

“This vehicle was on the road when it should not have been,” Brockstedt said. “This type of truck with this type of carrier can only go so far, and it was outside its authorized limits. It should not even have been where it was.”

The accident, he said, “is a culmination of so many negligent and reckless acts, any one of which could have been prevented.”

Sarah Jackson, press relations manager for Exel Inc. of Westerville, Ohio, said Exel is aware of the lawsuit but cannot comment on pending litigation.

Michael Silverman, of Silverman, McDonald & Friedman, with offices in Rehoboth Beach, represents Carias Express. He said Fernandez-Rojas pleaded guilty to certain offenses stemming from the accident, but Silverman declined to comment on the wrongful death suit.

Last stop of the day

According to the suit, Kevin Carias-Herrara owned the 1999 Chevrolet box truck driven by Fernandez-Rojas the day of the accident. Exel Inc. had a contract with Carias Express to make deliveries.

On the day of the accident, Rojas picked up merchandise in the Baltimore area and had made several deliveries before heading to Lewes, the last stop, to deliver mattresses.

Federal law requires trucking companies to keep logs of how many hours a driver and a truck are on the road, investigate a driver’s driving record, fill out a drug-testing checklist and maintain a laundry list of similar records.

Missing documentation

According to the suit, Carias didn’t maintain such records. Exel’s contract required Carias to operate legally, but the suit says Exel failed to enforce its own contract.

Brockstedt said the family believes Denise Hitchens’ estate should recover damages for the pain she experienced as a result of the accident. But he said the family also wants to send a message to delivery companies and the corporations that hire them: If you’re going to put these trucks on the road, you’re going to have to be sure you’ve got qualified drivers and the work is being done in compliance with industry standards.

“These large companies are putting large trucks on the road in an unsafe manner,”

Brockstedt said. “To realize that the majority - or at least some - of the trucks on the road are being operated by companies and individuals that aren’t qualified is scary.”

Jury trial requested

Brockstedt has requested a jury trial, one that it’s not likely Fernandez-Rojas will attend. Detained as an illegal immigrant, he has since been deported.

Brockstedt said Fernandez-Rojas is a Guatemalan national who couldn’t read English and was, according to police, driving recklessly the day of the crash. Those are facts in the case, Brockstedt said, but the wrongful death suit goes beyond those facts.

“This case isn’t about that,” he said. The case instead takes aim at a large corporation that he says failed to ensure the safety of its deliveries.

“If anybody had been doing what they were supposed to do, Denise Hitchens would be alive today,” Brockstedt said.

Brockstedt, who lives in Rehoboth Beach, was also attorney for the family of Julie Bailey, an Alzheimer’s patient who died in 2003 as a result of injuries suffered while a patient at Lewes Convalescent Center. A later wrongful death suit against nursing-home owner Beebe Medical Center resulted in a $13 million verdict for her estate and the Bailey family.