Package Delivery Service Negligence and Liability
“Are you aware that rushing toward a goal is a sublimated death wish? It’s no coincidence we call them deadlines.”
― Tom Robbins, Author
Everyone is in a hurry. When we’re hungry we want our food fast and we want the products we purchase online to arrive on our door step just as fast. While Amazon and other big internet retailers are not quite as prompt as the pizza companies, they are trying to match them. Soon drones will drop packages on our front yards.
Online ordering is great, but are the delivery times unrealistic and do they risk our safety?
In 1973 Domino’s launched a “30 minutes or it’s free” ad campaign and it worked until lawsuits were initiated by people who were injured by delivery drivers rushing to get pies to people in an unrealistic time frame. The company continued the program for twenty years until 1993 when this happened, as reported by the Chicago Tribune: A St. Louis jury reached the same conclusion last week in the case of Jean Kinder, who was hit by a Domino’s delivery driver in 1989. The jurors ordered Domino’s to pay her $750,000 in actual damages and $78 million in punitive damages.
Today the rush is on for package delivery and Amazon leads the charge to get products delivered to customers fast. Reports are coming in about workers being injured in regional sorting facilities and drivers rushing through traffic to make deadlines.
An NBC News investigation revealed:
Some people who deliver Amazon packages have been involved in deadly wrecks. In September, ProPublica and The New York Times reported in a joint investigation that they had found more than 60 crashes since June 2015 involving Amazon delivery contractors that resulted in serious injuries, including 10 deaths. They said the tally was likely a fraction of the crashes because many people don’t sue.
The same NBC report quoted a former delivery contractor: “You don’t take your lunch break. You don’t use the bathroom. … There were guys peeing in bottles in the van,” Rowe said, adding that he did the same. “You speed. You run stop signs in a neighborhood. …You start conditioning yourself to just go as fast as possible.”
While companies may ignore proper safety procedures and precautions in the interest of higher profits, that does not limit their liability when one of their drivers causes a serious accident. Florida law is very clear about victims having the right to sue for their injuries and damages.
Companies who hire independent contractors to do their deliveries in an effort to shirk responsibility should be held accountable for damages.
If you are involved in any accident you should make sure your rights are protected. An experienced traffic accident law firm will see that the negligent individual or company is held responsible and will fight for your rights to receive justice. The Law Firm of Lazarus and Lazarus has earned a solid reputation for handling these types of cases and we can be reached by calling (954) 356-0006 seven days a week.
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