You’ve been making a lot of statements that are not supported by the facts, at least the facts related to us and the facts you’re quoting. I’m not sure whether you realize that or not.
One example, you stated: “Whatever the man’s commute, he still was behind the wheel beyond what federal regulations permit, thus Wal-mart can be considered negligent.”
That statement was based on the following: “Roper had been on the job about 13 1/2 hours at the time of the crash, the report concluded. Federal rules permit truck drivers to work up to 14 hours a day, with a maximum of 11 hours behind the wheel.”
Now, I’m curious as to what precisely you were thinking. Workers are permitted to work up to 14 hours a day, 11 of them behind the wheel, according to that statement the driver had NOT reached that work-day limit. Yet you ASSUMED, with no further detail, that all 14 of those hours had been behind the wheel? The statement “on-the-job” does not provide any detail on hours spent behind the wheel. That information was not provided, nor even really implied.
As another example, you stated: “...an employer cannot be held responsible for somebody being exhausted when they show up to work.”
You obviously missed the central rationale behind the legal arguments. Do you think it was coincidence that the plaintiff’s attorney made issue of a 700 mile commute? Do you think the legal team was just being conversational? The entire purpose for that statement is that they’re trying to make a point that the company DID know that their driver was going to be showing up exhausted as a rule and hence establish some reasonable culpability on the part of the employers based on that prior knowledge.
Do not jump to unsupported conclusions, such a habit both makes you less effective in daily life as well as more easily manipulable.
In regards to his 13.5 hours, nobody here can say how much of that was behind the wheel. He may have been under the limit and he may have not. If he was that hard-charging, willing to drive 700 miles to do to a job, do you think there might be the possibility that he was also that hard-charging as to how many hours he would spend behind the wheel?
Ultimately it will be the judge who hears the case and it will be he who has decided whether or not Wal-Mart played a role in the crash.