Sidewalk Bicycle Death by Semi-Truck Hauls $10M Settlement

Florida attorneys obtained an eight-figure settlement from a multibillion-dollar French subsidiary in the U.S., who owned a semi-truck that was driven onto the sidewalk and fatally hit a female bicyclist.

The estate’s litigators warned this type of truck accident could become more prevalent under a recently failed proposed law in the next legislative cycle.

Gabrielle Shipe, 28. (Credit: Estate of Gabrielle Shipe)

“House Bill 7055, which was sponsored by the Penske trucking company and by the trucking lobby, would have made instances like Gabby even more common,” claimed Dan Dolan and his partner, Eric Bluestein of Dolan Dobrinsky Rosenblum Bluestein in Miami, who were among the attorneys that represented the plaintiff, the estate of Gabrielle Shipe.

Opposing the estate included the defendants, CEVA Logistics U.S. Inc., its subsidiary, CEVA Freight LLC, and its driver, Osmaro Ruiz. And Dolan said that since 2014, Florida truck crashes have increased by over 80%, and annually claimed over 350 lives and over 10,000 injuries.

Dolan anticipates that the trucking lobby will haul back the “Duty of Care Regarding Commercial Motor Vehicles” bill in next year’s legislative session in Tallahassee. HB 7055 provides trucking companies with “ no duty to retrofit commercial motor vehicle with component parts or equipment in certain circumstances,” and provides that “certain evidence is inadmissible in civil litigation.”

“We are a commerce-driven state and have one of the busiest seaports in the world,” Dolan said. “The bill would no longer require the trucking companies from having the highest and safest equipment on their trucks and we would have been prevented from explaining to the jury what would have been available for the trucking company that would have prevented the crash.”

Christopher Corkran, a partner in Conroy Simberg’s Hollywood office who represented the defendants, did not respond to a request for comment. Ryan Fisher, global media relations manager for CEVA Logistics’ parent company, which is headquartered in Marseille, France, did not respond to a request for comment, either.

CEVA is a for-hire motor carrier operating under U.S. Department of Transportation regulations, court documents show. As a result, it must abide by strict rules, including all of the laws and industry standards governing the safe operation of vehicles. And Ruiz, who was a registered driver for the company, was bound by these rules as well.

In November 2021, Ruiz was driving the tractor-trailer up a loading dock ramp toward the street “at a dangerous speed,” and “without warning, slowing or stopping to look for pedestrians on the sidewalk.” The vehicle exited the loading dock and struck Shipe, according to the complaint. Homicide detectives pronounced the 28-year-old dead at the scene.

Bike that the 28-year-old rode before the crash. (Credit WPLG Inc.)

Dolan said that from initial contact, both sides had an objective of trying to right a wrong. The estate filed the lawsuit in December and since then, Bluestein has applied sustained and consistent pressure in discovery to efficiently drive the case forward. Within five months of the filing of the lawsuit, the estate obtained an “early and fair resolution” with opposing counsel.

Co-counsel for the plaintiff, R. David de Armas, a partner at Cramer, Price & de Armas, recalled that at Shipe’s funeral, her boss at Veterinary Health Care said she was a “superstar.” Meanwhile, Shipe’s family are seeking to endow a scholarship to honor their daughter’s life.

De Armas said: “Because this tragedy was self-evident, we were cautiously optimistic of an early resolution that would bring at least some element of closure to the Shipe family.”