Perkins, et al. v. Wabash National Corp., et al.

Case Background

In 2020, the families of decedents Taron Tailor and Nicholas Perkins filed a product liability lawsuit against Wabash National Corporation. The complaint alleged that the defective Rear Impact Guards (RIG) installed on their trailer had led to the wrongful death of the two men in 2019. The Plaintiffs filed the case in Missouri’s 22nd Circuit Court in the City of St. Louis. Judge Christopher McGraugh presided over the trial. [Case number: 2022-CC00495]

Cause

On Sunday, May 19, 2019, around 2:30 p.m., Taron Tailor, 30, was driving a Volkswagen sedan on a Missouri interstate. Nicholas Perkins, 23, occupied the passenger seat. Both men died instantly when their car collided with a trailer that had stopped for traffic on Interstate 44 and 55 near the 7th Street exit. Wabash National Corporation manufactured and sold the trailer in question in 2004. The design of the Rear Impact Guard (RIG) on that trailer is called the “U.S. RIG,” which features two vertical bars and a single horizontal bar at the bottom. Designers introduced that design in 1985, and it remained largely unchanged until 2007. Wabash did not perform a single test on the U.S. RIG of any kind from 1985 to 1996. Upon impact, the defective RIG snapped like a toothpick, and the vehicle went underneath the trailer. The bed of the trailer crushed into the passenger compartment decapitating both young men in the process.

Damages

Perkins left behind a 2-year-old daughter, while Tailor’s wife was pregnant at the time of his death. Their families filed a lawsuit seeking damages for the wrongful deaths of both men. They pursued compensatory and punitive damages against the Defendants, Wabash National Corporation and GDS Express and Tailor, a trucking firm

Key Arguments and Proceedings

Legal Representation

• Plaintiff(s): Estate of Taron Tailor an