OCC- The Story of David & Jen

moose

Veteran Expediter
about a year ago i placed an ad right here on EO, looking for a H/W team to drive one of my trucks.
among the many response there was one from the upper west cost.
i replied to that Email explaining my operations,freight lanes ,and why it will be hard for us to get together.
luck had a different plan.
a few days later i was dispatched on a load going through their home town, with a need to take a 34 restart along the way.
after the PU i called David. he was exited to set up a meeting at their favorite restaurant. 2 days later around 8 am we met.

what was supposed to be a business meeting turned out to be real quick, a me seating quietly listening to their lifelong story.
to make the story short,i will only start at their early 30's ,when they had to start over.

a well founded family of 2 young kids,living with her parents in an almost paid for large country house.
simply living the American dream.
they choose to go trucking. and went to the large city, only a 4 hours drive away to start an orientations with one of the nations larges refrigerators transportation provider.
after completing the required 6 month training they where offered a 'triangle line haul' ,which got them home for a week after each 2 weeks out.
very lucrative gig.
once completing a full year of trucking ,David and Jen went and bought their first used truck ,soon to be follow by a brand new freightliner.
they hold that line for another 4 years ,till the truck was to be traded in.
at that time they took a long vacations ,and signed on with one of the nations larges air freight transportation carrier.
with their 2nd new truck on the road,the old one was kept at the house, for a just incase, as the linehaul had to be covered even if the new truck broke down .they also used that older truck for parts if needed .
D&J hold that airfreight line for another 2 years .
at that time ,the house and 2 cars was paid for, and the kids had a fully founded collage plan.
life could not be better .
at one point, a friend of the family introduced them to another trucker, and they got along very well.
another 6 mouths went by, and they decided that Jen will be staying home every 2nd trip, and the other driver will team up with David to cover the run.
it worked well for 3 trips, till the nightly Accident happened ! apparently David was seating on the bunk bed, when the truck rearended a fully loaded trailer that was parked for a tire repairs on the right shoulders .David do not remember that trip at all.the driver seatbelt saves the driver life,and he was not Siriuslly injured.
but firefighters found a very wounded David half way into the trailer.
David was Airlifted to a near by hospital . it would take him 4 days to gain congest.
David was kept in intensive care for another 2 weeks, before starting the long way to recovery.
it took Jan almost a full day of driving to get to the hospital.
along the way she stopped to inspect the scene of the accident and the now totaled lost truck.
When Jen got to the trauma center, she found David hardly living at all, moving from one surgery to the next.
a few hours later,while sitting in the waiting area, a person approached her, introduced himself as the hospital administrator, and asked her to accompany him to his office.
in the administrators office Jen found another few peoples waiting for her. when the administrator started to ask about the Ocupetional aCcidental Coverage .
Jen replied by saying they have one, and that the air freight carrier took care of that.
'you see, here is the problem' stated the administrator, 'according to our records no premiums have being made into that policy since the beginning of the year.'
"but i have our settlements sheets, and they deducted the premiums out of my pay checks" replied a confused Jen.
'as an administrator my job is to take care of the business side of the hospital operations, and my best advice for you is to contact your carrier, and find a good layer'.
shortly after, all calls to the carrier have remained unanswered. and the look for a lawyer was in the making ,when Jen was called to the recovery room.
Jen is now saying that lying to David at that recovery room was the hardest thing she ever done. seeing him so badly wounded, she kept promising that everything will be alright, though knowing very well they have a real problem to solve .
a week later, Jens parents took over Davids bed, and Jen flown over to the carrier headquarters ,only to be quietly escorted out.
it will take David another 8 weeks to finely make it home for the first time.
at that time medical bills have piled up, and attorney's fees started to increase.
the carrier layers used every code in the book to impose delays .
the hospital, and other medical providers where quick to hire collecting agency's, and Jen had no choice other then to start paying some of those.
a short 6 months after the accident, their house was collected ,and after came the family saving, one of the cars ,and the kids collage founds.
Jen say that eventually the carrier will be accountable for taking the deductions off of the settlements sheet without keeping up with the policy premiums, but that can take months or years in courts. and then the attorney's fees will have to be collected.
meanwhile medicals bills have forced them to live in a friends house, and they lost all they ever worked for.
bank accounts are being monitors by the collection agency and all deposits are reported to the courthouse .
they do not expect the cellular phone to last for more then a week.
David have since made a fully recovery, and just god a fresh DOT card.
David was telling me, he simply can't see himself driving a truck anymore, but he will be willing to try driving a smaller Expediter truck, and that they looked into the one i own, because of the Auto transmission and the fully loaded sleeper. it might make it easy on him. feels more like an RV he smile.
i never herd back from them.
2 days later, i called their cellphone -it was disconnected.
i wish i had the opportunity to let them drive my truck.
at least it was an amassing experience meeting them for breakfast .
(base on a true story!).
Moose.
 

purgoose10

Veteran Expediter
Not to long ago there was some posts about this very subject. I hope everyone especially newbies read this. Get your ACC insurance yourself and make the payments yourself, that could be you.
Sad story, but they could have been protected.
 
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