CHARLESTON — A truck driver is suing United Dairy for negligence and outrageous conduct after he was told several times to drive an overweight truck on his route.
Evan Kendall and Danny Leach were also named as defendants in the suit.
Matthew Keadle works for United Dairy as a truck driver and in October 2021, he had multiple conversations with Kendall and Leach about the truck he was driving being overweight and in violation of both state and federal laws, according to a complaint filed in Kanawha Circuit Court.
Keadle claims every time he spoke with the defendants about the vehicle being overweight, he was told by Kendall and Leach that UD would rather pay the fine. He claims he was pulled over and cited for having an overweight vehicle and was fined.
Keadle claims Kendall and Leach told him they would pay the fine and deal with the citation, but they failed to do so, which caused an arrest warrant to be issued for his arrest.
The plaintiff continued to operate his route, without the knowledge of the arrest warrant and on Oct. 21, 2021, while the plaintiff was operating his route, he was pulled over, handcuffed, placed under arrest, strip-searched and incarcerated, according to the suit.
Keadle claims UD was negligent in its hiring, retention, training and retention of Kendall and Leach and had a duty to keep motorists safe and operate commercial vehicles legally.
"UD, Kendall and Leach knowingly violated State and Federal safety laws by operating trucks over 80,000 pounds," the complaint states. "UD, Kendall and Leach know, or should have known that operating trucks illegally would result in fines, citations, or worse – serious bodily injury to its employees or other motorists."
Keadle is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. He is represented by D. Adrian Hoosier II of Hoosier Law Firm in Charleston.
The case is assigned to Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number: 23-C-234