Settlement In Wrongful Death Truck Accident Case

Ashland-based Appalachian Fuels admitted fault in an overweight coal truck accident that killed a Martin County reverend two years ago.

After reaching a confidential settlement in a Martin County wrongful death suit filed by Rev. Lonnie Preece's widow, Doris Preece, the company revamped its stance of innocence and plead guilty in Pike County to one count of permitting the unlawful operation of a overweight motor vehicle on a highway.

That day, the truck, carrying 150,150 pounds of coal on a road with a 62,000 pound weight limit, was involved in an accident that killed Preece. The driver, Blacklog resident Charles Wiley, Jr., hauling the load on a narrow two-lane highway from Appalachian Fuels in Hardy to Cattlettsburg, swerved suddenly and hit Preece's vehicle head-on. Wiley couldn't stop the truck because it was overloaded, authorities said.

If the wrongful death case against Appalachian Fuels and New River Energy Resources went to trial, it could have changed the way overweight trucking laws are carried out in the state. Kentucky Vehicle Enforcement officers only recently started citing coal companies for permitting the unlawful overloading of coal trucks. Read more at ky.gov