The wife and four children of Peter J. Cuezze, 42, brought a wrongful death action after he was killed in an accident with a tractor-trailer truck.

In December 2000, Cuezze pulled his van to the shoulder of I-70 in Eastern Jackson because he ran out of gas.

The plaintiffs claimed that while he was filling his tank, the truck traveled out of its traffic lane onto the shoulder of the road, striking and killing Cuezze. In addition they said the driver was fatigued and had falsified his logs.

The defendants denied falsification of the logs and driver fatigue or impairment.