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Two Children Killed in I-10 Tractor-Trailer Crash in Walton County
We Don’t Take “Low” for an Answer!
- What Happened on I-10 in Walton County
- Why This Crash Demands Experienced Trial Lawyers
- Critical Evidence: What Must Be Preserved Immediately
- Florida’s Wrongful Death Act: Protecting Families Who Lose a Child
- Why the I-10 Panhandle Corridor is Specially Dangerous
- Frequently Asked Questions: I-10 Trucking Accidents
- How Kaiser Romanello Can Help Your Family
EXPERT LEGAL INSIGHT With nearly 50 years of combined trial experience, the seasoned Florida litigators at Kaiser Romanello Accident & Injury Attorneys know that I-10 tractor-trailer fatalities demand immediate, aggressive, and uncompromising legal action. We are not a digital-only marketing firm—we are courtroom-tested trial lawyers who have spent decades holding negligent trucking companies accountable across Florida. Commercial truck crashes on our state’s busiest interstate corridor require the rapid preservation of critical evidence—including electronic logging devices, driver toxicology results, and federally mandated inspection records—before trucking companies and their well-funded insurers can intervene to limit accountability. We don’t take ‘low’ for an answer. |
What Happened on I-10 in Walton County
On Sunday, February 9, 2026, at approximately 5:50 p.m., a catastrophic multi-vehicle crash occurred on Interstate 10 eastbound near mile marker 86 in Walton County, Florida. According to the Florida Highway Patrol, a 34-year-old Bonifay man was driving an SUV carrying two young passengers—a 7-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy—when the vehicle rear-ended a tractor-trailer. The SUV overturned multiple times into the median. A second tractor-trailer then struck the first. Both children were killed. The adult driver suffered serious injuries. The tractor-trailer drivers were not injured.
FHP’s Commercial Motor Vehicle and Traffic Homicide investigation teams responded to the scene alongside the Walton County Sheriff’s Office. Eastbound lanes were completely blocked during the investigation.
Source: WEAR-TV, February 9, 2026
Why This Type of Crash Demands Seasoned Florida Trial Lawyers—Not Just Any Attorney
With nearly 50 years of combined trial experience, the attorneys at Kaiser Romanello Accident & Injury Attorneys have spent their careers inside Florida courtrooms—not behind a desk reviewing files someone else prepared. In our decades of litigating commercial vehicle cases across this state, we have seen firsthand how tractor-trailer collisions differ from standard car accidents in virtually every dimension: the severity of injuries, the complexity of insurance coverage, and the number of potentially liable parties. Interstate 10 spans the entire northern corridor of Florida, carrying an enormous volume of commercial freight traffic daily. Crashes involving 18-wheelers on this corridor routinely involve multi-state trucking companies, layers of corporate liability, and insurance policies that dwarf standard auto coverage.
Kaiser Romanello Accident & Injury Attorneys was founded on the principle that grieving families should never have to accept lowball settlement offers from powerful trucking companies and their well-funded defense teams. Our firm has built its reputation handling the cases other firms refer out—complex, high-stakes commercial vehicle litigation where the difference between a just outcome and an inadequate one comes down to trial experience, litigation resources, and relentless, uncompromising preparation. When a trucking company sends a team of corporate lawyers and adjusters to protect its bottom line, we match that firepower and exceed it.
When children are among the victims, the stakes are immeasurable. Florida’s Wrongful Death Act (§768.16–26, Florida Statutes) provides specific avenues of recovery for the survivors of minor children, including damages for the uniquely devastating mental pain and suffering endured by each surviving parent. These claims require not just legal knowledge, but the sensitivity and dedication that only come from nearly 50 years of combined trial experience standing beside families during the worst moments of their lives.
Critical Evidence in Tractor-Trailer Fatality Cases: What Must Be Preserved Immediately
Time is the single most important factor in a commercial trucking accident investigation. Trucking companies dispatch rapid-response teams—often within hours of a crash—whose primary objective is to protect the carrier’s interests, not the victims’. At Kaiser Romanello, our relentless approach means we move faster than the other side. An experienced trucking accident attorney knows that the following evidence must be identified, preserved, and subpoenaed before it is altered, overwritten, or destroyed.
1. Electronic Logging Device (ELD) and “Black Box” Data
Federal law requires most commercial motor vehicles to be equipped with Electronic Logging Devices that record hours of service, driving time, and rest periods. In addition, many modern tractor-trailers carry Event Data Recorders (EDRs)—commonly called “black boxes”—that capture speed, braking patterns, throttle position, and other critical data in the seconds before and during a collision. This data can be overwritten within days if a spoliation letter is not sent immediately to the trucking company and its data custodians. Our firm sends these preservation demands within hours of being retained—because evidence lost is justice denied.
2. FMCSA Hours-of-Service Compliance
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) sets strict limits on how long a commercial driver may operate: generally 11 hours of driving within a 14-hour on-duty window, following at least 10 consecutive hours off-duty. Violations of these Hours-of-Service (HOS) regulations are a leading contributor to fatigued driving crashes. With nearly 50 years of combined trial experience in commercial vehicle litigation, our attorneys know how to audit ELD records against dispatch logs, fuel receipts, and GPS data to uncover discrepancies that indicate a driver was operating beyond legal limits.
3. Driver Qualification Files and Toxicology Records
Under 49 CFR Part 391, motor carriers must maintain comprehensive Driver Qualification (DQ) files for every operator. These files include driving history, medical examination certificates, road test results, and drug and alcohol testing records. After a fatal crash, post-accident toxicology screening is mandated under certain conditions by FMCSA regulations. Obtaining these results quickly is essential because they can establish whether impairment contributed to the collision. We aggressively subpoena these records before carriers have the opportunity to sanitize their files.
4. Vehicle Maintenance and Inspection Records
FMCSA regulations (49 CFR Parts 393 and 396) require trucking companies to perform systematic inspections, repairs, and maintenance on every commercial vehicle. Pre-trip and post-trip inspection reports, annual inspection records, and repair orders can reveal whether a carrier knowingly operated an unsafe vehicle. Brake failures, tire blowouts, lighting deficiencies, and coupling defects are among the most common mechanical causes of tractor-trailer collisions. Our firm’s approach is uncompromising: we examine every maintenance record, every inspection log, and every repair order to build an airtight case.
5. Carrier Safety History and CSA Scores
The FMCSA’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program assigns safety ratings to motor carriers based on roadside inspections, crash history, and investigation results. A carrier’s Safety Measurement System (SMS) scores in categories such as Unsafe Driving, Hours-of-Service Compliance, and Vehicle Maintenance can establish a pattern of negligence that supports both compensatory and punitive damages claims. Trucking companies with a history of violations cannot hide behind corporate structures—and we make sure juries see the full picture.
The Florida Wrongful Death Act: Special Protections for Families Who Lose a Child
Florida’s Wrongful Death Act (§768.16–26, Florida Statutes) provides the legal framework through which surviving family members may seek compensation when a loved one is killed due to another party’s negligence. When the decedent is a minor child, the statute recognizes what every parent already knows: the loss is uniquely devastating and irreplaceable in a way that no other wrongful death claim can fully capture.
Here is the critical legal distinction that sets minor-child wrongful death claims apart from all others under Florida law: each surviving parent may independently recover damages for mental pain and suffering resulting from the child’s death, measured from the date of injury. This is a broader avenue of recovery than what is available in adult wrongful death cases, where pain and suffering damages are limited to specific statutory survivors and may not extend to both parents equally. The Florida Legislature deliberately crafted this broader protection to acknowledge that the death of a child inflicts a category of suffering that defies comparison—a devastation that reshapes every remaining day of a parent’s life.
Beyond parental pain and suffering, the personal representative of the child’s estate may pursue recovery for the child’s own conscious pain and suffering between the time of injury and the time of death, as well as medical expenses and funeral costs. In cases involving egregious negligence—such as a trucking company that knowingly allowed a fatigued or impaired driver to operate, or that systematically failed to maintain its vehicles—punitive damages may also be available under Florida law to punish the wrongdoer and deter similar corporate indifference to human life.
Navigating these claims requires an attorney who understands the interplay between Florida’s wrongful death statutes, federal trucking regulations, and the multi-layered insurance structures that commercial carriers use to shield their assets. With nearly 50 years of combined trial experience, Kaiser Romanello has the courtroom expertise to fight through every layer of corporate defense and deliver the accountability these families deserve.
Why Interstate 10 in the Florida Panhandle Is Especially Dangerous for Tractor-Trailer Crashes
Interstate 10 is the primary east-west freight corridor across northern Florida, carrying commercial traffic between Jacksonville, Tallahassee, Pensacola, and beyond into Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. The Walton County stretch near mile marker 86 is a two-lane-per-direction segment with limited shoulders and variable speed differentials between passenger vehicles and fully loaded tractor-trailers.
Contributing factors that make this corridor particularly hazardous include high-speed commercial traffic traveling alongside families on vacation heading to and from the Gulf Coast, limited lighting and visibility in rural stretches, and the fatigue factor inherent in long-haul routes that cross multiple time zones. Crashes on I-10 in Walton County, Okaloosa County, and the surrounding Panhandle region frequently involve the catastrophic speed and weight mismatches that make tractor-trailer collisions so much more deadly than passenger vehicle accidents.
As Florida-based trial lawyers with nearly 50 years of combined courtroom experience, we possess a specific familiarity with the Panhandle and Walton County I-10 corridor that out-of-state firms and volume settlement shops simply cannot match. We understand the unique hazards of this stretch—the narrow two-lane configuration, the absence of adequate lighting between DeFuniak Springs and Crestview, the seasonal tourist surges that mix passenger vehicles with heavy commercial freight, and the jurisdictional complexities of crashes involving carriers licensed in multiple states passing through Walton, Okaloosa, and Holmes Counties. When we investigate a crash on I-10, we know the roads, we know the courts, and we know what it takes to win in this jurisdiction.
Frequently Asked Questions: I-10 Trucking Accidents and Florida Wrongful Death Claims
Q: How do you hold a trucking company liable for a crash on I-10?
You prove negligence in hiring, maintenance, supervision, or federal safety violations. Trucking company liability typically rests on one or more legal theories: direct negligence in hiring, training, or supervising the driver; vicarious liability under the doctrine of respondeat superior; negligent maintenance of the vehicle; and violations of federal FMCSA regulations. An aggressive attorney will investigate the carrier’s safety record, driver qualification files, maintenance logs, and electronic data to build the strongest possible case. In many instances, multiple parties—including the driver, the trucking company, the vehicle owner, the cargo loader, and maintenance contractors—share responsibility. Kaiser Romanello’s relentless approach ensures that every liable party is identified and held accountable.
Q: What are the unique laws for wrongful death of a child in Florida?
Florida law grants each surviving parent independent recovery for mental pain and suffering. Under the Florida Wrongful Death Act (§768.16–26, Fla. Stat.), this broader recovery for parents of deceased minor children is deliberately more expansive than what is available for adult decedents. The child’s estate may also seek damages for the child’s own conscious pain and suffering prior to death, along with medical and funeral expenses. In cases of gross negligence, punitive damages may be pursued. Because these claims involve specific procedural requirements—including the appointment of a personal representative—it is critical to retain experienced trial counsel early in the process.
Q: Why is immediate evidence preservation critical in tractor-trailer accidents?
Because trucking companies destroy or overwrite critical evidence within days. Carriers routinely deploy rapid-response teams after a crash to manage the scene and protect their interests. Electronic data from ELDs and black boxes can be overwritten. Driver toxicology samples degrade over time. Maintenance records can be “lost.” Surveillance footage from nearby businesses may be recorded over. An aggressive trucking accident attorney sends spoliation preservation letters within hours of being retained, putting all potentially liable parties on legal notice that they must preserve every piece of evidence. Failure to act quickly can mean the permanent loss of proof that would have established negligence. At Kaiser Romanello, evidence preservation is the first phone call we make.
Q: What types of compensation are available to families after a fatal trucking accident in Florida?
Families may recover for pain and suffering, lost support, and punitive damages. Depending on the circumstances, available compensation includes the survivors’ mental pain and suffering, loss of the decedent’s companionship and guidance, lost future earnings and support, medical expenses incurred prior to death, and funeral and burial costs. In cases of egregious corporate misconduct, punitive damages may also apply. Commercial trucking policies often carry $1 million or more in coverage, and in some cases multiple policies apply. With nearly 50 years of combined trial experience, Kaiser Romanello knows how to identify every available source of recovery and fight for the maximum result.
Q: How long do I have to file a wrongful death lawsuit after a trucking accident in Florida?
Florida’s statute of limitations is generally two years from the date of death. However, given the complexity of commercial trucking cases and the urgency of evidence preservation, it is strongly advisable to consult with an attorney as soon as possible after the crash. Early retention allows your legal team to begin the investigation, preserve critical evidence, and protect your family’s rights before deadlines expire. Waiting costs you leverage—every day that passes is a day the trucking company uses to build its defense while your evidence disappears.
Our Hearts Are with the Families: How Kaiser Romanello Can Help
No article, no legal analysis, and no amount of expertise can undo the devastation of losing a child. We understand that, and we approach every case involving the death of a minor with the reverence and gravity it demands.
But compassion without action changes nothing. If your family has been affected by a tractor-trailer accident on I-10 or anywhere in Florida, Kaiser Romanello Accident & Injury Attorneys is here to shoulder the legal burden so you can focus on what matters most—your family, your healing, and honoring the memory of your loved ones. While you grieve, we go to war against the trucking companies, the insurers, and the corporate defense teams whose only goal is to minimize what your family is owed.
We offer free, confidential consultations. There are no fees unless we recover compensation for you. With nearly 50 years of combined trial experience—not behind a desk, but inside Florida courtrooms—we have the resources, the knowledge, and the relentless commitment to go toe-to-toe with the largest trucking companies and their insurers.
Call Kaiser Romanello Accident & Injury Attorneys today. We don’t take ‘low’ for an answer.
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