New Jersey Delivery Worker Secures $2.225 Million After Ryder Truck Lift Gate Fails

In July 2013, a New Jersey worker was completing a commercial delivery when the lift gate on his rented Ryder truck failed without warning. He was standing on the platform lowering cargo when the mechanism gave way. The gate dropped and he fell to the ground, beginning a years-long dispute over equipment safety and a rental company's duty to maintain its fleet.

The plaintiff, identified in settlement records as Lopez, required medical treatment immediately after the fall and ultimately underwent multiple surgeries. The procedures addressed serious injuries, but full recovery proved out of reach. Lopez emerged from treatment with lasting physical restrictions, including limited capacity to lift, persistent difficulty bending, and an inability to return to the strenuous demands of delivery work. Those restrictions were not temporary. They translated directly into reduced earning potential and permanent changes to his daily life.

Attorneys John Ratkowitz and Robert H. Baumgarten of Ginarte Gallardo Gonzalez & Winograd (now Ginarte Gonzalez & Winograd) sued Ryder Truck Rentals on a negligent maintenance theory. The core argument centered on Ryder's obligations as the owner and commercial lessor of the vehicle. A national rental company sending trucks into service for paying customers has a duty to inspect each unit and ensure that every working component, including lift gate mechanisms, is safe before it reaches the customer. A gate that collapses without any unusual operator error is not a random breakdown; it indicates that something in the inspection and maintenance chain failed. The Ginarte attorneys argued that Ryder placed a vehicle with a defective or improperly maintained lift gate into active service and that the resulting dangerous condition directly caused Lopez's fall.

Lift gate failure cases against rental companies carry specific legal challenges. The equipment is manufactured by a third party, raising questions about whether liability belongs to the manufacturer, the rental company, or both. Ratkowitz and Baumgarten focused their theory on Ryder as the entity with direct control over the vehicle's condition at the time of rental, pressing the case on maintenance obligations rather than product defect.

The case settled in 2018 in New Jersey Superior Court for $2,225,000. TopVerdict placed the result at rank 26 on its list of the Top 100 New Jersey Settlements for that year. Robert H. Baumgarten has since moved to Fredson Statmore Bitterman; John Ratkowitz remains a partner at Ginarte Gonzalez & Winograd in Newark.