YOUNGSTOWN — The estate of Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper Nicholas Cayton has filed a lawsuit against the driver of the concrete truck who hit the back of Cayton’s cruiser Oct. 16 on state Route 11 in Canfield, killing Cayton.

The estate also sued the company where the truck driver worked. The truck driver who was injured but survived the crash also has filed a lawsuit naming those same defendants.

A suit filed Tuesday by Lynsey Cayton, wife of Cayton and administrator of his estate, names as defendants TRDB Investments LLC, doing business as Quaker City Concrete Products of New Waterford; Ryan Rach of Canfield; Nelson DeJesus Herrera-Vazquez of Ocala, Fla.; and John and Jane Does as defendants.

Rach is the Quaker City Concrete driver who hit the back of Nicholas Cayton’s cruiser while Cayton was assisting semi-tractor-trailer driver Vazquez with his disabled vehicle in the northbound lanes of the highway. Vazquez was reportedly seriously injured.

The lawsuit alleges that Vazquez was operating a 2024 Kenworth tractor-trailer on Route 11 that day when it became disabled. He called 911, and Cayton responded to the scene.

“During (Cayton’s) assistance, he returned to his … patrol vehicle,” the suit states.

“Rach, who was operating a Mack northbound on Route 11, collided with the … patrol vehicle. As a result of the crash (Cayton) was pronounced dead at the scene.”

The suit alleges that “as a direct and proximate result of defendants’ negligent conduct, (Cayton) suffered wrongful death and the next of kin, including but not limited to his spouse, Lynsey A. Cayton, his two children and his parents,” suffered the loss of support from the expected earning capacity of Nicholas Cayton, loss of companionship, care, assistance, attention, protection, advice, guidance, counsel, instruction, training and education; loss of prospective inheritance; mental anguish; and funeral and burial expenses.

The suit states that Rach was working in the course and scope of his job with Quaker City at the time of the crash and that he “owed a duty to operate the Mack truck in a safe and reasonable manner and breached that duty by negligently operating the Mack truck.” The suit alleges that Quaker City is “vicariously liable” for Cayton’s “wrongful death.”

The suit alleges negligent hiring of Rach by Quaker City, alleging that the company “knew or should have known that Rach was unfit, incompetent, inexperienced, unsafe or otherwise unable to safely operate the Mack truck under the circumstances then existing.”

The suit also alleges negligence by Rach, stating that he “had a duty to operate his Mack truck in a safe and reasonable manner,” that he “breached that duty” and his “actions were a direct and proximate cause of the crash.”

The suit, filed by attorney Brian Kopp, alleges that Vasquez also was negligent, alleging that he “had a duty to maintain and operate his tractor-trailer in a safe and reasonable manner and his actions “were a direct and proximate cause of the crash.”

The suit names John / Jane Does, who the suit alleges “had a duty to act reasonably in hiring, maintaining, supervising and retaining Vazquez or Rach and to promulgate and enforce rules and regulations to ensure that its drivers and vehicles were reasonably safe.”

The suit alleges that they “breached those duties.”

The suit seeks at least $125,000, “jointly and severally,” plus attorneys’ fees and costs of the lawsuit from the defendants.

EARLIER SUIT

Vazquez filed his own lawsuit in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court June 1. His lawsuit names Rach and TRDB Investments, doing business as Quaker City Concrete Products, as defendants but adds one other defendant, Progressive Direct Insurance of Mayfield Village. It alleges that Vazquez suffered “serious personal injuries.”

The suit also alleges that Rach “was acting within the scope of his employment/agency with Quaker City” at the time of the crash. Quaker City “permitted Rach to operate the commercial motor vehicle involved in the incident … despite Quaker City’s knowledge of Rach’s poor driving history.”

The suit states that on Oct. 16, Vazquez was driving his truck in the right lane on Route 11 just past Leffingwell Road in Canfield Township and “legally maintaining his lane of traffic” when his truck “became disabled,” prompting him to stop and inspect the malfunction. He dialed 911, resulting in Cayton arriving and parking behind the Vazquez vehicle with emergency lights activated.

At the same time, Rach came up from behind the Vasquez truck and the cruiser, and “Despite traffic slowing due to the earlier disabled vehicle and emergency response, Rach failed to stop in time as he approached the scene and violently struck the rear of the patrol vehicle at a high rate of speed, initiating a chain reaction collision,” the suit states.

“The force of that impact pushed the patrol vehicle forward into the disabled tractor-trailer, while the striking truck also contacted the tractor-trailer. The tractor-trailer was then forced forward and struck (Vazquez), who was outside his vehicle. After the sequence of events, the striking truck continued forward and collided with a bridge rail,” the suit states.

Vazquez “suffered severe and disabling injuries,” the suit states.

The suit states that Rach was “negligent. careless and reckless in the operation of his vehicle, and he had a duty to obey the traffic laws of the State of Ohio.” The suit alleges that Rach failed to keep a proper and sufficient lookout for traffic on the roadway, failed to keep his commercial motor vehicle under proper control, failed to slow down or stop to avoid the collision, failed to alter his direction of travel to avoid the crash, operated his vehicle at a speed greater than reasonable and proper without regard to roadway and traffic conditions, failed to yield to other traffic and other allegations.

The suit, which was filed by attorney Fanon Rucker of Cincinnati, states that Quaker City is “liable for the misconduct and acts of its employees and agents,” including Rach.

It alleges that Quaker City was negligent in hiring Rach, and Quaker City / and / or Rach failed to properly inspect, maintain and / or repair the commercial truck, including its braking system, tires, steering, lights or other safety-related components, and those failures contributed to the collision.”

The suit seeks unspecified amounts of compensatory damages against the defendants and punitive damages, as well as attorney’s fees, costs and expenses.

QUAKER CITY PRODUCTS RESPONSE

Quaker City Products filed a response June 16 to the Vazquez lawsuit, stating several defenses, including that Vazquez failed to name “necessary parties” to the lawsuit, that the “negligence of (Vazquez) caused and / or contributed to cause the damages alleged” and that Vazquez’s injuries and damages, if any, were caused by intervening and/or superseding causes for which these defendants bear no legal liability.”

Furthermore, the Quaker City response denies a large percentage of the allegations in the lawsuit, such as the section that stated that Quaker City permitted Rach to drive the truck “despite Quaker City’s knowledge of Rach’s poor driving history.”

A check of driving charges in the Mahoning County Area Courts shows that Rach, 36, has had a number of cases since 2009, including an insecure load, no lights on, OVI, and three charges of speeding.

Quaker City also denied the paragraph in Vazquez’s complaint alleging that “despite traffic slowing due to the earlier disabled vehicle and emergency response, Rach failed to stop in time as he approached the scene and violently struck the rear of the patrol vehicle at a high rate of speed, initiating a chain reaction.”

The response denied that “Rach’s negligence caused the collision” and that “as a direct and proximate result of this collision, (Vazquez) suffered severe and disabling injuries.”

The response also denied a paragraph that listed a number of things the suit alleged that Rach negligently did, such as failing to keep his vehicle under control or slowing down or stopping his vehicle to avoid striking the Cayton vehicle.

Mahoning County court records do not indicate that Rach has been charged with any offense in connection to the crash.