Mueller family files lawsuit against truck driver, farmers

The family of a 72-year-old Cummings, N.D. woman has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in connection with the accident that killed her last summer.
Barbara Mueller was killed July 25 when her SUV struck the tires of a combine being hauled on a trailer. The semi hauling the combine stalled on a bridge near Blanchard, N.D.
Her heirs are seeking at least $50,000 in the lawsuit, which was filed against Ryan Berggren, the driver of the semi truck, and the farmers he worked for, Raedell and Dan Braaten of Braaten Farms of Kindred, N.D.
Berggren, 27 of Walcott, N.D., has been charged with negligent homicide and reckless endangerment in connection with the incident, which also involved another vehicle striking the combine’s tires before Mueller. Berggren has pled not guilty to three felony charges.
Mueller’s relatives have stated they will not comment until the case is resolved. 
The civil case alleges that Berggren was negligent in several ways. The suit asserts that the driver traveled or parked on a highway with a wide load after sunset, hauled the load in an unsafe manner, allowed it to extend into Mueller’s driving lane and failed to warn others of the unsafe load.
The suit also alleges that the Braatens were negligent by failing to properly instruct, train and supervise Berggren; failing to properly service, repair and maintain the vehicle; and failing to provide proper safety equipment, according to documents filed in East Central District Court in Hillsboro.
Berggren and the Braatens deny all of the allegations in their response to the lawsuit. They also assert that Mueller’s death was “the result of her fault or the fault of others over whom (they) exercised no control and for whose acts they have no legal responsibility,” court documents state.
The fatal crash occurred about 10 p.m. along State Hwy. 18 south of Blanchard.
Traveling southbound, Berggren was operating  a semi truck and trailer loaded with a combine. The combine was equipped with dual front tires. The truck was stalled on the bridge when two northbound vehicles stuck the combine’s tires, the N.D. Highway Patrol reported.
The first vehicle received extensive damage but the two people inside were not injured. Mueller was driving the second vehicle. She died at the scene.
The bridge, where the accident occurred is 130 feet long and 30 feet wide from curb to curb, according to the N.D. Dept. of Transportation. The combine measured 17 feet across at its widest point. Neither the trailer nor combine had additional lighting, according to the NDHP report.
Mueller was a lifelong farmer in the area. She is survived by eight grown children, 26 grandchildren, six great-grandchildren and eight siblings.
Berggren is scheduled to go to trial on the criminal charges July 20 in Hillsboro. Bruce Quick, Berggren’s criminal defense attorney, has recommended his client invoke his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent until the criminal cases are finished.
A tentative schedule has been set in the civil case. It calls for a nine-person jury trial to begin no later than February 15, 2010. The trial is expected to take at least seven days and will likely be heard in Hillsboro.