Monroe & Son

We understand the claimant’s frustration in having to deal with a cracked windshield and apologize to her for the inconvenience. I spoke with our safety coordinator, and reviewed all the correspondence from VDOT, our insurance company, and the claimant. The incident occurred on Saturday, Aug. 15th...

and a report was forwarded to our loss control person on Wednesday, Aug. 19th. Our claims person talked to the claimant and wrote her a letter denying her claim on the same day. Based on what he heard, it was determined that the breakage was due to a road hazard, which means we had no control over the incident. Furthermore, from the e-mails I read, she stated to both VDOT and our safety coordinator that she wasn’t sure if her windshield cracked because of the bump or a rock striking it.
As far as our work zone, we are required by VDOT to place all our work signs
(Including a bump sign when needed) in accordance with their specifications. The bridge repair work we did on this bridge is typical of the work we have done for VDOT for over 30 years, and we have consistently performed our work in a safe manner. I can find no correspondence from VDOT telling us we had our traffic control devices set-up wrong on this project.
We suggested the claimant get her insurance agent to contact our carrier if she wanted to challenge this ruling. We depend on our claims person to make a judgment on our claims with the intent to be as fair to the claimant as possible. We know that it may not always appear that way, but we truly want to be fair and impartial in resolving any issues that pertain to us and our work sites.