Bradley Baumann v. Vladimir Zhukov

LOKEN, Circuit Judge.

A deadly crash involving truck drivers Vladimir Zhukov and Keith Johnson rendered westbound Interstate 80 impassible near Potter, Nebraska, in the early hours of September 9, 2012. Approximately forty minutes later, Christopher and Diana Schmidt and their two children were stopped at the end of the nearly mile-long traffic jam when a truck driven by Josef Slezak smashed into their vehicles, tragically killing them and Diana’s unborn child. The administrators of the Schmidts’ estates sued, among others, Zhukov, Zhukov’s equipment provider, and Zhukov’s and Johnson’s…