They worked the wreckage for hours. Nobody mentioned the acid
Six first responders worked a fiery truck crash on an Arkansas highway for hours - none of them knew they were breathing in acid.
The Supreme Court of Arkansas has upheld a $75 million jury verdict against Old Dominion Freight Line, one of the largest trucking companies in the US, after six men who responded to a 2018 highway crash suffered permanent lung damage from exposure to formic acid that nobody told them was on the truck.
The 4-3 decision, delivered on November 5, 2026, found Old Dominion negligent for failing to tell emergency responders that its overturned trailer contained the acid - a corrosive chemical that causes severe harm when inhaled. The court rejected all 12 arguments the company raised on appeal.
The crash happened on Highway 70 in St. Francis County, Arkansas, on April 20, 2018. A pickup truck crossed the center line and hit the Old Dominion semitruck head-on, killing the pickup driver and flipping the trailer. The parties agreed Old Dominion was not at fault for the collision itself.
What happened next was the problem. A sheriff’s deputy testified that he asked the driver whether the trailer contained hazardous materials. According to the court’s opinion, the driver said no. A state trooper gave the same account, though the driver disputed that version. Dispatch was told the scene was clear.
Two law enforcement officers and a four-person towing crew from a local family-run company worked the wreckage for hours - no masks, no protective equipment, no warning.
Then the smell hit. One crew member said it felt like someone pressed a wet washcloth over his nose and mouth and “just took your breath completely away.” Another said it was “like somebody stuck a sack” over his head. A third described it as a pillow held against his face until he could not breathe.
Old Dominion did not tell authorities about the 565-pound barrel of formic acid on the trailer until 8:51 that evening - more than five hours after the crash. Federal law did not require a hazardous-materials warning label because the barrel weighed under 1,001 pounds, though Old Dominion could have displayed one voluntarily.
All six sought emergency treatment that night. At the December 2021 trial, a medical expert testified that the acid exposure caused permanent injuries - including chronic breathing conditions and acid reflux - that cannot be cured and will only get worse with age. He described the men’s daily reality as “breathing through a straw.”
The jury awarded $25 million to one trooper, $20 million to the towing company’s co-owner, $15 million to a sheriff’s corporal, and $5 million each to three remaining crew members. It declined to award punitive damages, meaning the entire $75 million was compensation for their injuries alone.
Old Dominion argued on appeal that federal transport law should override the state negligence claims, and that first responders accept hazardous risks as part of their job. The court disagreed on both counts. It found the company’s duty to identify hazardous cargo when asked by emergency responders matched what federal law already required - so there was no conflict. And the responders were not trained, equipped, or paid to handle toxic chemical exposure. The company’s silence about the hidden danger meant it could not hide behind a doctrine designed for risks that rescuers knowingly accept.
A hazardous-materials transportation expert also testified that Old Dominion’s employees were not adequately trained on what to do after a crash involving dangerous cargo.
Three justices dissented, arguing the damages were excessive and that the medical evidence was not strong enough to prove the acid caused the injuries. The majority pushed back, pointing out that the jury heard detailed testimony from each man, weighed the evidence, and deliberately awarded different amounts - a sign, the court said, that the verdicts reflected the individual facts, not emotion.
For HR and safety leaders, the arithmetic is hard to miss: $75 million in damages, zero punitive - all from training gaps and a five-hour disclosure failure.
The decision is final. The supreme court vacated a lower appellate ruling that had partially overturned the verdict.
