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October 20, 1998 12:00 AM, EDT

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is suing a trucking company to recover the $2.7 million damage caused to a section of Interstate 95 by a gasoline tanker crash.

The suit was filed in Delaware County Court against the estate of driver Keith Thomas and his employer, Samuel Coraluzzo Co. of Vineland, N.J. It charges that negligence and carelessness caused the Memorial Day weekend accident that resulted in the deaths of Mr. Thomas and another motorist.

Mr. Thomas was driving his gasoline-filled tanker when he veered into oncoming traffic, hit a pickup truck and smashed into a concrete divider. The tanker exploded on impact and caused damage so severe that two lanes of I-95 were closed for a month.

An initial report said the crash was caused by another motorist who swerved in front of Mr. Thomas’s truck, but police could find no additional evidence to back up that claim.

A Federal Highway Administration inquiry into the accident concluded driver fatigue was the cause. The Coraluzzo company was fined $11,000 after investigators uncovered hours-of-service violations and found that Mr. Thomas had exceeded his time limits by five hours the day before the crash (TT, 8-31-98, p. 3).

Bob Kelly, the lawyer representing the trucking company, could not be reached for comment last week.