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Injured driver in Epping gasoline tanker crash sues after insurer denies $2 million policy claim

By Jason Schreiber Union Leader Correspondent Feb 5, 2021 Updated Feb 5, 2021

The driver of a gasoline tanker that overturned in Epping when he was allegedly struck by a distracted driver is suing the transportation company’s insurer after it refused to pay him a policy limit of $2 million.

Jeffry Beaulieu and his wife, Alicia, of New Boston recently filed suit against A.I.G. Property and Casualty Insurance Company over the serious injuries he suffered in the Dec. 16, 2019 crash after he was thrown from the truck and became covered in fuel as more than 6,000 gallons of gasoline spilled out along the side of Route 101.

“Mr. Beaulieu was out of work for one year and he recently returned to work at a different employer no longer driving trucks. He has not recovered from his injuries,” said his attorney, Michael Rainboth of the law firm Rainboth, Murphy and Lown in Portsmouth.

According to authorities, Beaulieu was operating the tanker truck owned by JP Noonan Transportation Inc. westbound in the right lane of Route 101 when Desiree Gulyban’s 2003 Volvo veered into the left side of the truck.

The impact forced the truck off the highway and caused it to roll over. It ended up down an embankment, where 6,000 of the 11,000 gallons of gasoline in the tanker leaked out.

Beaulieu was ejected from the tanker truck.

Gulyban, 26, has been indicted on one count each of felony second-degree assault and reckless conduct with a deadly weapon.

The charges accuse Gulyban of swerving her car out of her travel lane and/or talking on the phone while she was driving.

The lawsuit, filed in Rockingham County Superior Court, stated that Gulyban was allegedly distracted by her cellphone at the time and had a “duty to operate her motor vehicle in a careful, lawful and prudent manner.”

Gulyban’s vehicle wasn’t insured, but the suit said Beaulieu was covered under JP Noonan’s insurance policy.

Beaulieu demanded the $2 million policy limit under the uninsured motorist coverage provision, but A.I.G. has refused to pay it and has breached its contract, according to the suit.

Rainboth said Beaulieu has suffered permanent injuries, which include scarring from burns resulting from the gasoline spill.

A.I.G. has not yet filed a formal response to the suit in court.

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