A Phillipsburg, New Jersey, company found guilty of allowing a truck to operate with faulty brakes, resulting in a crash that killed the driver on March 19, 2012, in East Union Township doesn't have to pay the $398 in court costs and a fine, the state Superior Court has ruled.

According to the seven-page ruling, state trooper Joseph DeLash, who is certified by the United States Department of Transportation's Office of Motor Carriers as an inspector, examined the truck after the crash.The accident happened at 8:50 a.m. when driver Humberto A. Mendieta of Whitehall lost control of the rig, which was carrying concrete water pipes to a construction site in Girardville, near the intersection of routes 339 and 924 in Brandonville.DeLash determined that three of the 10 brakes on the tractor-trailer were nonfunctional. He cited the company according to the North American Standard Out-of-Service criteria, which states that a vehicle is out of service if 20 percent or more of its service brakes are defective.On Aug. 21, 2012, SMP pleaded not guilty before District Judge Anthony Kilker, Shenandoah. But Kilker found the company guilty and fined it $300, plus another $98 in costs.SMP appealed to Schuylkill County court. On Dec. 13, 2012, Judge Cyrus Palmer Dolbin upheld the district judge's ruling.SMP then took the battle to the state court, which on March 18 tossed the citations because, judges said, DeLash failed to inspect the tractor-trailer in accordance with federal standards."Trooper DeLash's inspection of the vehicle did not comply with the North American Standard Inspection procedure," Judge Anne E. Lazarus wrote."The trooper's failure to comply with the (provided) requirement may have resulted in an incorrect reading, in which case a criminal citation may have been issued improperly," she wrote.