SHORT TAKES : Estefan Files Lawsuit in Crash

SCRANTON, Pa. —  Pop singer Gloria Estefan sued a truck driver and others Thursday, saying injuries she suffered in a March traffic accident resulted the loss of “many millions” of dollars in earnings.

The suit was filed in U.S. District Court on behalf of Estefan, her husband Emilio, their son Nayib and two other members of her entourage injured in the March 20 collision on a snow-slick highway in the Pocono Mountains. The 32-count lawsuit did not specify a damage amount, but asked for more than $50,000. Estefan’s lawyers requested a jury trial.

Estefan, 32, suffered a broken vertebra when a truck driven by Heraldo Samuels of Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, plowed into the rear of her tour bus near Tobyhanna. At the time, traffic was stopped because of an earlier truck accident. The lead singer for the Miami Sound Machine underwent surgery March 22 in New York to implant two steel rods in her back. Doctors said she would need at least six months rehabilitation.

Named as defendants were Samuels; his employer, Ventura Transport Inc.; Flexi-Van Leasing Inc., the owner of the truck; Maersk Inc., and three other Maersk-affiliated companies. Maersk was the shipper of the pitted dates Samuels was hauling on his truck, the suit said.