COEUR d'ALENE - A logging truck driver and his employer are being sued for wrongful death from a traffic accident in October on U.S. 95 that killed a Lake City High School student.

Carl E. Winzer, the father of the 18-year-old student, James F. Winzer, filed the lawsuit Wednesday in 1st District Court through his attorney Gary Amendola.

On the morning of Oct. 24, James Winzer was on his way to school and pulled onto U.S. 95 from Carnie Road and collided with a southbound tractor-trailer rig operated by Ronnie V. Ament, of Athol.

Ament was driving as an employee of Joe Wright Logging Inc., of Dalton Gardens.

The lawsuit said it was foggy at the time and the pavement was wet, and that Ament was allegedly exceeding the highway speed limit.

Winzer's 2003 Chevy Avalanche and Ament's 2007 Kenworth tractor-trailer collided nearly head-on. The accident occurred about eight miles south of Coeur d'Alene.

"As a direct and proximate result of the negligence of Ronnie V. Ament and Joe Wright Logging Inc., James F. Winzer was killed," the lawsuit said.

Joe Wright Logging had a duty to ensure its employees drove safely, it said. Representatives from the company couldn't immediately be reached for comment Friday.

Carl Winzer is suffering "grief which is indescribable and has sustained economic and non-economic damages in an amount to be proven at trial."

Judge Benjamin Simpson has been assigned the case.