Modern Day Trucking Litigation: Exposing Both the Phyiscal and Corporate Cause of the Catastrophic Wreck

Part IX
Handling and Preparing Drive
-The defense attorney must also make immediate contact with the driver for the following reasons:
a. Prepare driver for interview by law enforcement and other government officials
b. Prepare driver for drug and alcohol testing
c. Retain criminal defense counsel
Most transportation companies have a policy that if one of their drivers is involved in a wreck resulting [...]

Modern Day Trucking Litigation: Exposing Both the Physical and Corporate Cause of the Catastrophic Wreck

Part VIII
Keith Dunlap, President of claims administration firm NTA, Inc. surveyed 18 trucking defense attorneys representing some of our nation’s largest trucking companies on whether carriers should collect ECM and trip recorder data following a serious incident and whether carriers should preserve that data even if it is adverse to their case. Not surprisingly, one [...]

Warning! Safety Violations Ahead: Motor Carrier Companies Keep Unsafe Trucks on U.S. Roads

Part VII
Researchers at the American Association for Justice examined data on the entire U.S. trucking industry obtained form the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). Over a million lines of data were analyzed in an effort to pinpoint just how many unsafe trucks might be on the road. The results are shocking. As of April [...]

Modern Day Trucking Litigation: Exposing Both the Physical and Corporate Cause of the Catastrophic Wreck

Part 7:
Ronald Bredmeyer, President of Bredemeyer & Assocaties, a truck consulting and litigation support firm in Abilene, Texas recently wrote in his article “Make or Break Your Trucking Case with Black Box Data”:
Data should be extracted from the ECM as soon as possible after the accident to prevent destruction of evidence- and certainly before [...]

Modern Day Trucking Litigation: Exposing Both the Physical and Corporate Cause of the Catastrophic Wreck

Part 4:
Gather Evidence from Truck- It is critical to gather the following data from the truck as soon as possible; drivers logs, bills of lading, fuel receipts, toll receipts, weigh station ticket, fuel gage information, and personal belongings within the cab.

If you have ever litigated a case of this nature, you know that this [...]

Modern Day Trucking Litigation: Exposing Both the Physical and Corporate Cause of the Catastrophic Wreck

Part 3:
Evaluation of Potential Claims
If it is obvious the accident was caused by driver negligence, or some defect with the truck, strong considerations should be given to making contact with the injured parties…this is commonly referred to as the “empathic approach” to handling a claim and its only appropriate in cases of obvious liability.  If [...]

Modern Day Trucking Litigation: Exposing Both the Physical and Corporate Cause of the Catastrophic Wreck

Part 2:
While at first glance, some may think these units are sent to the scene to “find out what happened,” the reality is the mission is to uncover “how can we get out of this precarious situation.”  But don’t just take my word regarding the purpose of these s.w.a.t. teams.  Instead just look at what [...]

Modern Day Trucking Litigation: Exposing Both the Physical and Corporate Cause of the Catastrophic Wreck

Part 1:
Trucking Litigation involving catastrophic injury in today’s world requires diligence, financial support, an understanding of the complex arena of Federal Motor Carrier Safety regulations and a focused strategy to overcome the numerous hurdles that exist within the discovery process.  One of the potentially difficult hurdles to overcome involves the substantial likelikhood that your investigative [...]