Articles Posted in Trucking Litigation

A tractor trailer driver going too fast to see his way through dense fog Monday morning in Fresno, California killed a young woman on her way to work. According to a report by Jim Steinberg and Vanessa Colón of The Fresno Bee, a big-rig drive Martin Nelson, 22, of Fresno, failed to see stopped traffic…

A big rig driver unable to see his way through dense fog Monday morning in Fresno, California, was going too fast to see stopped traffic through the fog when he struck and killed a young woman . Tractor trailer driver Martin Nelson, 22, of Fresno, failed to see stopped traffic in heavy fog when he…

In my trucking litigation law practice, I all too often see fatal truck accidents that happen in bad weather Despite a federal safety regulation requiring “extreme caution” in hazardous weather, and instructions in the Commercial Drivers License Manual to slow down by at least one-third, truckers under economic pressure from employers, shippers, and sometimes their…

Last Friday, I was one of the speakers at the American Association for Justice Interstate Trucking Litigation Group seminar in Chicago.  It reminded me of my father’s advice to surround myself with people smarter than myself. The collection of new ideas for effective investigation, discovery, preparation and trial in truck crash cases was well worth the…

When cell phones and then text messaging came along, a lot of folks just figured they could drive as safely talking on a cell phone as talking to a passenger. I was one of them.   A couple of years ago we began to see reports of studies showing that driving while talking on a cell…

I’m just a truck wreck lawyer in Georgia, and it’s been about 35 years since my last economics class.  Therefore, I was pleasantly surprised today when I learned that my blog post about  Implications of the economic crisis for trucking and insurance  was cited as one of  the best legal blog posts expressing  insight on…

As a lawyer handling catastrophic trucking accidents, I have repeatedly seen the deadly effects of driver fatigue as truckers are pushed beyond their physical limits by trucking companies and shippers. Now the National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday recommended that trucking companies and the government place increased emphasis on making sure truck drivers follow regulations…

As a truck accident trial lawyer in Atlanta, I’m puzzling over how the falling dominoes in the current crisis on Wall Street will impact the trucking and insurance industries. High fuel prices, hurricanes, dependence on foreign oil, the subprime mortgage mess, the economic rise of China and India, the cost of war in Iraq and…

As a trucking accident trial lawyer in Atlanta, I’m watching the news and wondering what will be the implications in the trucking and insurance sectors. High fuel prices, dependence on foreign oil, hurricanes, the subprime mortgage meltdown, the economic rise of China and India, the ongoing cost of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and deferred…

As a trucking accident trial lawyer, I occasionally see trucking companies try to evade responsibility for their driver. Generally, that is covered adequately by 49 C.F.R. § 390.5 which in the interstate trucking context defines “employee” to include “an independent contractor while in the course of operating a commercial motor vehicle.” But when a really…