Articles Posted in Trucking Litigation

We were pleased to get word today that a federal court in Georgia denied a motion for partial summary judgment to exclude a claim for punitive damages against a trucking company that had chosen to turn a blind eye to drivers’ hours of service violations.  For discussion of legal issues involved, see previous posts on…

Fri., 3/9/07, Calhoun, GA.  In a scene reminiscent of the 1982 Paul Newman movie, “The Verdict,” the jury after three hours of deliberation Thursday afternoon sent a note to the judge asking if they were limited by the amount the plaintiff asked for.   In closing argument I had asked for a verdict of approximately…

A leading case on punitive damages regarding systemic failure to manage drivers’ hours in the interstate commercial driver fatigue context is Came v. Micou, 2005 WL 1500978 (M.D.Pa.,2005), in which the plaintiff overcame summary judgment on a claim for punitive damages.  Among the several factors considered in determining that the defendants’ conduct  constituted “reckless indifference…

    Punitive damages are designed to “penalize, punish or deter” conduct that shows “willful misconduct, malice, fraud, wantonness, oppression, or that entire want of care which would raise the presumption of conscious indifference to consequences.”  Such conduct must be proven by “clear and convincing evidence.”  Therefore, we pursue a punitive damages claim at trial only…

Fortunately no one was injured when the driver of an 18-wheeler mail truck fell asleep on I-75 near Macon at 3:30 AM, over-corrected when he woke with a start, and went over an embankment.  However, two of three northbound lanes were closed several hours and the GA DOT will have to replace a guard rail. …

Richard Miller at Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog this week posted a commentary on the adverse inference from spoliation (loss or destruction) of truck driver logs, referring to case law including a Georgia case.  It’s a topic of continuing interest in trucking litigation. The Shigley Law Firm  represents plaintiffs in wrongful death and catastrophic injury cases…

I have nothing against anyone with an impairment of vision or hearing.  I couldn’t live in my house if I did.  But sometimes safety trumps equal opportunity. One of those circumstances is in the operation of 80,000 pound tractor trailers at 70 mph on public highways.  Recently we encountered a situation in which a truck…

The MCS-90 is an endorsement on a trucking company’s liability insurance policy, required by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, which serves the function of a surety for safety of the public. Even if the the trucking company is not entitled to liability coverage due to some exception or exclusion in the insurance policy, an…

Occasionally, a motor carrier or freight broker may be held liable for negligent hiring of an incompetent independent contractor if it should have known, or might by the exercise of reasonable care could have found out, that the contractor was not competent.  A competent contractor is defined as “a contractor who possesses the knowledge, skill,…

The “statutory employee” rules regarding “independent contractor” truck drivers generally are sufficient to hold trucking companies financially responsible for their drivers’ negligence. However, when there are gaps to be filled an old Restatement of Torts rule that was used by courts prior to development of the “statutory employee” rule, may be just the right tool…