Articles Posted in Trucking Litigation

Trucking safety practices over the past year and a half have been impacted by adoption of the Comprehensive Safety Analysis (CSA) program. The CSA has three components that measure safety performance, evaluating high-risk behaviors and crafting appropriate interventions. For commercial motor carriers, the standards significantly alter how truckers and companies operate and maintain their vehicles…

For the first time in Georgia, a trial judge has allowed web video conference trial testimony from an out of state witness via Skype. Douglas County Superior Court Judge David Emerson allowed Skype testimony of a defense witness in the criminal prosecution of a tractor trailer driver from Texas who was caught in Douglas County…

We often see the tragic outcomes of catastrophic trucking accidents in my Atlanta-based law practice. Therefore, when I travel on the highways I am notice the minority of truckers who ignore safety rules. Usually they get by with it, without a bad outcome, but slackness about safety will almost inevitably lead to catastrophe sooner or…

In truck crash litigation in Georgia, we see how smaller trucking companies often have the least focus on safety rules enforcement. For example, I am  now preparing for trial in a case where a small trucking company was repeatedly fined for scores of  violations of the same safety rules over a three year period before…

Because driver fatigue is one of the most pervasive safety issues in interstate trucking, trucking safety regulations for many years have included rules on how many hours a driver may drive and be on duty. In almost every serious trucking accident, the accuracy of paper driver logs becomes an issue. As a trucking safety trial…

As a trucking accident trial attorney in Atlanta, I often see that the trucking companies involved in bad crashes have had terrible safety evaluations for a long time. Twice in the past few weeks I found in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration safety audits that the companies were cited and fined scores of times…

As an Atlanta trucking accident and wrongful death attorney living in Sandy Springs, I was saddened a couple of weeks ago to hear that a woman had been killed when she was struck by a tractor trailer a couple of exits up from my home, near the high school from which my son graduated. Rosario Velez,…

Today I received the February issue of Trial magazine, which includes my article, When the Trucking Company Goes Under.” It’s based on a seminar paper I presented in San Francisco last summer. I’ve copied it below. Bankruptcy is on the rise for both companies and individuals, so don’t be surprised if your trucking company defendant,…

As a commercial trucking trial attorney in Atlanta, Georgia, I am often called after another lawyer has messed around with a tractor trailer or big rig crash case, not knowing what he is doing, for about eighteen months. By then, much of the evidence that would have been invaluable in preparation of the case has…

The owner of a trucking firm has pleaded guilty to criminal charges arising from the maintenance of a defective and almost brakeless tractor-trailer rig that caused a fatal six car crash in Pennsylvania last January. He is the third man to face criminal sentences due to that wreck. They are: * Owner of tractor portion…