Truck Injury Lawyer Blog : Truck Accident Lawyer & Attorney: Morgan Adams : Contingency Fee Truck Accident Lawyer

Over the last year I put together a one day program, on behalf of the Interstate Trucking Litigation Group, for the American Association for Justice's Annual Convention in San Francisco. This is a national conference, and the biggest gathering of lawyers representing the injured in the US. The lawyers that attend know their stuff and do not suffer fools gladly. You know if you have a bad program because the lawyers will leave. I was proud to be able to select from the best lawyers from across the country for my program and was grateful to each presenter for their time, effort and knowledge. We had a full house for the program and, in many cases, standing room only.

The topics and speakers included:

1. Hard Times in Trucking Litigation: What to Do When the Trucking Defendant or Insurer Goes Under, Ken Shigley
2. Overlooked Issues in Maximizing Damages in a Trucking Case, Robert Karns
3. Unique Discovery Issues in Trucking Cases, Marion Munley
4. When Low Speeds Can Cause Big Injuries: Understanding What Happens When a Big Truck Hits a Small Car, Joseph Fried
5. Overdriving Headlights and Other Night Driving Issues in Interstate Trucking Cases,  Daniel Buba
6. Truck vs. Motorcycle, Lawrence Simon
7. Ethical Considerations in Interstate Trucking Cases,Richard Traulsen
8. The Small Commercial Vehicle Case, Shean Williams
9. Finding Insurance in Truck Crash Cases, Michael Leizerman (unable to present due to a conflict)
10. Brain Injuries in Trucking Cases,Steven Gursten
11. Space Management by Commercial Drivers, Robert Sachs
12. Landmines in Your Case, Rodney Jew

My thanks to each for all their hard work. I would also like to thank the various experts that also presented and explained the inner workings of a trucking company and various accident reconstruction issues.

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I previously posted on the need for higher insurance on commercial motor vehicles, including tractor trailers. (Minimum Insurance Levels on Trucks Unacceptable)

Recently I read another article (blog post) on the subject you might find interesting. The blog was posted by Steve Gursten. The numbers we use are different, I assume based on the assumptions made on inflation or some other variable, but the conclusion is the same. There is not enough insurance for catastrophic injuries at today's insurance levels.

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I suppose that it goes without saying that companies are required to make sure their employees know and follow the law. Does anyone really want an employer turning a blind eye to safety violations so the company can earn a few more dollars? This is particularly true when the employee is behinds the wheel of an 80,000 (or greater) pound truck.

In the trucking industry there is actually a contract between the government (and the people it represents, i.e. you and me) and the trucking company. The Contract requires the company to follow safety rules before it ever gets to put a single truck on the road.  It also requires the company to ensure all of its personnel are trained in these rules and requires all commercial drivers to follow the rules. This contract is called the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSR). 

The company must agree to adhere to the FMCSR before it can put a single truck on the road. The company in turn is required to make sure each of its drivers follows and is trained in the FMCSR. The driver is required to sign a receipt for a copy of the FMCSR to keep in his truck so he can refer to them at need. The receipt looks like this: receipt.  

The importance of these safety laws is so critical that the driver, the lowest level employee, must also become signatory to the contract between the the government and the trucking company,. The trucking company must ensure the driver is familiar with the FMCSR before he takes his first truck on the road. Failure to adhere to the safety contract, the FMCSR, by either the driver or the company, eventually results in needless death on our roads.

My friend, Ken Shigley, posted a blog on companies being required train their drivers on the FMCSR not long ago entitled "Ignorance of Trucking Rules No Excuse." 

Some of the laws that Ken points out as applicable include: 

49 C.F.R. § 390.11 requires: “Whenever . . . a duty is prescribed for a driver or a prohibition is imposed upon the driver, it shall be the duty of the motor carrier to require observance of such duty or prohibition. If the motor carrier is a driver, the driver shall likewise be bound.”

49 C.F.R. § 390.3(e) requires that "Every employer shall be knowledgeable of and comply with all
regulations contained in this subchapter which are applicable to that motor carrier’s operations."  It also states that "Every driver and employee shall be instructed regarding, and shall comply with, all applicable regulations contained in this subchapter."

49 C.F.R. § 390.5(e) requires that trucking companies must be familiar with trucking regulations and instruct their drivers, dispatchers and other employees.

49 C.F.R. § 392.1 provides: “Every motor carrier, its officers, agents, representatives, and employees responsible for the management, maintenance, operation, or driving of commercial motor vehicles, or the hiring, supervising, training, assigning, or dispatching of drivers, shall be instructed in and comply with the rules in this part.”

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I often get asked by lawyers "where do you find the rules of the road and basic safety standards" for your cases?

There are lots of sources for these rules, which are easy to find if you work in the industry, harder to find if you are on the outside and unfamiliar with the trucking industry. Nonetheless the federal government has done a good job covering the basics in its ACCIDENT PREVENTION MANUAL. The manual covers the basic types of wrecks and the federal motor carrier safety regulations (FMCSR) that were violated in causing the wreck. It is free for download or copies can be ordered for a nominal fee.

The Truck Accident Lawyers at the Law Offices of Morgan Adams concentrate in protecting the rights of those who were seriously injured or lost a loved one in an accident with a commercial truck or bus. Our lawyers are based in Tennessee, but serve clients throughout the nation. If you or someone you love has been seriously hurt by a careless driver, don’t sign anything the trucking company gives you -- contact us as soon as possible at 800-580-4878 or by email to learn more at a free, confidential consultation.

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The safety rating system currently in use by the FMCSA, Safestat,  will change shortly to a new program called CSA 2010. Why change safety rating systems in the trucking industry?

In the 1980's there was approximately 300,000 trucking companies. That number has ballooned to over 675,000 carriers currently operating in the US. Additionally the miles driven and the trucks on the road at these carriers has increased. Freight volume shipped by trucks in the US is expected to grow 50% over the next 20 years, and the country's infrastructure will not even come close to keeping up. 

Since the 1980's the primary tool for carrier evaluation by the FMCSA has been a compliance review (CR). The CR takes days to conduct, is paper and manpower intensive, and is the only way that the FMCSA has to assign safety ratings. Under the CR process less than 2% of trucking companies in America were inspected in a given year. Another problem was that once a rating is given it doesn't expire until the carrier is rated again, regardless of how bad the carrier is currently. The rating has improperly become a "seal of approval" even though it was meant to simply take a snapshot of the company at one point in time. The process was the same whether the company had one truck or 1,000. Companies found to violate the safety regulations were assessed small civil penalties. The civil penalties for these violations were modest on the whole, with some carriers simply concluding that they were the cost of doing business.

Currently under the Safestat system carriers were assessed under 4 areas (1. Driver 2. Vehicle 3. Safety Management and 4. Accident). The new CSA 2010 system will measure seven areas (1. Unsafe Driving 2. Fatigued Driving 3. Driver Fitness 4. Vehicle Maintenance 5. Improper Loading/Cargo Securement 6. Crash History 7. Controlled substance/Alcohol) and has been tested in 4 states (Colorado, Georgia, Missouri, and New Jersey). As with any new system there will be implementation problems but, if properly used, the system will result in safer roadways. Already the system has resulted in many more warnings and other contacts from the FMCSA to unsafe carriers.

Other changes involve the fact that CSA 2010 includes two new safety measurement systems (SMS), one for carriers (CSMS) and one for drivers (DSMS). Drivers were never directly measured before for safety under the SafeStat system. The 7 factors, above, will be assessed for each driver and a weighted score will be give to each violation found for the driver or the company. The more likely the violation is to cause a crash, the greater the score. Thus carriers can find out from one source, assuming everything is reported and false identities are not used, what they need to know about a potential driver before hiring them. Bad drivers, in a perfect world, will find it much harder, or even impossible, to find a job.

The safety ratings that we are familiar with under SafeStat are Satisfactory, Conditional, and Unfit. These will be replaced by Continue to Operate, Marginal, or Unfit. Marginal ratings will result in FMCSA intervention while unfit ratings will result in a suspension. Intervention will be as follows, from least to most severe:

1.  Warning Letter
2. Targeted Roadside Inspection
3. Off site Inspection
4. On-Site Investigation - Focused
5. Cooperative Safety Plan 
6. Notice of Violation
7. On-Site Investigation - Comprehensive
8. Notice of Claim
9. Settlement Agreement
10. Unfit Suspension

More on this topic later where I will discuss, in part 2, the CSMS and in part 3, the DSMS.

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The American Association for Justice is the worlds largest organization of lawyers representing the injured in America. At their recent meeting in San Francisco, I was elected chair of the Interstate Trucking Litigation Group. This group is responsible for pushing for safety issues (those acts that can be taken by trucking companies to prevent wrecks) and for justice issues (dealing with the aftermath of a truck wreck). As part of that mission the ITLG is responsible for educating the 10's of thousand lawyer members of AAJ on the proper handling of a tractor trailer cases.

I would like to thank the other officers for their hard work to date, and the work they will be doing. The officers for the 2009-2010 year are:

Chair: Morgan Adams - Tennessee

Chair Elect: Dr. Brad Bradshaw - Missouri

Secretary: Daniel Munley - Pennsylvania

Treasurer: Daniel Buba - Indiana

as well as to:

Special Projects: Robert Collins - Texas

Newsletter: Larry Simon - New Jersey

The Truck Accident Lawyers at the Law Offices of Morgan Adams concentrate in protecting the rights of those who were seriously injured or lost a loved one in an accident with a commercial truck or bus. Our lawyers are based in Tennessee, but serve clients throughout the nation. If you or someone you love has been seriously hurt by a careless driver, don’t sign anything the trucking company gives you -- contact us as soon as possible at 800-580-4878 or by email to learn more at a free, confidential consultation.

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