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

Whenever there is a major bus crash, like the one in reported recently that injured 24 in Atlantic City on June 24th, the passengers (and this case the driver, and the folks in the cars struck by the bus) need good lawyers ASAP. First because there may be limited funds to divide between the injured victims (insurance for buses and tractor trailers has not increased since the 1980's, and what was a lot of money in 1980 sure isn't now, 30 years later. See my blog on the topic here) to pay for their injuries and medical bills. Second, because these cases are never easy, even tough they seem as if they should be.

In this case the issues in the crash will apparently be why the brakes failed and why the driver wasn't aware the brakes were in such poor shape that they were going to fail. The owner of the bus company may not have performed required maintenance or failed to train it's driver to properly inspect the brakes (as is required under the law). The brakes may also have failed from a hidden manufacturing defect, and that issue will have to be carefully scrutinized,  although it is the least likely cause.

Luckily there are some great lawyers in the NJ area who have experience in trying major cases involving commercial motor vehicle accidents. If you have not read my posts on why you need experienced tractor trailer and bus lawyers for your cases stop, and read my posts here, here, and here. I have more posts on the topic, but these are a good start.

Off the top of my head I can think of several New Jersey Lawyers (that also practice in New York if need be) that fit the bill. The good experienced lawyers will be hired quickly (as there are not many who know their way around a major crash like this), and they may not be able to take your case if they are already representing one of the other families. Putting off hiring a lawyer is not something I would tell one of my family members to wait on with a wreck of this magnitude. Consider contacting one of these experienced New Jersey lawyers: 

1. Mike Ferrara
2. Michael Maggiano
3. Larry Simon

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Spoliation letters require trucking companies to preserve evidence that shouldn't be, but often is, destroyed after a wreck. While the trucking companies know they should put a litigation hold on documents that will show whether they caused a wreck, they generally destroy this evidence if they know they are negligent. I have blogged repeatedly on this subject in past posts.

Why do trucking companies allow this evidence to be destroyed? Trucking companies have found that juries will often believe them when they say the damaging documents were "destroyed accidentally" or destroyed or purged in keeping with "DOT Regulations." Spoliation letters help the jury see that the trucking company knew not to destroy evidence but chose to do so anyway. 

What if the documents prove a trucking company's innocence you ask? Well, those they always seem to be able to find when they need them and they never get destroyed.

You, or your lawyer, should make sure a spoliation letter is sent as soon as possible after a wreck. You can use mine, downloadable here, as a form for what should be sent. As no case is identical to another, this form letter is modified for every case we handle. It may not be exactly what is needed in your case but should be a great starting point.

Do you have an experienced trucking lawyer as your attorney? You should ask for a copy of the spoliation letter sent in your case.Remember, you can send this letter to a trucking company even if you don't have a lawyer, but if you need to send this letter, you need to hire a lawyer ASAP!

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Congratulations to Robert Morali who recently completed 5.2 Million Miles of tractor trailer driving for UPS without an accident!

Was he lucky? Not according to Mr. Morali. He credits his training (which is similar to the Smith System training) by UPS on the "Five Seeing Habits" which are: 

1. Aim High In Steering - This means look down the road at least 12-15 seconds instead of right in front of your vehicle. This lets you plan an out for any hazard that might be in front of you.
2. Get the Big Picture - Maintain the proper following distance (at least one car length for every 10MPH) and scan to the front, sides, and rear constantly. Mr Morali stated he checked his mirrors every 2 seconds.
3. Keep Your Eyes Moving - Scan don't stare. Don't keep your eyes focused on an object for more than 2 seconds. Eliminate eye holding patterns.
4. Leave Yourself An Out - Surround yourself with space and always leave yourself an escape route in case the unexpected happens.
5. Make Sure They See You - Communicate in traffic with your horn, turn signals, and brake lights. Watch traffic to make sure they see you. Use you signals and tap your brakes to make sure those drivers following you know what you are doing. 

These are common sense tips, widely taught as safe driving techniques in the trucking industry. When followed, a safe professional truck driver, like Mr. Morali, can have an entire driving career without a wreck.

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Roadcheck 2010 was June 8-10 this year. This is the industry, pre-announced, inspection that causes unsafe truck drivers to take vacations so they don't get inspected. This is true even though the increased inspections still only look at a fraction of the trucks on the road. Now that the inspection is over unsafe truckers will be back on the road, in droves, trying to make up for lost time.

Please be extra careful around trucks the next few weeks.

I personally believe that the 2 week period after Roadcheck is extremely dangerous. I think, if analyzed, the statistics would show an increase in the number of wrecks involving tractor trailers after Roadcheck as unsafe truck drivers returned to the roads. I am aware of no research into this idea and think it should be looked into by the government. If I am right there will be an uptick in wrecks following Roadcheck, and it will prove once and for all that the Roadcheck results (that show that 1 in every 5 trucks has a safety violation), under-counts the real numbers of unsafe trucks and truck drivers on our roads. 

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Many articles have been written about BP being limited, by law, to paying only 75 million for economic damages in the gulf. Congress passed the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, known as OPA, to require oil companies to pay for offshore oil spills like this one. OPA limits the liability of the responsible party -- BP in this instance -- to $75 million in economic damages. We all know now that damages will exceed 1 BILLION dollars, and that 75 million isn't going to be a drop in that bucket. In fact estimates currently range to 14 Billion dollars and higher.

What must have seemed like a good idea at the time to George H. Bush, and the sitting congress in 1990, limiting lawsuits against all those vulnerable oil companies, now seems like a travesty. But that is exactly what tort reform does. It doesn't impact the vast majority of cases, but only those people that are hurt worst and impacted the most. Tort reform sounds wonderful, who can be against reform? Unless the person who is injured is you, your family, or someone you know. Then and only then do you suddenly realize that the tort reform limitation, the artificial caps placed on recovery for loss,  will never provide justice for the injuries caused by the wrongdoer.

In this case if BP used the caps (and in fairness they have already exceeded this amount by choice, even though not required to do so under the law) they would pay .0005 cents on every dollar, or $53.57 for every $10,000 in loss that can be proved to have been caused by the spill. Is it fair that the victims of the spill would only get $535.70 for every $100,000.00 in loss? Our Congress thought so in 1990 and many politicians, whether at the state level or federal level, seem to think so today.

Who picks up the tab when damages are artificially limited by tort reform? Well first it is the injured person paying out of pocket until their money and life savings vanish, and after that it is the government. In short we all pay for these artificial caps on liability called tort reform. I don't know about you, but my tax bill is high enough without adding another few Billion in economic losses from the BP disaster.

My suggestion is that if you believe in artificial caps, under the guise of tort reform, just place self imposed caps for yourselves and your loved ones and leave the rest of us alone. All you need to do is agree to take $535.70 for every $100,000 that you and your loved ones have in loss. I know lots of insurance companies that will happily agree to those terms with you, you won't even need a lawyer for this. You can be sure the happy noises you hear once you have signed that final release will be the wrongdoer's insurance company. 

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The FMCSA recently stated that only 8,851 trucking companies, out of the 650,000 active trucking companies in the US, have bothered to see the company safety data that is compiled on each company by the FMCSA. These figures were as as of May 21, 2010, according to FMCSA spokesman Duane DeBruyne. This is ironic considering 1 in 5 trucks are unsafe based on Roadcheck percentages and the industry's stated desire to be  "safe." If my math is right that means only 1.3% of trucking companies bothered to look at their safety rating data. Considering the numbers that are unsafe, as shown by the information below, this will create a real howl from the industry when the pushed back CSA 2010 finally goes live in November.

The industry should not be complacent as its dangerous business methods are starting to come to light. I have complained for years that the industry Roadcheck inspections vastly under-counted the dangers of trucks on the road since, as an announced inspection, truckers who knew they were dangerous simply took a vacation that weekend and stayed off the roads. My position is born out by a recent statistic, attributed to VIGILLO, LLC, which states that of the 1,500 trucking companies this firm inspected, 68% would fall below the safe range and trigger a FMCSA CSA 2010 intervention. 

See Generally: Brokers Seek Fleet safety Data to Evaluate Carrier Suitability, Transportation Topics, Page 1 and 27.

 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 insurance or trucking company gives you -- contact us as soon as possible at 866-580-4878 or by email to learn more at a free, confidential consultation.

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