Tennessee Truck Injury Lawyer & Attorney : Morgan Adams : Trucking Accident, Truck DUI DWI, Semi-Truck Accidents

I just returned from the American Association for Justice's 2008 Trucking Litigation Seminar where, with hundred's of lawyers from around the country, we gathered together to talk about the complicated world of tractor trailer litigation. The program was designed to teach lawyers new to the area of trucking litigation how to handle cases and to give experienced lawyers new tips and insights to take their practices to a new level. It was a great seminar and I would like to thank all the staff at AAJ who made it possible as well as this year's chair of AAJ's Interstate Trucking Litigation Group Steven Gursten from Michigan. So what did we discuss?

I presented a program on the Direct Examination of the Accident Reconstructionist, a critical witness in a trucking case that can make sense of conflicting witness statements and the physical evidence left at a crash scene. Other speakers and their topics included:

1. Michael Leizerman - How to Discover Service Violations and What to do With Them
2. Edward Hershewe - Convincing Arguments fro Damages in Trucking Cases
3. Steven Friedman - Spoliation of Evidence
4. Stephen Gorney - Technology Update in Trucking Cases (GPS, Black Boxes, and On    Board Computer Operating Systems)
5. Emily Hawk Raley - Truck Driver Training and Standards
6. Sylvester James - Themes in Trucking Cases
7. Eddie Davidson - Jury Selection in a Trucking Case
8. James Sloan - Investigating the Crash and Accident Reconstruction
9. Kenneth Shigley - Understanding NHTSA
10. Robert Bailey - Crafting the Trial Story for Trucking Cases
11. Richard Holmes - Common Pitfalls in Handling Trucking Cases - The Defense Perspective

Specialized programs like this make a huge difference in a lawyer's ability to handle trucking cases. It puts the sharpest legal minds together in one room talking about one thing, how to handle those tragic cases where someone was injured or killed from a crash with a tractor trailer. The faculty did an outstanding job and are to be commended for all their hard work. I was honored to be asked to speak and  be a part of such a highly respected group.

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

The federal government has listed the reasons that truck drivers are involved in collisions. According to the FMCSA 2007 report on the 2005 crash results, the top 10 causes of truck accidents, where the truck driver is a fault, are:

1. Failure to keep in proper lane
2. Driving too fast for Conditions
3. Fatigue
4. Failure to yield right of way
5. Overcorrecting
6. Erratic or reckless driving
7. Illegal Drug use (By experience this would also include prescription and over the counter drug use)
8. Illegal maneuver, improper turn
9. Failure to obey Traffic signs
10. Cell phones

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

The American Trucking Association estimated in 2005 that by 2014 there would be a shortage of 111,000 drivers. This shortage of drivers frequently causes trucking companies to hire drivers that are unqualified rather than having to turn down lucrative trucking contracts.

It is critical in a trucking case to have the Driver's Qualification File reviewed by an experienced lawyer to see if the trucking company knowingly hired an unqualified driver.

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks