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

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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Often trucking companies hire allegedly "independent " contractors to work for them and claim they have no responsibility for their actions. They deny they have to provide insurance coverage or that they need to accept any responsibility for these drivers and the poorly maintained tractor trailers they place on the road. DON'T FALL FOR IT!

49 CFR 376.12 (c) (1) states that a carrier may utilize equipment it does not own only when “the authorized carrier lessee shall have exclusive possession, control and use of the equipment for the duration of the lease. The lease shall further provide that the authorized carrier lessee shall assume complete responsibility for the operation of the equipment for the duration of the lease.”  In Shell v. Navajo Freight Lines, 693 P.2d 382 (Colo. Ct. App. 1984), the Colorado Court of Appeals noted that “[t]he regulations, which have the force and effect of law, eliminate the defense of independent contractor by making the owner/operator of the equipment the "statutory employee" of the carrier.”

There are two lines of cases. Some courts have have concluded that the leasing regulations were intended to impose to impose strict vicarious liability when a leasing agreement is in effect, not withstanding the driver's "independent contractor" status. See: Morris v. JTM Materials, Inc, 78 S.W.2d (Tex. App. 2002) Other courts have concluded a state law respondeat superior and "scope of employment" analysis is required as a prerequisite to the determination of vicarious liability. See: Parker v. Erixon, 473 S.E.2d 421 (N.C. App 1996)

The rules and regulations governing tractor trailer collisions are complex and are not for the beginner or the faint at heart. Make sure that anyone hired to handle your case has a thorough grounding in these complex regulations.

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