By Morgan Adams on Posted in Accident Help,Hiring A Truck Accident LawyerI am pleased that I have had a chapter published in the multi-volume set Anatomy of a Personal Injury Lawsuit, 4th Ed. I wrote the chapter on “Investigating the Case,” along with my good friend Joe Fried. If you don’t know what the facts are, or the facts you need to prove your client’s case, you wont get… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Legal,SafetyAs of December 4, 2015, pursuant to the FAST Act of 2015, much of the information previously available on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) website related to a trucking company’s safety performance will no longer be displayed publicly. This will prevent easy access to the public and to others who want to know about… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in UncategorizedI am pleased to announce that I have once again been selected to the 2015 MidSouth Super Lawyers list. This is an exclusive list, recognizing no more than five percent of attorneys in Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi. Super Lawyers, part of Thomson Reuters, is a research-driven, peer influenced rating service of outstanding lawyers who have attained… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Sleep ApneaIn 2012 a final rule was published in the Federal Register requiring DOT medical examiners to be certified, and complete minimum education, on the medical standards required for CMV drivers. The rule goes into effect two years after the Final rule was published, in this case the new rule will go into effect May 21,… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in SafetyMAP-21 made significant changes in the trucking industry regulatory scheme. One change is that Section 32307 of MAP-21 was amended to prohibit employers from allowing employees to drive when the employer knows or should reasonably know that the the driver is disqualified,or when the employee’s driver’s license was suspended, revoked, or canceled. This final rule, issued October 1,… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Sleep ApneaCongress, despite a government shutdown, has a sleep apnea bill ready for the President’s signature. While the trucking industry estimates that “the impact of screening, diagnosis, and treatment for obstructive sleep apnea could exceed $1 billion annually.” The industry failed to mention that $1 billion annually is a bargain compared to the death, carnage, and destruction… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Spoliation Every so often I need to revise and update my standard spoliation letter (a letter telling the trucking company to save evidence that shows who is, and is not, at fault for a wreck). In part because of changes in the trucking industry, in part because it can always be made better. In this latest update… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Legal IssuesSemiconductor technology firm Qualcomm Inc. said it has sold its transportation and logistics business, Omnitracs, to Vista Equity Partners for $800 million. This includes the Commercial Motor Vehicle tracking or "telematics" systems. The acquisition by Vista Equity Partners will include all Omnitracs operations in the United States, Canada and Latin America as well as… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Legal IssuesMAP-21, the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (P.L. 112-141), was signed into law by President Obama on July 6, 2012. It is the first long-term highway authorization enacted since 2005. It sets highway safety as a national goal. The changes brought about by MAP-21 are extensive and impact almost every area… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Hours of Service The new Hours of Service (HOS) regulations go into effect today. In many ways these regulations are simply the old, pre-President Bush, regulations with some minor changes. Nonetheless, you can expect the trucking industry to be up in arms. I have posted on the new HOS previously HERE The outrage is primarily because the trucking… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Hiring A Truck Accident LawyerJust finished speaking at the Kentucky Justice Association on "When a Million Isn’t Enough – Broker and Shipper Liability. The moderator was a good friend of mine and great host, Tim Lange (a phenomenal Louisville, Kentucky trucking lawyer see HERE) and I was honored to share the stage with other brilliant lawyers who represent people… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in SpoliationSwift, like many trucking companies, has a history of destroying evidence that shows they were at fault for a wreck. I have posted on this previously. That is one of the reasons it is important to hire a lawyer as soon as possible when you have a trucking case. Recently, in an Arkansas case, the trial… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Legal IssuesI have previously posted on how inadequate current insurance limits are on tractor trailers. In that blog post I stated (regarding the minimum $750K limits being inadequate for catastrophic wrecks, limits having not been increased in almost 3 decades): If you go to any present value calculator on the Internet and use a 4% inflation… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Negligence Per Se FMCSR,SafetyOne of the the requirements of every trucking company before they put a truck on the road, and every truck driver before they get behind the wheel of a tractor trailer, is that they both must agree to follow the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. These are the regulations that keep us, the public, safe on… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Hours of ServiceOne of the things you do when handling a trucking case, whether as a plaintiff or a defense lawyer, is to audit the drivers logs to determine if the driver was over hours and driving in a fatigued state. I have blogged on fatigued driving extensively in the past. A key in auditing logs is to get all… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Stopped or Slowed TrucksRecently I was associated on a trucking case in Arizona by my friend Peter Gorski and his brilliant associate Kelley Durham. Our client, a seasonal agricultural worker, had run into a parked trailer that had been left on the side of the road. The force of the wreck killed our client and the defendants’ believed the death… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Sleep ApneaObstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) has long been know to be a problem in the trucking industry. A recent study confirms overweight drivers are more likely to be involved in a crash, 54% more likely than other drivers! The researchers stated that OSA is most likely the cause of the increased crash risk. Drivers who have OSA fail to get… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Hiring A Truck Accident LawyerMorgan Adams is selected as a Mid-South Super Lawyer for 2012. Super Lawyers (a Thomson Reuters publication) is a listing of outstanding lawyers in the Mid-South including lawyers from Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi. Super Lawyers has an extensive election process that involves peer nominations, evaluations and third-party research. Each candidate is evaluated on 12 points that… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Brain (TBI) and Spine InjuriesOne of the frequent consequences of a truck wreck, when there are survivors, is a brain injury. As a result I have been very active in learning all I can about this frequently invisible, and incredibly devastating, injury. One of my friends, Randy Rozek in Wisconsin, recently brought an article to my attention and I wanted to make sure you had… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Roadcheck,SafetyThe June 2012 Roadcheck results are out and they showed that more than 1 in every 5 trucks inspected were placed out of service (OOS). That means the trucks were taken off the road as unsafe, even though this was a pre-announced inspection. The trucking industry knew about Roadcheck for months, as did I, and… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Legal Issues I am happy to announce that, after five years, I finally graduated from the Trial Lawyer’s College (TLC). I am now the 4th person to have both been certified an AAJ Diplomate as well as graduate from the TLC. I am proud that I am the first truck accident lawyer to do so. This is good… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Legal IssuesAndrew Cochran discusses how tort reform threatens your constitutional rights. I encourage everyone to spend 15 minutes and listen to what he says. For those who don’t know Andrew he’s a lifelong conservative Republican, Reagan appointee and editor of the 7th Amendment Advocate. Listen to Podcast … Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Safety On July 11, 2012, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Deputy Administrator Bill Bronrott testified about the Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program before the U.S. House of Representative’s Committee on Small Business. Deputy Bronrott’s written testimony discusses CSA’s safety benefits and its impact on small businesses, and is posted on FMCSA’s Website. Some of the… Continue Reading
By Morgan Adams on Posted in Driver ProblemsRight after I blogged on the Wall Street Journal article here, I received a copy of the industry trade magazine Transportation Topics (Transportation Topics, 2012 Top 100 For Hire Carriers, p A3) that reported industry economist Noel Perry, at FTR Associates, stated that the trucking industry was going to be short 500,000 drivers in 2013! Today’s shortage of… Continue Reading
