Trucking Accidents
Attorney Daniel Newlin is proud to have successfully represented families and individuals who have been seriously injured or lost loved ones in a tractor trailer related accidents in Florida. Attorney Daniel J. Newlin is eminently qualified to provide you with prompt, aggressive and experienced legal representation.
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A truck or tractor trailer accident is not just a bigger car wreck. The investigation and legal issues are far more demanding and complex. It is impossible to over-emphasize the importance of quickly hiring a qualified attorney who can get an experienced truck wreck investigator on the scene right away and demand preservation of trucking company records.
Quick action is essential in launching a thorough investigation of a serious truck wreck. Truck companies and their insurers often immediately send out teams to document their side of a case, attempt to influence the police investigation, and move physical evidence. Companies providing satellite communication systems for trucking companies purge their computer records within a few weeks. Trucking companies are only required to maintain driver logs and related operational records for six months on average, and may destroy records after that time. Therefore, if the victim does not have a knowledgeable person working to promptly preserve evidence, vitally important information may be lost forever.
Breaking News
Attention! Compliance with Safety Requirements for Operators of Small Passenger-Carrying Commercial Motor Vehicles Used in Interstate Commerce is required on December 10, 2003. Motor carriers operating vehicles designed or used to transport 9 to 15 passengers (including the driver) in interstate commerce, must comply with applicable safety regulations when they are directly compensated and the vehicle is operated beyond a 75 air mile radius from the driver's normal work-reporting location.
If you delay, the trucking company and its insurer may both vanish. Quick action is also important because some trucking companies play shell games with both undercapitalized corporations with "self-insured" retentions approved by lax regulatory agencies, and paper-thin insurance coverage�s documented by managing general agents but backed up by financially unstable insurance companies that pass off their obligations to reinsurance companies in Bermuda or the Caribbean.
Remember that truck wrecks do not involve amateurs out for a drive in the country, but professional drivers operating huge vehicles for profit under conditions that provide incentives for speed rather than for safety. Therefore, a truck wreck case may be viewed as a professional malpractice case - with clear standards of care for safety spelled out by Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations.
Trucking is heavily regulated for safety. Almost any truck wreck involving serious injury or death involves violation of multiple Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. Any attorney handling a truck wreck case must be familiar with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations that are designed to establish minimum standards for protection of the safety of the traveling public. Among these are: 49 CFR 390.5 broadly defines "employee" of a trucking company to include independent contractors and drivers of leased trucks. A driver may simultaneously qualify as an "employee" of multiple companies, multiplying the amount of liability insurance available in a case of catastrophic injury.
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49 CFR 390.3(3) Trucking companies are required to be familiar with trucking regulations and teach them to drivers and loading lock personnel
49 CFR 391.11 Truck drivers must be over 21, pass a test on ability to safety operate the truck, read and speak English, and pass a physical exam related to ability to safely operate a large truck.
49 CFR 397.27 Trucking companies must check the driver's driving history and document that references have been checked.
49 CFR 391.15 A truck driver is automatically disqualified if caught driving with a blood alcohol score of 0.04 gr/%, and cannot consume any alcohol within four hours before driving.
49 CFR 391.31 Trucking company must investigate driver's employment background for ten years back. In Georgia, failure to investigate a truck driver's background may support a punitive damages award against the trucking company.
49 CFR 391.25-.27 Trucking company must monitor the truck driver's records. This should include comparing driver logs to GPS records, trip receipts, etc.
49 CFR 390.13 Trucking companies should not aid, abet or encourage drivers' violations of regulations. Paying truck drivers by the mile, and not paying for inspections, required rest time, time out of service due to safety concerns, etc., may encourage violations of regulations.
49 CFR 392.6 Trucking companies must schedule loads with time for safe delivery.
49 CFR 395.3 Trucking companies must not permit or require drivers to exceed time in service rules. They should monitor driver logs. If a driver "cooks the books" to falsify service time, rest time, inspections, etc., that is imputed to the employer.
49 CFR 392.2 Interstate truck drivers must obey traffic laws of states where they operate.
49 CFR 392.3 Driver and company prohibited from operation when driver's ability or alertness is so impaired, or so likely to become impaired, through fatigue, illness, or any other cause, as to make it unsafe for him/her to begin or continue to operate a commercial vehicle.
49 CFR 392.4 Drivers' use of amphetamines prohibited.
49 CFR 392.5 Drivers' use of alcohol prohibited.
49 CFR 392.6 Truck schedules must comply with speed limits.
49 CFR 392.7 In a pre-trip inspection the following must be in good working order: service brakes, including trailer brake connections; parking (hand) brake; steering mechanism; lighting devices and reflectors; tires; horn; windshield wiper or wipers; rear_vision mirror or mirrors; coupling devices.
49 CFR 392.8 Duty to inspect emergency equipment.
49 CFR 392.9 Driver must inspect truck's load at beginning of trip, again in first 25 miles, and every 3 hours or 150 miles thereafter, except for a sealed trailer.
49 CFR 392.22 Warning devices must be put out within ten minutes when a truck is disabled.
49 CFR 392.14 Extreme caution in the operation of a commercial motor vehicle shall be exercised when hazardous conditions, such as those caused by snow, ice, sleet, fog, mist, rain, dust, or smoke, adversely affect visibility or traction. Speed shall be reduced when such conditions exist. If conditions become sufficiently dangerous, the operation of the commercial motor vehicle shall be discontinued.
The lawyer for the injured person, or for the survivors of one who is killed, must be prepared to diligently and aggressively pursue detailed discovery from the trucking company and related sources of information. You cannot rely on most trucking companies to respond fully and honestly to discovery, any more than you can rely on them to follow safety regulations.
Plan to try the case to verdict. Do not expect a trucking company and its insurer to agree to a fair, friendly settlement for an adequate amount of money. You must go into any truck wreck lawsuit with the assumption that the case will be tried to verdict before a jury, and prepare accordingly. If such preparation results in a favorable settlement, that's great. If not, you will be ready to try the case and hit the trucking company as hard as the truck hit the victim.
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