Trucking News: ATA prepares to fight outsized legal awards against truckers

Mike

Well-Known Member
The American Trucking Associations (ATA) is gearing up to fight against multimillion-dollar legal awards against truckers and their employers who are not at fault but blamed in many car-truck crashes.

“We’re fed up,” ATA President and Chief Executive Officer Chris Spear told members October 7 at the association’s Management Conference & Exhibition in San Diego. “I’m sick of playing defense while trial lawyers buy jets and yachts at the expense of trucking jobs. These ‘nuclear’ verdicts are strangling our industry.”

Two-thirds of the accidents involving trucks are caused by passenger vehicles, Spear said.

“If a car going the opposite direction veers out of control, crosses the median and crashes into a truck going 25 mph below the speed limit and is brought to a controlled stop after the collision, you shouldn’t have to pay $90 million for a tragedy your driver didn’t cause!”

 
But of course the ATA is in Werner’s Pocket and you see that’s the specific case they are referring to.
 
Yeah, they are only doing this because it is in the best interests of the mega carriers. Still, this is one fight than can help everyone down the line. Lawsuits have gotten stupid.
Yeah it’s been bad for a lot of years. I hate to say it because I dislike the ATA but I hope they win this one.
 
From the article:

The ATA also will continue to press federal agencies to allow hair follicle testing in place of urine testing for drug use

They need to just test for current intoxication. Hair tests should be banned. And the people demanding them should be tortured with razor blades and lemon juice. 🤬
 
I'm torn on this one. Because the megas need to stop their bullshit. I also don't want something crazy like this to happen and shut down one of the small fleets or independents.
I understand what your saying here: @ironpony thinks it’s 100% awesome that Werner got that 90 mil fine. He doesn’t see how as a small business owner, that if chooses to drive in bad weather and something hit him. That while he as a driver might not be found at fault but the civil suit where he didn’t make himself shut down could destroy his business.
 
I understand what your saying here: @ironpony thinks it’s 100% awesome that Werner got that 90 mil fine. He doesn’t see how as a small business owner, that if chooses to drive in bad weather and something hit him. That while he as a driver might not be found at fault but the civil suit where he didn’t make himself shut down could destroy his business.
Yeah he seems to think it's only going to affect the evil megas.

He doesn't seem to get the concept that an owner operator who presses on coerced himself.

It also sets up a new issue of defining "inclement" or "adverse" for conditions. A lil rain? I've seen four wheelers lose it. Do we have to shut down for THAT now too? The economy could literally crawl because now the threshold for shutting down is so low that we can't drive in anything but sunlight on dry roads.

Is my example extreme? Yeah maybe for now but we didn't think we'd be found fault for stuff we had no control over not long ago.
 
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Like it or not, that's what it is legally speaking when you're both company and driver. As a company you pushed yourself as a driver to keep going to make money.

As it stands with this lawsuit, it's 100% on you. All your fault for not shutting down in a sprinkle.
You better stay with your mega. You don't have a clue about how to make it as an o/o.
 

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