Another nuclear verdict: $1 billion dollars

[Duck]

Inside a nuclear verdict: Florida jury renders $1 billion ruling

A Florida jury ruled on Aug. 27 that two trucking companies were complicit in the 2017 death of an 18-year-old honor student, awarding the family of the

www.thetrucker.com

Traffic was stopped because a dipshit steering wheel holder with no valid CDL had crashed into another vehicle and caught on fire, allegedly while watching porn on his phone.

Then along comes Yadwinder Sangha of Canada, who doesn't even speak English, was staring at his phone and plowed into stopped traffic at 70 mph, killing an 18 year old.

A billion dollar judgment is insane. But
If there ever was a case where a lawsuit should completely bankrupt a company, it's this one.

However that suit was against the company that employed the first idiot.

The one who actually hit him fled the country.

“He was driving distracted by cellphone use,” Pajcic explained, adding, “What Yadwinder Sangha was looking at, we will never know because he went back to Canada.”

$1 billion verdict reached in crash that killed UNF student

A billion-dollar verdict has been reached in a crash involving two trucking companies that killed a UNF student back in 2017.

www.actionnewsjax.com

 

[GAnthony]

as long as insurance companies continue to cover these trucking companies, nuclear verdicts will continue. what needs to be done is, even the smallest fender bender, or more than one driver, getting just one traffic violation ticket, the rates ought to jump up 500%, for that company, and from there, they cannot shop for another insurance company. either they pay the huge premium spike, or they fold up.

and that premium hike, ought to be good for at the very least 5 years.

maybe this will cull the morons from the professionals.

(*added*...this is IF the trucker is at fault, for the accident. (as in this article)...tickets are usually always a sign that the trucker did something wrong, to deserve it. the trucker should be more professional to avoid tickets.)

 

[Duck]

as long as insurance companies continue to cover these trucking companies, nuclear verdicts will continue. what needs to be done is, even the smallest fender bender, or more than one driver, getting just one traffic violation ticket, the rates ought to jump up 500%, for that company, and from there, they cannot shop for another insurance company. either they pay the huge premium spike, or they fold up.

and that premium hike, ought to be good for at the very least 5 years.

maybe this will cull the morons from the professionals.

Calm down, Mussolini.

Go eat some raviolis.

 

[389 Hood]

Or do what the Cubans do in Miami. Their drivers roll a tanker, kill 4 tourists on an entrance ramp while trying to pass them on the inside. The company then changes it's name, gets new DOT/ICC/HazMat numbers and continues on with business as usual. The offending driver gets a ticket and is disqualified from driving a CMV and life goes on, except for the 4 people that were incinerated.

The DOT does nothing down here because they are all related in some way and most know each other. The junk goes on up the road held together with duct tape and tie wire and the DOT gets the white guy with the brand new truck that he won't get dirty crawling underneath.

 

[GAnthony]

Calm down, Mussolini.

Go eat some raviolis.

and you'd prefer no reparations towards the trucking companies?

they need to be heavily burdened with monetary hits.

 

[Electric Chicken]

and you'd prefer no reparations towards the trucking companies?

they need to be heavily burdened with monetary hits.

I don't like the idea of my rate increasing 5 fold over a fender bender. That's nuts.

Stupid shit can happen to anyone really. Especially with 4 wheelers being more bat shit crazy than ever.

You're talking about one operator going from 10k a year to 50k over a scrape.

 

[GAnthony]

Calm down, Mussolini.

Go eat some raviolis.

 

[Mike]

Or do what the Cubans do in Miami.

Probably plenty Cubans in Miami that drive just fine as well.

I think I remember some old white guy wiping out lots of folks a few years back in Florida as well.

Everyone, let’s not use accidents to point out perceived faults in this nature. Every color and ethnicity there is has good apples and bad apple, so let’s not call out people based on this.

 

[GAnthony]

I don't like the idea of my rate increasing 5 fold over a fender bender. That's nuts.

Stupid shit can happen to anyone really. Especially with 4 wheelers being more bat shit crazy than ever.

You're talking about one operator going from 10k a year to 50k over a scrape.

it's the way it should be. why should a trucking company not suffer from thier stupid driver(s)?

of course, i should have mentioned, "if the trucker is at fault". (which i just edited to show that)

as in the case of the driver(s) in this article.

 

[Mike]

and you'd prefer no reparations towards the trucking companies?

they need to be heavily burdened with monetary hits.

I only have a problem with this based on the fact that there are too many companies out here that would be immune to this do to being self insured.

 

[GAnthony]

I only have a problem with this based on the fact that there are too many companies out here that would be immune to this do to being self insured.

can "self insure" be denied? or removed, in order to get/keep MC rights, and such?

and at the very least, too many other companies, are too small to be self insured.

 

[Mike]

can "self insure" be denied? or removed, in order to get/keep MC rights, and such?

and at the very least, too many other companies, are too small to be self insured.

Nope. Unless authority is revoked, the larger self insured carriers can just pay out settlements and move on.

And a carrier like me, who does their due diligence in the hiring process and ends up with a driver that turned into pile of shit ends up losing their business.

Think about it. I keep up with all my paperwork correctly. I do everything I am supposed to do to be a quality carrier. I hire a driver that has a clean driving record and a clean work history. Driver does a road test, does great, and gets hired. Driver does a great job for 2-3 years. Then the driver gets divorced, loses a kid due to some accident or illness, or anything traumatic. Said driver then loses focus immediately and has a terrible accident and is at fault.

Why should I lose my business when I was doing everything right?

 

[GAnthony]

Nope. Unless authority is revoked, the larger self insured carriers can just pay out settlements and move on.

And a carrier like me, who does their due diligence in the hiring process and ends up with a driver that turned into pile of shit ends up losing their business.

Think about it. I keep up with all my paperwork correctly. I do everything I am supposed to do to be a quality carrier. I hire a driver that has a clean driving record and a clean work history. Driver does a road test, does great, and gets hired. Driver does a great job for 2-3 years. Then the driver gets divorced, loses a kid due to some accident or illness, or anything traumatic. Said driver then loses focus immediately and has a terrible accident and is at fault.

Why should I lose my business when I was doing everything right?

you might have to take the witness stand and either admit you helped him by providing counseling or not.

if you did, and paid for it, that might go a long way in your case. (as you recognized he had a problem)

if you did not, then you did nothing to keep your business. (as you ignored his problems)

i still believe that insurance hikes ought to be levied on those companies, that have drivers at fault, such as this case in this thread.

 

[Electric Chicken]

you might have to take the witness stand and either admit you helped him by providing counseling or not.

if you did, and paid for it, that might go a long way in your case. (as you recognized he had a problem)

if you did not, then you did nothing to keep your business. (as you ignored his problems)

i still believe that insurance hikes ought to be levied on those companies, that have drivers at fault, such as this case in this thread.

That's ridiculous.

 

[Mike]

if you did, and paid for it, that might go a long way in your case. (as you recognized he had a problem)

if you did not, then you did nothing to keep your business. (as you ignored his problems)

How would I know his problems? This could be something that very recently happened. Employees don’t tend to go to their employers with their problems.

And if I fire the guy when he has shown no problems doing his job, just because something bad happened in his life, I get sued.

Your idea is not a good idea.

 

[Duck]

you might have to take the witness stand and either admit you helped him by providing counseling or not.

if you did, and paid for it, that might go a long way in your case. (as you recognized he had a problem)

if you did not, then you did nothing to keep your business. (as you ignored his problems)

i still believe that insurance hikes ought to be levied on those companies, that have drivers at fault, such as this case in this thread.

Why the hell should Mike have to pay for counseling for his employee for something that is going on in his personal life?

How would that be Mike's responsibility, Benito? How is anyone supposed to operate a business if they're required to coddle their employees like that?

 

[Mike]

Why the hell should Mike have to pay for counseling for his employee for something that is going on in his personal life?

How would that be Mike's responsibility, Benito? How is anyone supposed to operate a business if they're required to coddle their employees like that?

This is the thing when it comes to trucking companies. We see a stupid accident like this, and we look for over the top solutions that will hurt those who are trying to run a good business.

I won’t hire drivers to work for my current authority because the risk simply isn’t worth it. If I was to start a business, I would do it under a new authority, as to not risk my livelihood.

The mega carriers continue to grow, and the small carriers continue to try to start up only to fail because the cards are stacked against them.

 

[Electric Chicken]

This is the thing when it comes to trucking companies. We see a stupid accident like this, and we look for over the top solutions that will hurt those who are trying to run a good business.

I won’t hire drivers to work for my current authority because the risk simply isn’t worth it. If I was to start a business, I would do it under a new authority, as to not risk my livelihood.

The mega carriers continue to grow, and the small carriers continue to try to start up only to fail because the cards are stacked against them.

I was thinking about this before the thread came up. I'd love to hire someone to drive my Mack when I get a sleeper but the only driver I trust is at FedEx in a sweetheart hourly gig now making more money than I could afford to pay her. She's clearing more money than I grossed at Schneider and all her bennies are either cheap or paid for by the company.

I can't compete with that. And I don't want anyone I could afford in that seat.

 

[389 Hood]

Probably plenty Cubans in Miami that drive just fine as well.

I think I remember some old white guy wiping out lots of folks a few years back in Florida as well.

Everyone, let’s not use accidents to point out perceived faults in this nature. Every color and ethnicity there is has good apples and bad apple, so let’s not call out people based on this.

I only used that example because of the massive news write-ups and videos it created. This was front page stuff for a long time. Said company till operates today under an even different name because of other 'things' that happened.

 

[GAnthony]

Why the hell should Mike have to pay for counseling for his employee for something that is going on in his personal life?

How would that be Mike's responsibility, Benito? How is anyone supposed to operate a business if they're required to coddle their employees like that?

"Mike" or any other owner, would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, he was unaware of the employee's personal problems, which can be hard not to know.

people talk....that employee, could unload his troubles to another employee. word gets around, kinda hard not to.

now to have at least "make the offer" to get the employee help, could go a long way in exonerating the owner.

no, an employee should not be coddled. but when the trouble signs are there, and no help offered, then it'll rest on the owners shoulders.

why do you think some employers offer counseling services, such as for drug/alcohol abuse in thier hiring packages?

i can't recall, the specific term for it.