We’ve all seen the many print, TV, radio, and billboard advertisements by personal injury attorneys promising huge settlements for heavy truck accidents. These seasoned attorneys target the transportation industry and are increasingly winning extreme “nuclear” verdicts – generally $10 million or more. In fact, a recent study by the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) found that awards in truck accident cases increased by 51.7 percent annually between 2010 and 2018.
In a case out of Texas, a motorist was killed when a tractor-trailer’s driveshaft assembly detached and struck the motorist’s vehicle. The plaintiffs argued that the accident was a result of the operator’s failure to properly maintain the truck and the jury agreed. The plaintiffs were awarded $281 million, including $100 million in punitive damages.
A lawsuit against an operator in Georgia resulted in an award of $280 million. Plaintiffs in the case alleged that the driver of the truck was fatigued and, after falling asleep, crossed the center line where he struck a vehicle head on, resulting in the deaths of all five passengers.
In a 2018 Texas case, a driver allegedly under the influence struck the back of a pickup truck, resulting in disabling injuries to the motorist. The plaintiffs alleged that the operator had failed to properly vet the driver, even disregarding their own policies, and that the driver was under the influence. The jury awarded the plaintiff a verdict in the amount of $101 million.
So, what makes the transportation industry so ripe for such extreme verdicts?
One answer? Compliance.
Or, more accurately, non-compliance. Transportation management is a complicated business. In addition to regular business concerns like payroll, taxes, and customers, transportation operators must also navigate an ever-increasing tangle of state and federal rules and regulations. Even the most vigilant operators often fall short in one area of compliance or another.
The dangers of non-compliance can be deceptive. In the example cases, compliance failures in maintenance, hours-of-service, and driver qualification resulted in horrific accidents and enormous verdict awards. But these failures may not have seemed like major concerns to the operators prior to the accidents. They may have even been just the tip of a compliance failure iceberg, meaning there were likely many more compliance issues that contributed to each of these ultimate failures. As in a house of cards, each piece of compliance is important, and each supports the others. Remove or weaken one, and the entire structure becomes unstable.
If compliance sounds overwhelming, it’s because it can be, particularly for smaller operators who must meet all the same requirements as larger organizations, but with a fraction of the workforce. Fortunately, there are services available to help operators manage all these needs. Many of these services offer things like MVR monitoring programs, DQ file audit and retention services, ELD monitoring and administration, FMCSA drug and alcohol testing programs, mock DOT auditing, consulting services, CSA monitoring, and more.
Proactive and holistic compliance management is critical to a healthy operation. Compliance failures can have catastrophic consequences, not only for an operator where accidents can lead to bankruptcy or even criminal conviction for select employees, but also for drivers and others on the road.