Are Meritor WABCO Air Brake Modulator Valves Dangerous?
This past Friday, a wrongful death suit was filed in Alabama on behalf of Jordan Mays Matson. Ms. Matson lost her life October 20, 2015 in a collision with an 18-wheeler. What makes this lawsuit different from a typical 18-wheeler wrongful death suit is that in addition to the truck driver and trucking company, a...
Viral Social Media Post Falsifies Crash Details, Blames Victims
You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who believes auto accidents are an acceptable hazard of driving around. It may be a necessary evil to spend time behind the wheel, but the road holds many hazards. Some of them are environmental, certainly—weather conditions, poor road quality, low visibility—but drivers themselves are arguably the most dangerous part...
Despite Court Case: Electronic Truck Logs Very Likely
Earlier this week we chronicled the potential Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) electronically-enforced national truck speed limit, which pitted the American Trucking Associations (ATA) and the FMCSA against the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA). That doesn't appear to be the only controversy where the ATA and OOIDA find each other on opposite sides of...
Employee or Independent Contractor? The Excel Direct Case
News broke the other day of a settlement in the case of Villalpando v. Excel Direct Inc. et al. The case involves a group of truck drivers and Excel Direct, a trucking company that claims the truckers were independent contractors. The truckers saw things differently, given the many hoops they had to jump through at...
Scam Firm Puts 600 Unqualified Truck Drivers on the Road
With the recent guilty plea of Adrian Salari, the saga of RussianTruckingSchool.com nears its conclusion. This case originated from four alleged scammers, who targeted Russian-speaking individuals wanting become commercial truck drivers. Operating out of Florida, Mr. Salari, Ellariy Medvenik, Natalia Dontsova, and Clarence Davis were responsible for fraudulently obtaining Commercial Driver's Licenses (CDLs) for roughly...
Attention Truckers: You’re Not Always On The Clock When You’re In the Sleeper Berth
When an trucker is injured while in the sleeper berth of his rig, he may have an injury lawsuit on his hands, not a workers' comp claim. In most instances, when an employee is injured on the job, their losses (wages, medical bills, etc.) are covered by a worker's compensation plan, meaning they file a...
Mechanical Failures in Single-Vehicle 18-Wheeler Accidents
Most of the time, authorities and the general public assume that if there was only one vehicle involved in a crash, then the driver must have done something wrong, such as failing to maintain speed, failing to adjust to weather conditions, distracted driving, or driving while intoxicated. The same holds true for 18-wheeler accidents, which...
How Trucking Companies Gain Upper Hand In A Case & What You Can Do About It
In an accident involving a commercial truck or 18-wheeler, the truck driver and the company he or she works for will always have the upper hand at the outset of the case. Sure, there are things their victims can do to level the playing field, but trucking companies always have a head start building a...
Cargo-Related Accidents: Who is At Fault?
It seems like every week we open the newspaper and read about a motorist who was injured or killed by cargo that fell off of a commercial truck. Additionally, people may be killed or injured by cargo that hasn't fallen off trucks, but merely hung too far off the back or sides of the truck...
How And Why Trucking Companies Conduct Surveillance on Accident Victims
Something I continually encounter in truck accident cases are the various surveillance operations launched by trucking companies and their insurers against my clients. As crazy as it sounds, trucking companies spy on people who file claims against them all the time. Why They Do This Before I get into this, there is a misconception about...
