Articles Posted in Motor Vehicle Cases

You may remember that the Congress passed a $287,000,000,000 transportation bill last month. What you may not have known is that a tort reform measure was slipped into the bill.

Transportation bills gives “pork” a bad name. Historically, they have been filled with local projects of questionable value. But now we have a Republican-controlled Congress that never misses the opportunity to give a get-out-of-litigation-free card to some special interest group. This gift in this bill – the elimination of vicarious liability for auto rental and leasing companies for 16 states and the District of Columbia.

In these states – Tennessee is not one of them – the leasing company was liable for the acts of the lessee. The cost of insurance was build into the cost of the leasse. No more.

The Bush Administration is pushing forward with new trucking rules, even though the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals found a similar set of rules “arbitrary and capricious” and “a threat to driver’s health” just last year. The rules come into effect October 1, 2005.

Here is a summary of the “highlights” of the new rules, as prepared by Lawyers Weekly U.S.A. :

*Increase the limit for consecutive driving for long-haul truckers to 11 hours, up from the 10-hour limit that had been in effect until 2003. However, they also shorten the total workday (including non-driving time) to 14 hours, down from 15.

The Maryland Court of Appeals has ruled that a defendant may use photos showing relatively little property damage to a vehicle to argue that the plaintiff did not have a significant personal injury.

The decision is Mason v. Lynch. There is also a great dissent on the issue; it makes the point that there is a substantial body of scientific literature that actually disproves the argument that “minor” impacts do not cause serious neck injuries. Accordingly, the dissent argues, a lawyer should not be able to make the argument that an injury is not real or significant simply based on the lack of property damage seen in photographs.

A federal court jury in Winchester has returned an $8M verdict against Greyhound for injuries to a passenger after a man attacked the driver who then lost control of the bus. You can read another press report of the story here.

The injuries were substantial; the plaintiff had some $1.6M in medical expenses.

The Plantiff was able to prove that the company knew of at least 43 prior incidents where passengers attacked drivers and yet it had done nothing to protect its drivers.

I ride a BMW 1200 CLC. My wife rides a Harley Sportster. I did not ride until I hit the age of 45 but I must confess there is nothing quite like riding a motorcycle on a country road on a fall or spring day. It is a blast – a true escape.

It would be fun to ride without a helmet. On the other hand, it would also be stupid. Here is a recent article that demonstrates the risks of riding without one as confirmed by two recent articles.

This article in the Tennessean is a tragic reminder of how quickly a life can be lost as a result of carelessness.

A truck driver for Diamond Logistics fell asleep at the wheel, went into a parking lot at a local market, and killed one man and injured three others.

A review of the records of the driver and Diamond Logistics will reveal whether the trucker was in compliance with the law at the time he was driving and whether Diamond Logistics was aware of a pattern of deviations from the law, if any. We have had considerable success evaluating driver logs and other materials and proving a pattern and practice of unlawful driving leading to hazardous situations. Hopefully, someone will quickly get to the bottom of this situation and find out what happened in the days and weeks preceeding the wreck.

There is a new study out that maintains that relatively minor changes in highway design can say lives.

The study, by the Insurance Information Institute, explains that “urban roads ‘weren’t built to accommodate today’s heavy traffic. They’ve evolved as traffic has increased, and they haven’t always evolved in the best way to enhance safety and ensure a smooth flow of traffic.'” A news report about the study says that “the majority of traffic fatalities happen on rural roads, but safety experts say urban arteries remain dangerous. About 8,000 traffic fatalities and more than 1 million injuries occur annually on urban roads.”

The article gives several examples of how spending a relatively small amount of money can improve safety.

Good news. Overall, the Department of Transportation said alcohol-related fatalities fell 2.4 percent, from 17,105 in 2003 to 16,694 in 2004. 42,636 people died on the nation’s highways in 2004, down 248 – or 0.6 percent – from the previous year. Read a more complete summary of the data here.

There was some bad news. Motorcycle death rates increased for the seventh straight year. Rollover deaths also increased.

I would like to think that the tort system has contributed to a decline in the death rate. Highways and vehicles are safer in part because litigation has forced the issue with government agencies and manufacturers and brought problems to light. To be sure, consumer groups have also played a role in advocating for better roads and vehicles, but the tort system provides the economic incentive for people to do the right thing.

General Motors has been the leader in putting event data recorders, or so called “black boxes,” in its passenger vehicles. These devices record a vehicle’s speed, brake systems, seat belt status, and other information in the seconds before an airbag is deployed. Since 1990, GM has been progressively increasing the amount of information that the devices store. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration published a paper analyzing GM’s event data recorders, including some great detail on the information stored in each variation of the devices and a technical explanation for how that information is recorded. Other manufacturers are following GM’s lead, so black box data can be an issue in any case involving a late model car.