A new report from the American Transportation Research Institute stated that while trucking industry court cases that result in verdicts of less than $1 million may not dominate headlines like those that end in multimillion-dollar judgments, the cumulative effect of these smaller verdicts can still inflict significant financial distress on the industry.

Program Aired: September 9, 2021. Staged accidents aren't new, but in recent years, perpetrators have begun more actively targeting commercial trucks because they tend to have larger dollar signs associated with them. This issue not only affects the targeted carriers, but is raising insurance rates industry wide and encouraging new criminals to enter the market.

The actions taken by a motor carrier in the hours immediately following a truck-involved crash can be critical to the potential legal outcome of the incident, regardless of whether it is a serious accident or a simple fender bender, trucking attorneys said.

A Nassau County, Fla., jury on Aug. 20 issued a total of $1 billion in monetary damages against two motor carriers that were declared negligent for their role in a pair of 2017 crashes on the same night and near the same location.

Escalating insurance costs have become a severe financial headwind for trucking companies in an industry already known for tight profit margins.

From the rise in multimillion dollar “nuclear” jury verdicts against motor carriers to federal and state efforts to redraw the industry’s independent contractor business model, these are pressing times for lawyers that represent trucking companies.

After a nearly three-year delay, a Texas appellate court has voted for all of its nine justices to take over an appeal of an $89.7 million lower court jury verdict against Werner Enterprises in a 2014 fatal accident that the motor carrier has steadfastly maintained was not its driver’s fault.

A married couple from New Orleans have been sentenced to 48 months in federal prison for their role in a 2015 staged accident with a tractor-trailer.

New Orleans attorney Danny Patrick Keating Jr., charged last year for his participation in 31 illegal staged accidents, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.

A total of five individuals have pleaded guilty to staging two accidents in the New Orleans area with tractor-trailers in 2017, and obtaining fraudulent financial settlements totaling more than $282,000.