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Dive Summary:
- ONE “friend of the court” legal pension. was filed last month by the Texas Trucking Association and the Trucking Industry Defense Association in support of Werner Enterprises in its appeal of a nuclear verdict. The term refers to judgments equal to or exceeding $10 million.
- The carrier tried to take the case to the state Supreme Court last August, saying lower courts erred in a case involving a tragic crash during a Dec. 30, 2014, winter storm on Interstate 20 near Odessa. A family driving a truck that crossed crossed a grass field into oncoming traffic, hitting Werner’s 18-wheeler.
- Trucking companies often face “meritless claims, settlements and awards,” the lawyers wrote in the filing. They said hauliers should not face disproportionate liability in cases like this – where the “lorry driver stayed in his lane, drove below the speed limit and never lost control”.
Dive Insight:
Werner’s insurance is paying most of the jury’s award of about $100 million, but trucking groups are pushing the state’s highest court to overturn the verdict.
In its ruling, the appeals court found reason to believe the driver had no training for icy conditions and said the company “Negligent training and supervision almost caused the collision.”
Driver Werner was traveling 50 mph during a winter storm warning, as opposed to slowing to 15 mph or less, according to a Texas CDL manual, the court wrote. Additionally, the driver testified “that if the roads had been icy, he should have delayed until he ‘crawled’.”
But due to the sudden emergency, the driver did not fail to act responsibly, TXTA and TIDA’s lawyers wrote. “This verdict defies common sense,” the lawyers wrote.
The American Trucking Associations also filed one amicus curaie brief last December in support of Werner, saying in part, “The appeals court’s opinion forces Texas law down the wrong path and without correction will lead to an uncontrollable explosion of torts.”