This week, the Truck Safety Coalition (TSC) published an important report detailing its research findings regarding large jury verdicts in fatal semi-truck crashes in this country known as “nuclear verdicts.” The TSC Report has been compiled in response to an earlier study published by the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) entitled “Understanding the Impact of Nuclear Verdicts on the Trucking Industry.”
The ATRI is recognized by TSC as “… the research arm of the motor carrier industry. Its Board of Directors is comprised primarily of executives of major trucking companies and related trucking associations.”
- For details, read our discussion in Nuclear Verdicts in Fatal Semi-Truck Crashes. Also read Motor Carriers’ Continued Focus on Profit Instead of Health and Safety of Truck Drivers Shown in New ATRI Report.
Who is the Truck Safety Coalition?
The Truck Safety Coalition is a partnership between two non-profit safety groups: (1) Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways (CRASH) also known as The CRASH Foundation, and (2) Parents Against Tired Truckers (P.A.T.T.). TSC is the leading national victim-centered truck safety nonprofit. As its mission, the TSC describes itself as “dedicated to reducing the number of deaths and injuries caused by truck-related crashes, providing compassionate support to truck crash survivors and families of truck crash victims, and educating the public, policymakers, and the media about truck safety issues.”
On December 13, 2021, from its Washington, D.C. offices, the TSC published its latest report entitled, “Debunking the Myths of ATRI‘s Nuclear Verdict Report.” On behalf of truck crash victims and their loved ones, it addresses in great detail the criticisms of the current jury process posited by ATRI.
Its accompanying press release cuts to the quick, with TSC stating the ATRI study’s conclusions are “clearly unsupported and completely unreliable.” TSC also attacks the “flawed findings and misinformation” contained in the ATRI’s follow-up report entitled “The Impact of Small Verdicts and Settlements on the Trucking Industry.”
From the TSC’s Myth & Facts Sheet come bullet points of ATRI claims considered to be the “most egregious” by the Truck Safety Coalition. These include:
- ATRI’s report applies the term “nuclear verdict” to any verdict over $1 million, never provides an analysis of verdicts over $10 million, and fails to examine which, if any, of the analyzed verdicts were unfair or excessive.
- ATRI’s report fails to show which, if any, of the analyzed verdicts were ever paid and fails to examine how insurance premiums are set.
- Any increase in claims or verdicts in the past decade is a result of the dramatic increase of truck crashes from 2009 to the present. More crashes = more claims.
- Insurance costs “definitely scale based on safety records” and average insurance costs remain a small percentage of motor carriers’ average marginal costs, as they have for the past decade.
- ATRI’s report has several basic math errors. For ATRI’s claim to be true, average trucking verdicts in 2018 would have to have been more than $64,000,000. This did not happen. (Likewise, there was also no “increase of 967%” in the size of verdicts).
- Every motor carrier bankruptcy cited by the report was caused by that motor carrier’s own absurdly unsafe behavior and crash history.
Why Did TSC Publish This Report Regarding Truck Crash Jury Verdicts?
One thing no one can debate is there are an unacceptably high number of fatal semi-truck crashes in this country. For those of us driving or riding on the roadways of Indiana and Illinois, the risk of a serious or fatal accident involving a commercial motor vehicle (semi, big-rig, tractor trailer, 18-wheeler) is very high. There is a huge volume of large truck traffic here in the “Crossroads of America.”
For more on the dangers of a fatal semi-truck crash, read:
- Danger of More Fatal Truck Crashes Caused by New 2020 Hours-Of-Service Rules
- Commercial Truck Crashes: FMCSA’s New Study Because of Rising Number of Fatal Semi-Truck Accidents
- Inadequate Truck Driver Training and Fatal Truck Crashes in Indiana or Illinois
- Truck Driver Drug Use in Indiana and Illinois: High Risk of a Fatal Truck Crash Caused by Impaired Trucker.
Safety agencies and those representing accident victims have been critical of the trucking industry’s position regarding jury decisions on proper verdicts in the aftermath of tragic semi-truck crashes. This criticism coincides with the longstanding absence of updating trucking industry accident insurance policy minimums for decades. Read, Will 1980 Legal Minimums for Truck Crash Liability Insurance Coverage Finally Be Increased by Congress?
When the ATRI released its findings suggesting that “nuclear verdicts” did not help crash victims but did serve to hurt the trucking industry, the Truck Safety Coalition went to work.
As the leading national victim-centered truck safety nonprofit, TSC is compelled to issue this comprehensive rebuttal to safeguard the rights of truck crash victims and expose these distortions and falsehoods. The right of truck crash victims to hold negligent motor carriers accountable by recovering their full crash-caused damages is essential and must be preserved, contrary to ATRI’s suggestions. Violent truck crashes resulting in death and severe injuries cause irreparable harm and destruction to individuals and families with lifelong and costly economic consequences.
Justice for Victims of Semi-Truck Crashes in Indiana and Illinois
In its fifty pages, the December 2021 publication of the Truck Safety Coalition exposes the many errors and inaccuracies of the ATRI position on the impact and necessity of free jury verdicts in this country when breaches in legal duties of care and safety have resulted in horrific tragedies.
There is no jury verdict assessing damages without first finding that the defendants have committed legal wrongs for which they can be held legally liable. If motor carriers and the trucking industry are not found to be negligent, then there is no damage award.
Sadly, what the TSC reveals is today’s reality: once again, profits are placed over people with tragic results. Experienced truckers know theirs is a dangerous profession. Apparently, the trucking industry continues to focus on the bottom line instead of safety, an infuriating stance made very clear in this week’s TSC report card of the ATRI publication.
For more on liability for semi-truck crashes, read:
- Trial Tactics for Plaintiff Semi-Truck Accident Claims: a Practical Guide from Investigation to Trial
- Trucking Companies Liable for Semi-Truck Crashes in Indiana and Illinois
- Liability in Fatal Big Rig Semi Truck Accidents: Self-Driving Trucks
- Tracy Morgan Crash: Liability in a Big Rig Truck Crash Has No Fast Answer.
If you or a loved one has been involved in a serious or fatal truck crash in Indiana or Illinois, state laws may provide legal avenues for justice with injury and/or wrongful death claims to be asserted against the company that owns or operates the commercial motor vehicle involved in the accident. Please be careful out there!
