The American Trucking Association filed a legal challenge to the Transportation Department’s new rules:

The American Trucking Associations, based in Arlington, Virginia, filed a petition today challenging the regulation at the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington. The group cited the Hobbs Act, a U.S. law that “prohibits actual or attempted robbery or extortion affecting interstate or foreign commerce,” according to the Justice Department’s criminal resources manual.

We cannot allow this rulemaking, which was fueled by changed assumptions and analyses that do not meet the required legal standards, to remain unchallenged.

“We cannot allow this rulemaking, which was fueled by changed assumptions and analyses that do not meet the required legal standards, to remain unchallenged,” Bill Graves, president and chief executive officer of the American Trucking Associations, based in Arlington, Virginia, said in a statement today.

While the final rule maintained an 11-hour limit on truckers’ driving day, instead of shortening it to 10 hours as proposed, the industry objects to a requirement of a 34-hour rest period each week that would require drivers to be off two consecutive nights, said Sean McNally, a spokesman for the trucking group.

Many more fatalities and injuries are caused by speeding than fatigue, making the department’s focus on driving hours misplaced, the group said in its statement. The industry supports regulations that would require installation of speed- limiting devices on trucks, the group said.

Werner Enterprises Inc. (WERN) and C.R. England are among trucking companies that have objected to a government requirement that the weekly time off include the periods between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. on two consecutive days. Trucking companies describe the rest as a restart because it resets drivers’ weekly limits of time on duty.

The trucking regulator underestimated the cost of the restart requirement, McNally said. It will reduce flexibility and may undermine safety by forcing drivers onto the road during rush hour, he said.

The original proposal by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration required two 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. rest periods during the restart. Groups such as Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety had argued that loopholes in previous rules let drivers average 82 hours of work in seven days when they were supposed to be limited to 60 hours.

The trucking regulator is also facing criticisms from safety groups and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union for sticking with the 11-hour driving maximum. The government was sued in 2003, 2006 and 2009 for allowing 11-hour driving shifts. The third lawsuit was settled with an agreement that FMCSA would redo the regulation.

There were 3,675 truck-related fatalities in 2010, up 8.7 percent from 3,380 in 2009, according to preliminary data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. As recently as 2006, there were 5,027 fatalities.

Trucking Industry Challenges U.S. on Driver Rest Rules – Bloomberg

The U.S. House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has removed the provision of the proposed transportation bill that would have allowed an increase in truck weight from 80,000 pounds to 97,000 pounds.

Here’s another example of a multi-vehicle accident involving tractor-trailers.  The plaintiff lawyers are bound to be circling.  It’s going to be a reconstruction nightmare.  As we posted a couple of days ago, this is the sort of trucking / transportation accident that begs for investigation by a full defense team.  See our earlier post.

From the Associated Press:

FLORIDA HIGHWAY PILEUP KILLS AT LEAST 10 PEOPLE

A long line of cars and trucks collided one after another early Sunday on a dark Florida highway so shrouded in haze and smoke that drivers were virtually blinded. At least 10 people were killed.

Visibility was so poor that when rescuers first arrived, they could only listen for screams and moans to locate victims, police said. At least 18 people were hurt.

Authorities were still trying to determine what caused the pileup south of Gainesville on Interstate 75, which had been closed for a time because of the mixture of fog and heavy smoke from a brush fire that may have been intentionally set. At least five cars and six tractor-trailers were involved, and some burst into flame.

Photographs of the scene revealed a gruesome aftermath, with twisted, burned-out vehicles scattered across the pavement and smoke still rising above the wreckage. Cars appeared to have smashed into the big rigs and, in one case, a motor home. Some cars were crushed beneath the heavier trucks.

* * *

via The Associated Press: Florida highway pileup kills at least 10 people.

The Safe and Efficient Transportation Act would raise the maximum weight for commercial trucks that routinely travel on highways to 97,000 pounds in Texas and most other states. The current threshold in most places is 80,000 pounds unless the truck has a permit to be overweight.

The article linked to below has a very good discussion of the safety ramifications and the effect of the extra weights on roads and bridges.

via Trucks on federal highways could soon be heavier | Your Commute | News from Fort Worth, ….

There was a fatality accident over the weekend in Idaho involving two small passenger vehicles and four tractor-trailers.  (Yes, the incident made the news in our Austin, Texas newspaper).  Apparently, a man lost control of his car and hit a semi.  The semi then lost control and collided head-on with another semi.  A third tractor-trailer swerved to avoid the accident and hit a fourth semi.  A man in an SUV swerved to avoid the accident and went into a ditch.  One of the tractor-trailer drivers was killed, while two other individuals were hospitalized with injuries.

With accidents involving multiple vehicles, you cannot rely on the official accident report to be accurate or comprehensive.

The accident involved four tractor-trailers and resulted in a fatality and two hospitalized individuals.  As we all know, there is a high likelihood of litigation.

With accidents involving multiple vehicles, you cannot rely on the official accident report to be accurate or comprehensive.  While most law enforcement officers generally do the best they can, they are often understaffed, undertrained, and under-equipped to perform a proper accident investigation.  Further, most municipal police departments and local state police offices do not staff qualified accident reconstructionists, and the officers investigating the accident are not investigating with the thought of civil litigation in mind.   As a result, oftentimes they fail to gather and record pertinent data and information.  They make mistakes.  They misidentify (or completely fail to identify) potential witnesses.  If they create a diagram that is inaccurate or not drawn to scale, their report can greatly distort the points of impact, final resting places, and vehicle positions before and after the accident.  Once they commit this data and these “findings” to their official reports, the mistakes or inaccuracies can be difficult to overcome during discovery and litigation.

On serious accidents, we believe it is very important to have a knowledgable accident reconstruction team on the scene immediately after the accident.

At the minimum, the team should consist of a local adjuster who has working relationships with local law enforcement; an accident reconstructionist; and an attorney.  Such a team can ensure that:

Donald Schneider, the founder of Schneider Transportation Services, has died at the age of 76.

Schneider National, Inc. | Truckload and Transportation Services

We are committed to the defense of our clients and to the defense bar.  Most of our attorneys have practiced insurance defense litigation for their entire careers.

We are strong believers in the educational and networking advantages of membership in professional organizations.  Our attorneys are members of TIDA (Trucking Insurance Defense Association); DRI (Defense Research Institute);  TLA (Transportation Lawyers Association); TADC (Texas Association of Defense Counsel); and CLM (Claims and Litigation Management Association).

Lynn Castagna has been a member of TIDA for about fourteen years.  She regularly attends their meetings and will probably be attending their next big meeting in Florida.  And, she is scheduled to attend the upcoming DRI conference in Phoenix in February.

We are listed by A.M.Best in Best’s Directory of Recommended Insurance Lawyers.

We’re on hold for a trial in Dallas County.  We have a  case involving a drunk bicyclist who ran into the side of our eighteen wheeler.  We have been itching to try the case, but have not been reached the last three times it has been set.  We will see what happens…

Welcome to our blog.  We will be exploring news and topics relevant to the defense of lawsuits in Texas, including insurance defense, trucking, personal injury, construction, and other types of lawsuits.  We will also keep you apprised of news regarding our firm.