Any type of vehicular accident involving a large commercial truck is likely to result in one or more victims suffering serious or fatal injuries as a result. The mere discrepancy in size and weight between the monolithic semi-trucks, 18-wheelers, big rigs, and tractor trailer trucks in comparison to any other motor vehicle on the roadway alone can turn what would be a fender-bender between two small cars into a deadly collision.
Of course, many other factors work together to make the risk of dying in a roadway accident involving a commercial truck a serious and growing threat to everyone on the roads of Indiana and Illinois.
Continued Trend in Fatal Truck Crashes with Truckers at High Risk of Deadly Accident
According to Illinois’ National Safety Council (NSC), in 2019 there were 43% more large truck crash fatalities than in 2010. The NSC reports that large trucks are involved in 10% of all fatal motor vehicle accidents in this country.
Today, working as a commercial truck driver is considered to be taking on one of the most dangerous jobs in this country. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the death toll for commercial truck drivers is the highest fatality rate that it has been since BLS began documenting trucker death rates in 2003.
For more, read: The Most Dangerous Jobs in Illinois and Indiana: 2019 and Fatal Truck Driver Crashes: Record-Breaking Trucker Fatalities According to New Studies.
In many of these lethal trucking accidents, victims and their loved ones are forced to seek justice in the courtrooms of Indiana and Illinois (as well as other states around the country). Those who are liable refuse to settle, and choose to go to trial.
Hearing the horrific circumstances surrounding these types of accidents together with the shocking reasons that caused them often results in juries returning from deliberations with very large dollar verdicts. These verdicts have come to be known as “nuclear verdicts.”
What is a Nuclear Verdict?
For many legal advocates as well as members of the insurance and trucking industries, a “nuclear verdict” is any jury verdict of $10,000,000.00 or more in total awarded damages.
The nuclear verdict is a total amount of the damages assessed and awarded by the jury for a variety of losses suffered by the plaintiffs, including:
- Economic damages (medical bills, lost wages, etc.);
- Non-economic damages (pain and suffering, etc.); and
- Punitive damages (awarded in instances of gross neglect or intentional misconduct to serve as a punishment for the defendant and a deterrent from it happening again in the future).
For more on damages, read Corporate Greed That Disregards You and Me: The Importance of Punitive Damage Awards.
Industry Misinformation About Truck Crash Nuclear Verdicts
Last summer, the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) published a report analyzing the rise of “nuclear verdicts” involving truck crashes. Read, Murray, Dan, Nathan Williams, and Erin Speltz. “Understanding the Impact of Nuclear Verdicts on the Trucking Industry.” (2020). In its accompanying news release, ATRI shared the following data, partly based upon its own trucking litigation database detailing 600 cases that were tried between the years 2006 and 2019:
- 2006-2011: 26 cases with nuclear verdicts ($1Million or more);
- 2014-2019: almost 300 cases with nuclear verdicts ($1Million or more); and
- 2011-2018: size of verdicts rose 51.7% compared to standard inflation (1.7%) and health care costs (2.9%).
From the report:
Statistical analysis of litigation data from cases between 2006 and 2019 shows that verdicts over $1 million have increased dramatically. The number of cases with verdicts over $1 million from 2005 to 2011 was 79. This number increased to 265 cases during 2012 to 2019, a 235% increase.
Looking at these figures, members of the trucking and insurance industries have decried the rise in nuclear verdicts by pointing the finger at the victims themselves and their legal advocates who have fought for justice in the aftermath of indescribably horrifying fatal truck crashes.
There are cries that the increase in truck crash nuclear verdicts will doom the entire trucking industry. See, “Rise in ‘nuclear verdicts’ in lawsuits threatens trucking industry,” written by Contessa Brewer and Katie Young and published by CNBC on March 24, 2021. How?
- The nuclear verdicts are argued to cause a rise in overall trucking liability insurance rates;
- The increase in liability is causing some insurance companies to stop offering coverage for large commercial trucks;
- Large trucking companies are cutting back on their excess insurance coverage to keep profits high; and
- Trucking industry carriers’ bottom lines are being hit when the company is forced to take responsibility in paying the nuclear verdict once the insurance money runs out.
In sum, the insurance carriers argue they are having to cover too many large truck crash damage cases. These nuclear verdicts are hurting their profitability. They are reacting by charging more for trucking coverage policies, or deciding to stop offering that product as a part of their product line.
Meanwhile, the trucking industry is arguing they are being forced to pay out of their own pockets when their insurance policies don’t cover the entire nuclear verdict amount. They are also complaining that higher insurance policy costs mean they are making less profit. Some companies, they argue, will go out of business if they are asked by a jury to cover a single nuclear verdict where tragedy is deemed to have been caused by their negligent breach of care.
Obsolete Trucking Company Liability Insurance Policy Limits
It is important to consider how the trucking industry is currently covered by their insurance carriers. The minimum limits for these trucking liability policies have not been changed for almost half a century. For more, read our discussion in New Insurance Act Will Increase 40 Year Old Insurance Coverage Minimums in Truck Crashes.
Different Carriers Pay Different Premiums
Also, there is the consideration that different trucking companies have different levels of coverage. The bigger carriers will negotiate with the big insurance companies to get the coverage they will need in case they are held liable for a catastrophic truck accident.
Those trucking companies looking to minimize their costs may decide to take the risk and go with minimum coverage so their premiums are lower. They are juggling higher profits against the chance that they will have to pay a nuclear verdict down the road.
Bad Actors Cause Bad Accidents: Common Factors in Catastrophic Truck Crashes
The reality is these huge jury verdicts are not fanciful determinations made from thin air. The jurors must understand the causes and the consequences of these devastating incidents. They must go through the entire event in the courtroom, together with the plaintiffs. They see the accident scene photos; they hear the testimony of experts on the bodily injuries, the pain and the suffering. It can be a heart-wrenching and life-altering event to serve on the jury in a fatal truck crash case.
The fatal truck crashes that form the basis of their nuclear verdicts are usually caused by infuriating things that include:
- Incompetent drivers with bad driving history who are still on the road;
- Drugged drivers with history of drugs or alcohol who are still on the road;
- Drivers who fall asleep at the wheel after failing to follow HOS regulations;
- Inexperienced drivers who are on the road without sufficient training or supervision; and
- Drivers entrusted with rigs that have not been properly inspected, maintained, or repaired.
Carriers that follow the FMCSA regulations, the industry guidelines, and sound business practices should not find themselves faced with responsibility for a nuclear verdict. They will honor their legal duty of care and safety to their driver and the public sharing the roads with that driver.
All too often, another reality today is that trucking companies decide to skimp on safety in order to maximize profits. They knowingly operate with unsafe and dangerous practices while gambling on the lives of their truckers and others on the road.
Justice for Victims of Fatal Commercial Truck Accidents in Indiana and Illinois
Sadly, it is exactly these large “nuclear verdicts” bemoaned by the insurance companies and the trucking industry that can help to make the roads safer for everyone in Indiana and Illinois. The risk of being held accountable for a nuclear verdict may force some companies to take their safety responsibilities seriously – even if safety does bring with it some extra expense.
Trucking companies that knowingly breach their duty of care and as a result cause a catastrophic truck accident, thereafter refusing to be accountable and forcing the case to trial, should be held financially liable for the consequences of their bad acts. These nuclear verdicts have integrity. It is an insult to jurors and victims to suggest otherwise.
Nuclear verdicts reached by juries who sit in judgment on these bad actors not only bring justice to the accident victims, but they help to communicate to other shoddy carriers and slopping trucking companies that they will be held liable for future fatal unsafe practices in the pursuit of profit.
For more on truck crashes, read:
- Trial Tactics for Plaintiff Semi-Truck Accident Claims: a Practical Guide from Investigation to Trial
- 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
- Motor Carriers; Continued Focus on Profit Instead of Health and Safety of Truck Drivers Shown in New ATRI Report.
Truck crashes are a very real danger for those of us who live and work here in the “Crossroads of America.” Please be careful out there.
