Nuclear Verdicts: Three Steps for How Your Firm Can Avoid Them
Nuclear verdicts quadrupled last year, leaving hundreds of carriers out of business and thousands of drivers out of jobs.
And while there is a great appetite out there for the “deep pockets” of the trucking industry, with a few tweaks to your training and documentation system, you can insulate yourself from them.
How can I protect my company from nuclear verdicts?
Nuclear verdicts can put a trucking carrier out of business, and any gap in training or documentation is an opportunity for a plaintiff’s attorney to make the case against your company. Protect your company by establishing a culture of safety and documentation.
A Look Inside an Attorneys’ Nuclear Verdict Playbook
Plaintiffs’ attorneys have a sophisticated bag of tricks, in which they comb through data to discover vulnerabilities in carriers’ processes and procedures. They use these data analytics to make decisions on whether to go to court or settle or when to drop a case altogether.
Attorneys look at a variety of data, including CSA scores, logs, and reporting inefficiencies, then drill down on those issues to prove their cases and win millions of dollars for their plaintiff. Attorneys have data analysts ready to get the next nuclear verdict, so trucking companies need to be armed and ready, protecting their vulnerabilities and ensuring that all processes and procedures are above par.
The “Dirty Five”
Attorneys have a well-known attack strategy for nuclear verdicts, using the “Dirty Five” against drivers. These are five categories that are known winners for nuclear verdicts:
- Driver Fatigue
- Distracted Driving
- Driving Under the Influence
- Poor equipment maintenance
- Inexperienced or poorly-trained driver
Your Nuclear Verdict Playbook
If attorneys have a playbook for getting nuclear verdicts, you should have one for avoiding them. Gone are the days when a robust safety program was a “nice to have.” Welcome to the days of “establish your program, or you’re out of business.”
Infinit-I Workforce Solutions has published a new whitepaper, which details our strategy on a data-driven approach to avoiding nuclear verdicts. Read the whitepaper and learn about how a culture of safety and accurate, detailed documentation can save your company from nuclear verdicts, extravagant insurance premiums, and bankruptcy.
Infinit-I Workforce Solutions’ Checklist to Avoid Nuclear Verdicts
If you’re not quite ready to commit, we are offering a checklist to get you started on nuclear verdict prevention. Follow the steps below to protect your company and your drivers.
- Avoid accidents in the first place by creating a culture of safety that utilizes short, frequent, consistent online safety awareness training partnered with real-time documentation.
- When accidents do happen, mitigate liability and the likelihood that the case goes to trial by making sure that 1) the driver is prepared to begin your company’s defense at the site of the accident, and 2) your office is prepared to quickly produce consistent documentation and a safety portfolio that discourages litigation
- If the accident goes to trial, make sure that driver training, company policies, licensing, and medical records are thoroughly documented, reducing the threat of nuclear verdicts
Key Takeaways:
- Nuclear verdicts are on the rise, and trucking companies must be hyper-vigilant to reduce risk exposure.
- Create a culture of safety using Infinit-I Workforce Solutions’ training toolkit and documentation system.
- Plaintiffs’ attorneys have a data-driven approach to snagging nuclear verdicts. You need a data-driven playbook on how to avoid them.
