As I See It: The Nuclear Lawsuit Outcome

Jack Porter, Managing Director of the TCA Profitability Program & “The Trucking Activist”

What will be the outcome when all these Nuclear Lawsuits hit our industry? When the average claim in 2012 was approximately $2M, and that average claim in 2019 is approaching $17M and going higher. Well-run trucking companies are seeing 30-40% increases in their insurance costs for 2020, and the smaller trucker is seeing obscene cost increases that will lead them into Bankruptcy. I’m sure the Insurance market will see more companies drop out of the Truck Insurance market, leading to even higher prices with less competition. The medium sized carriers will have to analyze the limits they currently have and reduce them to meet a cost structure that keeps them in business. The smaller more desperate Carriers may even run without insurance.

When is it time for Tort Reform? These verdicts have moved into predatory “made for TV” dramas where the Trucking public is always portrayed as the Villain. The Reptilian Legal Tactics practiced in these cases only go after the Carriers that have high Liability limits, they build the Drama script thru endless requests for discovery of everything under the sun. Let me tell you from experience, training a Driver from scratch, teaching them the Safe way to drive an #80,000 lb rig during weather and congestion is not an easy task. Unfortunately, accidents happen, and most of these professional drivers are not villains and the Trucking Industry spends millions of hours and expense to insure their Drivers and their Equipment is safe and those costs are already in their Operating Cost structures today. The variable is the Insurance costs that are skyrocketing.

The market will adjust, more Small Carriers going out of business, Larger Carriers will pass along the increases to you and me in higher product costs. Some Carriers may risk everything and run in the Brokerage market with no insurance. As a Consultant in the Trucking Business all those results are bad for our Industry and bad for the public. Not to be callas but what is the price of Human Life? Some of these verdicts are setting that at a Quarter of a Billion Dollars? I’m pretty successful, have worked for 50 years already, and I don’t think I earned a fraction of that amount? We have Insurance actuarial that can be used, and we can have Legal limits that cap these Lottery Like paydays for these attorneys, and yes, institute Loser Pays that will encourage more Insurance Defendants to try the cases. Sounds Like Tort Reform to me.