|
Driving and/or riding as a passenger are activities that are woven
throughout the texture of most people’s daily life in our society. Many of
us have had some type of traumatic experience while on the road. Some of us
have had traumatic experiences with trucks. Our daily experience on the road
lays down deep tracks of memory, bodily knowledge, and belief about what
constitutes safe driving. Jurors bring all this “baggage” to trial when
processing the evidence and deliberating in trucking accident and wrongful
death cases.
|
|
The problem is that driving a truck is very different than driving a car.
Yet, quite naturally, jurors rely on their own “common sense” about driving
and road safety. The result? Jurors usually inappropriately apply their
deeply held standards and personal experiences about driving cars or
passenger vehicles to trucking cases. For that reason, understanding jurors’
pre-existing attitudes about and experiences with driving, trucks and
truckers is essential for positioning yourself to win at trial.
|
|
You
can assess jurors’ experiences and attitudes on a case-by-case basis by
conducting mock trials. However, if you
frequently deal with trucking cases in specific venues, a more
cost-effective and strategically smart approach is to conduct a large-scale
community survey. A survey enables you
to create a statistically sound juror strike profile that can be applied
across a range of cases as well as uncover preconceptions about truckers,
truck driving and truck accidents you might need to dispel (or reinforce) at
any trucking trial. Based on survey results, we can draft a
juror questionnaire with key
questions to ask at every trial that can quickly be customized for a
specific case. You can then reserve mock trials only for those cases with
particularly unusual or difficult facts or witnesses that will benefit from
a case-specific test.
|
Because trucks are different than other vehicles on the road, jurors
typically need a good deal of education regarding brakes, pre-trip
inspections, laws about driving and safety regulations, the scope of a
driver’s employment, and the division of responsibility between the employee
and the employer, among other issues. As in most types of cases, if jurors
cannot understand how the events and evidence lead up to an accident, they
cannot identify responsibility and negligence.
In
most trucking cases, we have found two types of juror education to be
critical:
 |
General education about trucking, such as:
Industry Standards: Jurors need education on the industry
standards and regulations that pertain to your case.
Driver Responsibility: Pre-trip
inspections and driver certifications vary from state to state. Jurors
must be able to identify whether the particular driver was acting in
accordance with these mandates.
Air Brakes: The brakes on a truck are
much different than automobile brakes. The time between when the brakes
are compressed and when they actually engage is much longer and proper
braking requires different methods so the truck won’t jackknife. Jurors
without truck driving experience are often quick to blame truckers for
failing to brake – unless they are educated about proper truck braking.
|
|
|
Specific education about the sequence of events connected with the
accident:
Timeline: At a minimum, you will need
a timeline that lays out the relevant events leading to the accident.
An effective timeline typically includes no more than 10-12
events. Therefore, you may need to create multiple timelines that target
specific categories of relevant events. For example:
|
|
The “Run”: The duration,
including the time and mileage, of a particular trucker’s run.
|
|
|
Truck Inspection: The pre-trip
inspections, brake checks, and maintenance stops made along the way.
|
|
In our experience,
clear demonstrative exhibits are the most effective way to communicate the
sequence of events. These demonstratives should be tied to your case themes
and story. We give recommendations for persuasive demonstratives, and we
have a number of litigation graphics
partners who can translate our and your concepts into persuasive
graphics and animations, including scientifically accurate and fully
admissible accident simulations.
Not all information
is suitable for a timeline. Some may be conveyed more effectively in simple
charts or tables, such as
the driver's experience. A good bullet list of his experience might include
might include his familiarity with this particular run, experience driving
loads of different sizes and weights, years of driving with a commercial
license, and number of previous accidents and/or citations.
For
the defense, often a key issue is whether to argue liability or admit
liability and argue only on damages. This is a perfect issue to test in a
mock trial or trials. As we work with attorneys in preparing for a mock
trial, we often can help them see case facts in a new light and develop a
strong liability case where before, the defense attorney saw no hope.
In
cases where damages only are at issue, a mock trial that focuses on seeing
what jurors’ range of awards might be can be a valuable tool in your toolkit
for settlement negotiations. Many clients have used our mock trial reports
to negotiate favorable settlements before trial.
|
|
