The Rules of the Road are more like “Guidelines” Unless You Establish Them Early in Your Freight Broker Trucking Accident Case
So now you’ve determined what your broker did or didn’t do when qualifying the carrier involved in your crash – what now? If you’re not careful, the defense is going to turn the Rules of the Road into “Guidelines” and you won’t be able to establish the firm foundation you need for your accident case. You must establish your own Rules of the Road and here’s how you do it.
Formulate Your “Rules Of The Road”
Knowing what the broker did or did not do when qualifying the carrier involved in your crash will allow you to formulate the “Rules of The Road” to set up your case, and guide you through your depositions and ultimately trial. With all credit going to Rick Friedman and Patrick Malone for their work in developing the “Rules of the Road” method, this Broker Busting B.A.S.I.C.s presentation will not recount the specific what’s, how’s, and why’s of developing and using a good set of “Rules of The Road.” For those of you not already familiar with their work, I highly recommend you get the “Rules of The Road” book, listen to the CD’s, and/or attend one of their seminars to truly learn the “Rules of The Road” methodology.
However, I do want to give a few examples of potential rules that can be set up in a broker case. Play with these and come up with your own to fit the individual circumstances of your case. If you develop a good set of rules, you will find that it helps lock in your opponent and its experts to agreeing with the basic safety principles that underlie your case…or else they look unreasonable and/or disingenuous if they disagree.
- The safety of those of us who use our interstates and roadways should always be the primary consideration when a third-party logistics company (broker) chooses a motor carrier to haul freight.
- A third-party logistics company (broker) must be careful to place loads with only safe motor carriers in order to protect those of us who use our interstates and roadways.
- A third-party logistics company (broker) must check the safety measurement system BASIC scores before placing a load with a motor carrier in order not to put a dangerous motor carrier on our interstates and roadways.
- A third-party logistics company (broker) must maintain internal records on motor carriers with whom they place loads to assure they are not manipulating their business practices in order to avoid poor safety measurement system BASIC scores or unsatisfactory/conditional safety ratings.
- A third-party logistics company (broker) must only place loads with confident, careful, skillful carriers because tractor trailers pose a danger to those of us who use our interstates and roadways.
- A third-party logistics company (broker) must not place a load with a motor carrier it knows or should know regularly violates federal trucking safety regulations.
- A third party logistics company (broker) must only place loads with motor carriers that have safety management controls that comply with industry standards in order to protect those of us who use our interstates and roadways.