Few doctrines in tort law generate more disagreement at trial than the eggshell plaintiff rule, also known as the thin skull rule. The principle is well established: a defendant whose negligence causes injury cannot avoid liability due to the plaintiff’s preexisting condition, even if that condition made the resulting harm substantially worse than what an […]
Chain-reaction accidents by nature involve more than two vehicles and consist of a rapid succession of impacts that occur over only a few seconds. Each subsequent collision potentially introduces new defendants, new theories of liability, and new questions regarding causation. The first impact may initiate the sequence, but it does not determine who bears the […]
A rear-end collision involving a commercial truck often presents as a straightforward case. Because the trailing vehicle failed to stop before impact, many presume that the truck driver was necessarily following too closely. However, in commercial truck litigation, stopping distance rarely exists as an isolated issue. Rather, it becomes a question of causation, requiring attorneys […]
Commercial trucks preserve enormous amounts of electronic information before, during, and after a collision. Speed, throttle position, brake application, engine performance, cruise control status, and numerous other vehicle functions may be recorded by the truck’s electronic control module (ECM), commonly referred to as the “black box.” Despite its name, black box data rarely determines a […]
When a commercial truck fails to stop before a collision, one of the first questions asked is often: why didn’t the truck driver brake? In litigation, however, no question is that simple when a catastrophic injury is involved. A truck’s inability to stop may result from driver error, mechanical error, or a combination of both. […]