Originally published in CCJ on October 19, 2020. Republished with permission. All rights reserved.

Runaway jury verdicts, coined as “nuclear” verdicts, continue to impact carriers in a number of ways, including rising insurance costs.

Training plays a big part in defending against huge nuclear verdicts. As noted by Taylor & Associates Managing partner J.W. Taylor in a recent CCJ article, attorneys have been successful in obtaining higher jury verdicts against motor carriers using the Reptilian Theory. “With this approach, the counsel tries to paint defendant motor carriers, among other things, as failing to take reasonable steps to train drivers.”

But reasonable steps may be more than providing training; it also means actively monitoring the effectiveness of the driver training to improve safety and compliance. In addition to documenting the driver’s attendance and completion of the training, it is incumbent upon carriers to periodically assess that drivers are retaining information provided in training, to ensure the training is relevant to the potential scenarios a driver may incur, and to provide corrective or remedial training when appropriate.

Want to know more? Contact Partner Lesley Sachs for more information on structuring your safety and regulatory compliance program and how Taylor & Associates can help vet your training programs for effectiveness.

Read the full CCJ article here.