Freight Marketplace Leader Ch Robinson Found Responsible For Trucking Company's Negligent Operation.

Freight Marketplace Leader Ch Robinson Found Responsible For Trucking Company's Negligent Operation.

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By Brad Hollister

An appeals court panel in Illinois has upheld a lower court ruling that held brokerage as well as logistics giant CH Robinson (symbol CHR), was at fault for injuries in addition to damages which resulted from a 2004 accident which involved a trucking company which the logistics leader hired to transport a shipment of potatoes.
The decision reached by the Illinois Appellate Court on March 30 was one of the most recent roadblock CH Robinson has experienced throughout its attempts to deny liability towards the 2004 fatal accident. This case has been closely watched by the transportation marketplace, as the details have reminded shippers, manufacturers, along with third party logistics firms of the quantity of liability which may possibly be opened up when hiring a trucker to transport freight shipments, regardless if the actual truck driver is an employee or just a contracted carrier service provider.

Within the past, the carrier and also its insurance business assumed all accident-related liability for bodily injury, property harm, and freight loss in addition to harm.

CH Robinson was named a defendant in the case of the 2004 fatal accident which occurred in Illinois involving a non-defunct Utah carrier named Todd Dragonfly Express. The devastating accident had seriously injured 1 individual and also killed two folks. At the time of the accident, Dragon Fly Express had a satisfactory safety record based on the safety record at the time of the freight shipment, as reported by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and also DeAn Henry the truck driver responsible, had a valid commercial driver's license.

Additionally so, CH Robinson was named as a defendant under the vicarious liability doctrine that makes an employer responsible for an employee's actions when they happen within the scope of employment. CH Robinson, Dragon Fly Express, and the trucker had been almost all found jointly liable by an Illinois Circuit Court in a March 2009 Will County, IL courtroom. The Will County Circuit Court had awarded the plaintiffs practically $25 million dollars in damages. In spite of the truth that CH Robinson had been held responsible civilly by the court, the world's largest 3PL had not been found negligent or had performed virtually any unsafe actions throughout the freight shipment booking method.

Regardless of the reality that the trucking business was hired by CH Robinson to haul the freight, an the appellate court up held the lower court's ruling that the truck driver had been acting as an agent for trucking the 3PL's freight. As a result, the organization was liable, the panel concluded.

A Transportation executive for CH Robinson had stated that the logistics giant and also its insurance carriers had been disappointed with the court's decisions in addition to indicated that CH Robinson is taking into consideration further legal challenges towards the lower rulings.

The CH Robinson spokesperson elaborated on the surprise of the verdict since the court had applied the identical level of negligence to the third party logistics provider as the freight carrier Dragon Fly Express and its truck driver. The CH Robinson contract entered into prior towards the shipment clearly identified the roles of the freight carrier to perform the service obtainable as an independent contract as well as the logistics giant had not been negligent within the hiring of that motor carrier.

During the annual SEC filing for the first quarter 2011 results, CH Robinson had disclosed a practically $6 million charge against first quarter earnings in order to meet the five million dollar insurance deductible and just about 1 million in accrued interest. The remaining balance of damages awarded by the courts will be paid by CH Robinson's insurance corporation .

The Naperville Sun newspaper had reported that the former Dragon Fly Express truck driver had plead guilty to two charges in May of 2005 such as failure to reduce speed to stay away from an accident along with falsifying her logbook. The newspaper had gone on to mention that Henry had been ordered to surrender her commercial drivers license for a minimum of 24 months. Following the fatal accident, trucking organization Dragon Fly Express who was hired to transport the freight shipment as well as found negligent for the incident had gone out of business.

FULL ARTICLE HERE: http://news.freightaccess.com/?p=376


About the Author:

Brad Hollister is an Knowledgeable Logistics Executive with Freight Access (Freight Access.com ). Hollister carries a interest for Business Development interest in most existing technology. Contact him with at BradHollister.com. (Brad Hollister ).



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


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