• videocam On-Demand Webinar
  • card_travel Personal Injury & Med Mal
  • schedule 90 minutes

Preserving Evidence in Trucking Injury Cases: Motor Carrier Certificates, Engine Control Module Data and More

Crafting Spoliation Letters, Securing Key Documentation, and Challenging Evidence Destruction

$197.00

This course is $0 with these passes:

CLE
ALL
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About the Course

Introduction

This CLE course will discuss best practices to preserve critical evidence in trucking injury cases. The panel will explain the components of an effective spoliation letter, significant evidence needed in trucking accident cases, and strategies for challenging the destruction of evidence after issuance of a spoliation letter.

Description

Immediately preserving evidence is crucial in trucking accident cases. Truck drivers and motor carriers are legally obligated to maintain certain driving records for a prescribed period of time. These documents contain critical information that can help prove negligence, including evidence of driver fatigue or an overloaded tractor trailer. Counsel must request these documents quickly because waiting too long after an accident can doom a case.

The best way for personal injury lawyers to protect and secure key evidence is to issue a preservation of evidence letter--also called a spoliation letter--right away. The spoliation letter requires trucking companies to preserve critical evidence that they might otherwise destroy. Failure to preserve documents and information in response to a spoliation letter could result in an adverse ruling, discovery sanctions or criminal liability for the trucking company.

A carefully constructed preservation letter can help personal injury attorneys prove "notice" in a later spoliation claim over missing evidence.

Listen as our panel of experienced trucking injury litigators examines legal and practical strategies for preserving key evidence in trucking accident cases. The panel will discuss documents and information that should be requested in the spoliation letter and best practices for leveraging the preservation letter in future disputes over missing evidence.

Presented By

Peter J. Kestner
Attorney and Co-Founder
Penn, Kestner & McEwen, PLLC

Mr. Kestner has extensive experience with truck accident cases, both as a private attorney and representative for trucking insurers. He is co-founder of the law firm McEwen & Kestner and recently a founder of a national trucking practice with Penn, Kestner & McEwen. Mr. Kestner earned his B.S. from Skidmore College in 1989, and his J.D. from William Mitchell College of Law in 2001. He is the current chair of the Academy of Truck Accident Attorneys (ATAA), past chair American Association of Justice's (AAJ) Interstate Trucking Litigation Group, he is a member of the Amicus Committee for AAJ's Interstate Trucking Litigation Group and he also holds a Chartered Property & Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) professional designation in insurance. Mr. Kestner has litigated truck accident cases in 24 different states in both State and federal Court. He is also Board Certified in Truck Accident Litigation in Minnesota by the National Board of Trial Advocates (NBTA).

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Bryan M. Roberts
Shareholder
Stark & Stark

Mr. Roberts is a Shareholder at Stark & Stark, where he represents the victims of commercial motor vehicle crashes in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. For the last 19 years, Bryan has maintained a Commercial Driver’s License (“CDL”). Prior to joining Stark & Stark, Mr. Roberts worked for a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania law firm where he served as a member of the national coordinating trial counsel team for a Fortune 50 international motor carrier in multi-million-dollar wrongful death and catastrophic personal injury claims involving tractor-trailer and large truck crashes. His unique background gives him great insight into commercial motor vehicle cases, and he has recovered millions of dollars in verdicts and settlements arising out of motor vehicle and commercial motor vehicle crashes. Mr. Roberts is certified by the New Jersey Supreme Court as a Civil Trial Attorney. 

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Credit Information

  • This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.


  • Live Online


    On Demand

Date + Time

  • event

    Tuesday, June 18, 2019

  • schedule

    1:00 PM E.T.

  1. Key evidence in trucking injury cases
    1. Motor carrier certificates and filings
    2. Downloaded data from the engine control module
    3. All documents required by federal law (driver's qualifications, driver's logs, etc.)
  2. Drafting a comprehensive spoliation letter: best practices
  3. Challenging the destruction of evidence: considerations

The panel will review these and other key issues:

  • What types of evidence should personal injury attorneys request from truck drivers and trucking companies immediately following a trucking accident?
  • What are some best practices for personal injury attorneys when drafting spoliation letters?
  • What tactics should personal injury attorneys use if they believe evidence has been destroyed in violation of a spoliation letter?