Civil Lawsuit protection / Is there insurance a driver can get while driving as company driver.

On the other hand, when involved in a catastrophic loss, the insurance provided lawyers try to do what is necessary to avoid the potential 'nuclear' judgments.

I had an operator involved in a fatality. Now the FMCSA CDL rules state that a CLD holder CONVICTED over a fatality looses his CDL for a year.

New Jersey decided, without charges, let alone a conviction, that they wanted to suspend his CDL for fourteen months. The lawyers went above and beyond to support the driver at his hearing to determine if the suspension was warranted and proved that he was NOT responsible.

The LAST thing they wanted was to go to court with the driver's suspension hanging over them.

They were successful. Some of the evidence they used also convinced the marine terminal AND their security provider to step up and each be responsible for a third of the proposed settlement.

Our third was $800,000.00 against the insurance reserve of one million which was the maximum of our liability coverage.

Had the insurance lawyers not been so diligent in defending the driver and looking at the facility and security companies involvement AND proved how the other two parties WERE partially responsible; we would have been on the hook for the 1.4 million that was beyond our coverage limit.

Settlement was reached ten days before the court date...the closest of ANY lawsuit where I was involved.

 

In reality .....the job is not worth the risk .

 

I was going back through the comments on this thread and took extra note of the ones I will quote below.

The driver is the public face of the carrier. It just makes common sense the driver has to be the cause.

I would add running legal in all aspects of this job.

Yes, I have. It's almost impossible for the average large fleet to find an underwriter that will do so without a huge amount of money. This is the prime reason most large fleets are "self insured". They hire an insurance company to monitor the insurance to satisfy the legal, but in the case of a claim the carrier themselves pay it.

Your comment is a sad commentary on the state of trucking in the 21st century. I don't think a carrier/driver can make the risk go away, but I do think they can minimize said risk by operating legal. The lawsuits are going to happen, that is a fact. What separates a generally small award from a huge game-changer is the simple notion did the defendants violate the law?

 

That's only a partial issue, because there is a regulation of the driver with a qualifying factor to operate the equipment, the driver is held liable as much as the carrier. There could be an exception and that is if the Feds put into law to prevent the liability to be placed on the driver, as they do for the airlines.

 

Reading these responses makes me laugh......like a TS diner....listening to all the experts.

Yes, drivers can be sued individually while driving a company owned power unit.

The company insurance policy covers the Named Insured AND employee drivers, while operating within the scope of their employment.

Where drivers get sued individually is typically when there is gross negligence on behalf of the driver. While the company policy will cover liability up to the policy limit, and due to the Cumis decision they are entitled to a defense separate from the Named Insured. Defense costs are outside the limit of liability.

The way we would cover a driver who wanted his OWN insurance and own defense is to do a Named Driver policy, where driver is covered for any commercial vehicle he operates under his CDL

 

Who is we...?

If your in the insurance industry how much would such a policy cost....?
30 years ago as a company driver I was quoted $5K for a commercial umbrella policy to cover me..

Nowadays I’d bet they won’t even write such a policy

 

And then you piped in with your "expert" opinion. I'm still laughing at you, not with you, but at you!

 

Considering a considerable segment of this industry self underwrite, I am pretty sure getting a policy is possible. I'm just not sure how much a driver will be forced to pay for it. Just with insurance on a POV, I was talking to one of my neighbors who uses his car as a part of his job. His routes were changed and when he was recently asked about where he went to and how many miles he drove, his insurance carrier almost doubled his premium.

 

Well I'd consider 52 years underwriting trucking business as someone who knows more about the subject than you......so laugh on and show your ##*