Werner V. Blake Amicus Brief Filed on Behalf of TXTA and TIDA

On Friday, Feburary 16th, 2024, we filed an Amicus Brief on behalf of the Texas Trucking Association and the Trucking Industry Defense Association (TIDA) with the Texas Supreme Court in the matter of Werner Enterprises v. Jennifer Blake. This case has received national attention both in how it defies common sense in its own right and how it reflects a trend of excessive and unwarranted verdicts against trucking companies and defendants generally. In this case, a truck driver was in his own lane driving 10 miles below the speed limit when a pickup truck across the highway lost control, spun out across the median, and into the truck driver’s lane head on. Despite the fact that the truck driver never left his lane, was traveling below the speed limit, and maintained complete control of his vehicle at all times before, during, and after being collided into, the trucking company was found liable to the tune of approximately $100 million. While this case has received a lot of attention due to the size of the award, there are excessive and equally unwarranted six and seven figure settlements and verdicts going on throughout this country on a daily basis. A problem that was bad 10 years ago has reached epic proportions. It is not sustainable and leads to higher insurance costs, higher shipping costs, and inflation.