Hollywood action movies follow a predictable script for disarming bombs. Seconds before the ticker reaches zero, a protagonist cuts the blue wire and saves the day.
Solving legal problems is not so simple, especially for motor carriers who over the last decade have seen the litigation environment turn “nuclear.”
In a June 2020 report, the American Transportation Research Institute charted a 967% increase in the average size of verdicts from $2,305,736 to $22,288,000 between 2010 and 2018.
The good news, if there is any, is that rising litigation and insurance costs have created entry points for businesses to bring a fresh approach. For example, loss ratios have forced commercial truck insurers to exit the market but “insurtech” companies have come in with programs and technology to squeeze out savings for fleets.
[Related: Could 'insurtech lower cost of commercial truck insurance?]
This week, a new company named Bluewire announced plans to help fleets mount a proactive defense strategy for the Reptile Theory approach used by plaintiff attorneys. The Reptile approach creates anger and a desire for juries to punish trucking companies for perceived bad behavior.
