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ARTICLE · 28 AUGUST 2024

Transportation Broker Liability In The U.S.A. – Avoiding Nuclear Verdicts

Gardiner Roberts LLP
Gardiner Roberts LLP
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Canadian trucking companies and Canadian transportation brokers are always at risk for nuclear verdicts[1] for their operations when they go into the Unites States of America.

GlobalTransport
Rui Fernandes
Rui Fernandes
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Canadian trucking companies and Canadian transportation brokers are always at risk for nuclear verdicts1 for their operations when they go into the Unites States of America. Counsel for individuals injured involving commercial trucks have been targeting trucking companies and transportation brokers2.

Recently there has been some relief in the courts for freight brokers who properly organize their business and contracts with the carriers they hire to move cargo so there is a clear demarcation between the broker and carrier relationship demonstrating independence.

In Cornejo v. Dakota Lines Inc., 2023 IL App (1st) 220633, 229 N.E.3d 546, 471 (Ill. Dec. 795), the plaintiff's son was severely injured when he was struck by an 18-wheel tractor-trailer while standing on the shoulder of a highway. The plaintiff, Francine Cornejo, brought a negligence suit on behalf of her son against defendants Gordon Lewis ("Lewis"), the truck driver; his employer, the carrier Dakota

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