The Firm has extensive experience in the representation of common carriers in actions relating to alleged negligence or reckless endangerment of life and property.
In one of the largest chlorine spills in the history of North America, caused by a derailment, the Firm’s partners represented a national rail carrier in a property damage action. Billions of dollars were at stake. In this representation, the Firm demonstrated its expertise in analysis of claimed but fictional costs of repair and refurbishment, business interruption damages, and damages from the loss of an ongoing business enterprise. The case also had a strong overlay of insurance company interaction, complicating settlement and litigation efforts. After a month’s trial before a jury, the Firm helped its client reach a favorable settlement.
In yet another significant case, the Firm represented a local carrier in a wrongful death and survivorship action in which claimed damages included tens of millions of dollars in alleged lost earnings. Through its expertise in financial matters – including economics, business trends, employment compensation – the Firm used Daubert motions to successfully attack the plaintiff’s damages experts, leading to a favorable settlement.
The Firm’s approach in these common carrier liability cases is to demonstrate that plaintiffs have invented unrealistic and unreliable damages theories in the belief that deep-pocket defendants will inevitably cave in to outrageous settlement demands. We have found that our expertise in locating and preparing highly credible academic experts in economics and business, coupled with our aggressive use of Daubert motions and decades-long experience in Daubert evidentiary hearings, saves our clients’ bank accounts and ability to operate.
The Firm is a member of the National Association of Railroad Trial Counsel (NARTC) – an organization of outstanding railroad trial attorneys – and participates as faculty in numerous NARTC special litigation conferences, lecturing on such topics as taking expert depositions, ethics, and coal dust. The Firm also participates as faculty and students in NARTC’s intensive six-day trial colleges.
