Page 36 - ATR 2 2020 digital

“My wife said no, no more,” he said
with a laugh. “After that ordeal, she was
WE WEREN’T THE MOTOR CARRIER. WE HAD like, ‘No, we’re done.’”
BROKERED THIS. THIS WASN’T OUR TRUCK. SO ATTORNEY PERSPECTIVE
WE DIDN’T THINK IT WAS REALLY GOING TO GO Attorney Jones, whose firm did not
ANYWHERE. AND WE LEARNED A HARD LESSON. represent Clifton’s company or Clifton,
said during the Accounting & Finance
—RANDY CLIFTON, OWNER, RCX SOLUTIONS Council meeting that carriers constant-
ly face the threat of a nuclear verdict.
Jones said that while the conventional
wisdom defines a nuclear verdict as one
attorneys who are becoming better and Six months later, Clifton learned of at least $10 million, his definition is
better at their jobs. that he was being sued as well. At first, more situational. For a smaller trucking
“The sad reality is, when you have he wasn’t too concerned. company, a nuclear verdict can be any
something, there are at least two people “Honestly, we didn’t prepare,” he large one its insurance won’t fully cover.
out there that want what you have, and said. “We weren’t the motor carrier. Jones said nuclear verdicts com-
they’re there to try to take it,” Jones We had brokered this. This wasn’t our monly involve a sympathetic plaintiff
said during a session at the Arkansas truck. So we didn’t think it was really where there’s a gruesome injury, a
Trucking Association’s Accounting & going to go anywhere. And we learned a death, or a loss of multiple family mem-
Finance Council meeting March 11. hard lesson.” bers. Liability can become almost irrel-
Clifton’s family has been involved Among the hard lessons: The car- evant in those cases.
in trucking for generations. His grand- rier brokerage agreement and the load Plaintiff’s attorneys seek to trigger
father owned a motor carrier. His confirmation featured an RCX logo, anger toward the defendant using the
father, Randy Clifton, started RCX which made it easier for the plaintiff to “reptile theory,” where they appeal to
Solutions in 2001. Clifton Jr. took over argue that the driver was working for jurors’ emotions by encouraging them
the company in early 2010 after his RCX as a regular contractor. The deposi- to consider how the case could affect
dad suffered a heart attack. He faced tion revealed that RCX’s safety director them, or to imagine if they themselves
challenges common to motor carrier had no formal training or accredita- were the victim. Attorneys are not sup-
owners. RCX’s CSA score rose too high tions. The About Tyme driver had a posed to make “golden rule” arguments
in 2013, and the company received a felony conviction. Meanwhile, the judge where they ask jurors to put themselves
conditional rating. Then it turned the refused to allow Clifton’s legal team in the plaintiff’s shoes, but they do it
numbers around. to tell the jury that About Tyme had anyway and artfully.
“We were getting better,” he said already settled with the crash victim. Plaintiff’s attorneys trigger anger
in an interview at the Accounting & In 2017, a jury found RCX liable and toward drivers by emphasizing traffic
Finance Council meeting. “We were hit the company with a $23 million ver- tickets, weight violations, a poor driv-
learning things and putting the right dict. An appeals court last year lowered it ing history, drug use or cell phone use.
things in place. We went to ELDs to $7.5 million, of which Clifton’s insur- “Not since yesterday have I had to deal
mid-2015, almost two years before ance covered only $1 million. He contin- with a cell phone issue,” Jones quipped.
everybody else did. So I was really ued to try to find a legal remedy — and An insensitive attitude is another anger
proud of what we accomplished. I may in fact have done so — but he ran trigger, as displayed by the driver who
thought we’d made it.” out of time. His bank told him in person literally stepped over a body to take pho-
it had frozen his line of credit. tos of the accident. Violations of safety
HARD LESSONS TO LEARN He was boxed in. The company regulations are another trigger that cre-
Then the accident occurred. Just had already shrunk from 55 trucks to ates juror anger. While major violations
south of Corpus Christi, the RCX about 30 because of the lawsuits and are important, plaintiff’s attorneys are
load being hauled by an About Tyme the increased insurance costs. Earlier skilled at making a mountain out of a
Transport driver hydroplaned, crossed this year, after ensuring his remain- molehill. A driver who changes his story
the median, and struck a Dodge Ram ing drivers were taken care of, Clifton will trigger anger because lawyers will
pickup. About Tyme’s driver died at the closed the company. He still is a sales notice discrepancies.
scene. The Dodge Ram driver suffered agent for a third party logistics provider But increasingly in recent years, tri-
severe injuries and sued About Tyme, and owns a local delivery company and als aren’t about the driver but instead
which settled for $1 million and went a warehouse. He’d like to get back into
out of business. over-the-road trucking. 

36 Issue 2 2020 | ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT