Negligent Hiring by Truck Companies: A Prescription for Disaster
Industry standards require that trucking companies make a reasonable and good faith effort to inquire into the background history of drivers applying for employment. Federal regulations require at a minimum that a truck company should obtain any applicant’s prior accident record, out of service violations resulting in out of service and/or drug and alcohol related events determined by definition to be treated as positive while performing a safety sensitive function. The lack of such diligence by a trucking company not only shows to a driver the inattentiveness of the employer, but it also permits drivers to obtain employment that they may not have obtained had the proper information been requested and/or received. Without proper employment verifications, it cannot be determined by a trucking company whether a particular driver is or is not qualified to act as the driver for a commercial tractor-trailer. There are services available to trucking companies such as DAC Services that can be used to validate applications and obtain background information. The majority of fleet employers commonly use this service, however, regrettably (and unfortunately for our clients) we have been involved in numerous cases where trucking companies do not use such services nor do they conduct an adequate background investigation before hiring drivers.
When a trucking company is negligent in the hiring of a driver, that negligence often times results in subsequent injuries to the innocent motoring public. A driver should not be hired unless he or she is qualified. A trucking company should be diligent in obtaining necessary background information. In a case we handled just this past year, it was determined that several drivers that had been employed had serious felony convictions (including drugs) and numerous moving violations while previously employed by other companies. Indeed, in several cases, they had been terminated by prior employers for “preventable accidents.” Nonetheless, they were hired without an adequate background investigation. Needless to say, such cases settled because the trucking company was exposed for its negligent hiring of the drivers. Nonetheless, wrongful deaths and serious injuries resulted from the acts of the unqualified drivers which could have been anticipated had there been an adequate background investigation.
In any truck accident case, counsel should always inquire about the company’s employment screening practices to determine whether a negligent hiring claim is present. Juries are particularly interested in such evidence because they know that if an unqualified driver is hired, the chance of his/her being involved in an accident increases in proportion almost by definition. This is common sense. Nonetheless, because many trucking companies are negligent in their hiring practices, regrettably, we continue to see accidents which occur where drivers are hired who are not otherwise qualified and whose background clearly indicates that they neither were qualified nor should they have been hired to begin with.
