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Helping the Transportation Industry Effectively Manage Legal Risks and Challenges
Businesses that provide transportation and freight shipping services must deal with significant health and safety risks, regulatory and legislative restrictions, employment and labor concerns, and even specialty coverage issues. The Transportation Law Group at Dickie, McCamey & Chilcote concentrates in helping long-haul trucking companies and LTL carriers manage the day-to-day risks of their businesses.
The members of our Group carefully track the case law and regulations of greatest importance to the freight transportation industry. This ongoing research, coupled with our years of trial experience, allows us to provide targeted legal guidance to businesses that specialize in the movement of freight by way of highway and marine.
Our Group’s services include:
Education and Training
We provide educational seminars for employees and management on a host of critical issues, ranging from accident investigation and catastrophic response protocol to employment-related issues, including elimination of “hostile environments.” We also assist clients with the preparation, construction, and negotiation of contracts, including brokerage and interchange agreements.
Liability Defense for Third-Party Actions
Transportation providers face potential lawsuits on many fronts, including customers, vendors, and other transportation providers. In the event of a dispute, we focus on settlement and litigation avoidance or take a more aggressive approach if litigation provides the best possible outcome and better suits the client’s strategic business needs. Our attorneys are experienced litigators in the areas of specialty coverages, contracts, and business and transactional disputes as they pertain to freight-specific industries.
Defense of Third-Party Claims, Including Workers’ Compensation
The Transportation Law Group represents self-insured employers and their third-party administrators and excess carriers in occupational injury and illness disputes. We work closely with our firm’s Workers’ Compensation Group to provide a strategic and aggressive defense. In addition to monitoring state and federal workers’ compensation regulations and related legal concerns such as the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and unemployment compensation matters, the Transportation Law Group monitors industry-specific regulations and case law to make sure that clients’ policies and programs are in full compliance with the law.
Sexual Harassment and Employment Cases
Transportation companies rarely operate from one centralized location. Instead, they are a collection of locations spread across far-reaching geographic areas. As a result, they face innumerable challenges in making sure that all staff fully understand and comply with all applicable employment and labor laws. The Transportation Law Group helps clients develop and implement policies to prevent and detect harassment and other violations of employment and labor law. If disputes occur, we partner with our clients to develop and implement strategic, aggressive, and well-documented trial strategies that minimize risk and maximize outcome. We also assist clients with union avoidance and negotiation, developing a strategic and cautious approach that fully complies with the National and State Labor Relations Boards’ standards.
Litigation for Recovery of Losses by Negligent Third Parties
In the event that a third party’s negligence causes losses to a client’s business, the attorneys of the Transportation Law Group will take decisive action to recoup all losses. Though we will aggressively pursue a case when appropriate, we work closely with clients to develop alternatives to litigation when trial is not in our clients’ best interests. The firm also advises transportation industry clients on general business matters and business issues unique to the transportation industry.
For further information on the capabilities of the Transportation Law Group, contact Edward M. Vavro, Jr. at 412-392-5445 or evavro@dmclaw.com.