Truck Wrecks Caused by Negligent Hiring and Retention
Under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, a truck driver may not be hired, nor may he operate a tractor trailer, unless certain employment criteria are met. One set of criteria deal with the prospective truck drivers qualifications to drive a truck. In this regard, a federal motor carrier must check the drivers driving records for the past three years in every state in which the driver has held a license. See 49 C.F.R. § 391.23((a)(1)). Prior employers for the past three years must be contacted, and the trucking company considering hiring the driver must ask about the driver’s employment status and quality of work. Written notes are required to be retained regarding each contact with each prior employer. See 49 C.F.R. § 391.23(d). Additionally, a road test must be passed by the truck driver. See 49 C.F.R. § 391.31,.35.
To ensure that truck companies hire safe truck drivers, all collected records about the driver must be maintained by the trucking company at the principal place of business of the motor carrier for as long as the driver is employed and for a minimum of three years after he is no longer employed. Obviously, the purpose of this requirement is to make sure that trucking companies not only hire safe drivers, or at least attempt to do so, but that they maintain their records documenting what they did to ensure that they comply with the law in this regard.
Those trucking companies that fail to verify what is required of them before they hire a driver can be sued for negligently employing an unqualified, unsafe or unfit driver. Punitive damages can also be imposed under Georgia law because a violation of a federal safety regulation is a crime, a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail. If an unsafe driver causes injury to another and it can be established that the employer truck company failed to comply with federal safety regulations, the trucking company can be held liable for its own violations of the law as well as for the negligent acts of the driver. Thus, in any case involving serious personal injury or wrongful death in which a truck is involved, employment records should be subpoenaed to verify compliance with mandatory safety regulations.
