The Trucking Practice Group of Goldberg Segalla LLP originated with a singular focus: to represent our trucking industry clients in all of the places their trucks travel in the New York – New Jersey corridor, for all of the legal and business matters they encounter along the way. Our clients need more than a lawyer experienced in just trucking accident litigation, or in the complexities of insurance coverage analysis, or in transactional or regulatory matters, or in cargo claims. Every trucking company encounters all of these issues in the course of running its business, and its lawyers should stand ready to meet all, not just some, of their legal needs, and to do so not just in one or two localities, but in every major city of New York, New Jersey and in Pennsylvania as well.

The Group’s Emergency Response Team (ERT) includes a partner and associate attorney in each office in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany,  the New York metropolitan area, Princeton and Philadelphia, who stand ready to act immediately, 24/7, in the event of a client’s trucking accident. In each city, we have partnered with an accident reconstruction expert and professional photographer to go to the accident scene and identify witnesses, secure evidence and develop early photogrammetry which might otherwise be lost to the passage of time or weather conditions.

The trucking industry faces unique challenges: this dynamic business literally travels through hundreds of jurisdictions each day, carrying with it not just cargo but many legal issues: what is the MCS-90 coverage? Are surety bonds for on-board goods adequate? Is the driver’s logbook current and clean? If the cargo freezes, who bears the loss under the Carmack Amendment? If there is a catastrophic accident at 2:00 a.m. who can be called to secure witness statements, protect the driver’s interests and photograph scene evidence before it degrades? Is the carriage contract or trailer lease sound under the applicable law? We offer our clients a group of attorneys ready to address each need. Our team includes deftly experienced attorneys with multi-disciplinary practice areas in a geographic reach which, we believe, is unparalleled. Our clients enjoy the benefit of access to one law firm with lawyers across New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania who can expertly represent them for all of their varied trucking industry legal needs.

Bruce W. Hoover represents our clients in New York and nationally, enforcing and defending creditor rights in bankruptcy, work-out and collection proceedings. He offers our trucking clients his highly seasoned depth of experience in licensing, distribution, employment and trade secret agreements and disputes, as well as in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, start-up and dissolution, and real estate transactions and credit facilities. Bruce has represented:

• a national transportation company in the acquisition of businesses in the central United States;
• a national company in the defense of a preference claim in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York;
• a national insurer in termination of surety and fidelity obligations in the Bankruptcy Court;
• regional companies in start-up and financing of new companies and distressed asset sales;
• dealers in the acquisition and divestiture of points and franchise negotiations;
• companies in proceedings involving the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the U.S.E.P.A.;

Albert J. D'Aquino, William J. Greagan and Christopher G. Floreale are highly experienced trial attorneys whose practice includes trucking industry defense and litigation of cases seeking catastrophic damages. Al has been an invited speaker at the national annual meeting of the Trucking Committee of the Defense Research Institute (DRI) and has authored articles addressing successful accident reconstruction strategies and aggressive defense techniques. Bill, Chris and Al conduct litigation technique training of associates in the firm's ten offices, to insure that all of our lawyers serve our clients within our Best Practices commitment. Representative cases they have litigated include:

• high-speed interstate highway truck-truck and truck-auto collisions in which ECM retrieval and extensive accident reconstruction techniques were key to the successful defense of the cases;
• one vehicle rollover accidents in which highway design not recognized by the MUTCD was used in defense of the claims;
• full liability wrongful death and catastrophic injury claims in which use of forensic economists and vocational experts were used to limit damages to protect trucking companies from verdicts in excess of insurance limits;
• cargo loss claims and property damage claims by municipalities and utilities;
• driver citations for logbook, weight and load citations.

Sarah J. Delaney is an expert in the area of insurance coverage and MCS-90 interplay with bobtail coverage and policies of insurance for the driver, tractor, trailer, lessee and broker. Sarah has written and published on the defense opportunities available pre-suit with respect to securing and arranging coverage to protect the company and insurer. Patrick B. Naylon, a former New York State Trooper, has secured verdicts in favor of our clients in challenging cases in which damages claims exceeded the available insurance coverage. His police officer background gives him an added edge in working with local police agencies to learn the identity of witnesses and obtain official accident reports. Matthew J. McDermott knows the business of our clients from the perspective of the driver’s seat: he studied for and earned his own CDL. Matt has defended our trucking clients in worker compensation claims of former employees before the Workers Compensation Board across New York. Jeffrey J. Signor has represented drivers and dispatchers in trucking accident litigation and assisted in the trials of New York State Supreme Court cases.  Damon M. Gruber has developed a highly focused concentration on the defense of Workers’ Compensation claims.  His experience includes all aspects of the process:  claims handling recommendations, assessment of claims and development of defenses, lay and expert testimony, the ever-important Board hearing process and the decisional law upon which the Board relies.

We publish the periodic newsletter Rules of the Road to keep our clients informed of developments in the law and in the industry and we would be pleased to add you to our circulation list. We would be happy to send you our ERT driver/dispatcher cards for immediate accident scene response, which lists the office, cell and home telephone numbers of a partner in each of our offices for 24/7 response.