Law360 Highlights Perspective on Landmark Decision Increasing Safety and Accountability Within the Trucking Industry
DiCello Levitt Partner Ken Abbarno is quoted in a Law360 article, “Freight Brokers Brace For New Risks After High Court Ruling.”
The article examines the U.S. Supreme Court’s unanimous decision holding that federal law does not shield freight brokers from state-law negligence claims arising from catastrophic trucking accidents. The ruling is expected to reshape how freight brokers vet motor carriers and manage litigation risk across the transportation industry.
“This is an accountability lever, is what it is,” Kenneth P. Abbarno, a trial attorney and partner at plaintiff-side firm DiCello Levitt LLP, told Law360. “If you do your job, you shouldn’t have to worry about it. If you have a qualified safety department vetting the carriers that you’re going to place the work with, then you’re going to be just fine.”
“This does not create a situation of strict liability against brokers. It doesn’t,” Abbarno said. “It serves to, hopefully, provide an avenue for there to be accountability and to keep our roads safer, because if any one of those brokers are actually putting loads out there without ensuring that the motor carriers are safe, without dotting their i’s and crossing their t’s, then we have a problem.”
Read the full article in Law360.
