Transportation Attorney and Flaster Greenberg Shareholder Chris Merrick will moderate an interactive panel discussion, “Stranger Things: How to be an Eleven and defeat the Demogorgons in Vecna’s Upside Down Derivative Trucking Liability Claim” on April 29, 2023, at this year’s Transportation Lawyers Association (TLA) Annual Conference in San Diego, CA.
The presentation’s creative science fiction theme is inspired by the popular Netflix show “Stranger Things” and the panelists will probe into combating efforts by plaintiff’s counsel to implement “Vecna’s playbook” by interjecting claims in trucking litigation to drive up the value of their cases. Motor carriers and their counsel will learn innovative strategies to prevent negligent entrustment, hiring, retention, or training claims from being a detonator for punitive damages in the wake of a trucking accident. The panel will also discuss the elements of each claim, defenses, discovery strategies, apportionment of fault issues, the impact of a motor carrier’s admission of vicarious liability, and other best practices. Upon completion attendees will have the power to close Vecna’s gate between worlds for good.
About Our Pennsylvania Transportation Attorney
Transportation Shareholder Chris Merrick is a member of Flaster Greenberg’s Litigation Department and of the firm’s board of directors. He is a national leader in commercial transportation law and handles all stages of litigation, including appellate litigation and alternative dispute resolution, and represents corporate clients acting as both plaintiffs and defendants. Merrick also assists clients with preparation and revision of their commercial contracts, as well as navigating challenging regulatory issues impacting their operations.
Merrick’s litigation practice is diverse but focuses exclusively on representing the interests of rail carriers, motor carriers (including household goods carriers), freight forwarders, intermediaries, warehouses, and ocean carriers in a wide variety of commercial transportation contexts. This has included notable matters involving more than $100 million in alleged damages, including defending two carrier clients against a nationwide antitrust class action and prosecuting a carrier client’s right to recover from a former vendor under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.
Flaster Greenberg, a midsize business law firm with offices throughout the Mid-Atlantic and in Florida, has been providing legal services to publicly traded corporations, privately held and family owned businesses, entrepreneurs, and individuals for 50 years. With locations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Delaware, and Florida, Flaster Greenberg serves a broad range of clients in dozens of industries and practice areas including aviation law, bankruptcy, business & corporate, cannabis, commercial litigation, elder & disability law, environmental, family law, gaming, healthcare, insurance recovery, intellectual property, labor and employment, real estate, taxation and trusts and estates.
