When Refusing Responsibility Costs $26 Million, with Clancy Boylan
Episode Summary
The single biggest driver of a trucking verdict isn’t always the injury — it’s the “piss-off factor.” Clancy Boylan, managing partner of Morgan & Morgan’s New Jersey and Philadelphia offices, explains how a defense that refused to accept responsibility fueled a $26 million verdict in a case with only non-operative spine injuries and a mild TBI. Host Brendan Lupetin digs into the 2019 Route 30 crash in Lancaster, the snowy-conditions speeding violations under FMCSR 392.14, the deposition PowerPoint that trapped the driver and safety officer, and the bifurcated trial that produced a $25 million punitive award against the company. Clancy shares how jury anger and an unanswered “I’m sorry” shaped an unforgettable win.
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- Clancy Boylan built Morgan & Morgan’s New Jersey and Philadelphia region from a one-man operation into roughly 30 attorneys and 130–140 total staff in about five and a half years.
- In the 2019 Clemens crash, an old-school driver who was fully off Route 30 with his four-ways on was rear-ended just after midnight by an Ecore tractor trailer.
- The client’s injuries were modest—neck and back herniations and post-concussive symptoms, with no surgery—which makes the size of the verdict all the more striking.
- Snowy, icy conditions triggered FMCSR 392.14’s “extreme caution” duty; the driver was going about 63 in a 55 zone when he should have been closer to 32–33.
- Rather than admit fault in a clear rear-end case, the defense blamed the parked client for a shoulder-parking violation—supercharging the “piss-off factor.”
- A bifurcated verdict delivered $1.2 million in compensatory damages—less than the pre-trial offer the client turned down—plus $25 million in punitive damages against the company.
- Clancy says the verdict rewired his strategy: on well-funded trucking defendants, his settlement demands now run sky-high to reflect uninsurable punitive exposure.
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