Manchester Partners Bill Starr and Ralph Suozzo, Manchester Associate Lauren Jenkins and Providence Associate Amanda Prosek recently obtained summary judgment in the USDC RI on behalf of a commercial lessor of a tractor-trailer involved in a fatal auto accident. The Transportation Equity Act of 2005 a/k/a the Graves Amendment (49 U.S.C. § 30106(a)(1)-(2)) bars vicarious-liability claims against commercial lessors of vehicles for accidents allegedly caused by lessees. The plaintiff was unable to produce any evidence of our client’s actual negligence, e.g., faulty inspection, maintenance, and/or repair of the subject tractor-trailer, which would have allowed her to circumvent the Graves Amendment.
