This 4-day (8 hour) online training covers legal concepts related to unsafe condition claims in California, investigation of collisions from a litigation perspective (vs a purely operational perspective), and focuses on tort liability litigation practices.

The intent of this course is to help transportation practitioners understand what claims can be brought against a transportation entity for crashes, how the lawyers representing those entities manage and defend those cases, and how the non-legal transportation professional can actively reduce or manage litigation risks using engineering judgment, proper documentation, and collaboration with legal and non-legal professionals.

Transportation entities face conflicting and intersecting priorities: they must provide safe, efficient, equitable, multi-modal transportation projects while mitigating financial, legal and operational risk. Legal risk should be addressed by transportation entities early and often, not just after lawsuits have been filed.

Employees and officials planning, designing, maintaining and operating their entity's transportation infrastructure need to understand the major legal principles governing roadway litigation. An understanding of the legal statutes, cases, principles and outcomes will help all transportation employees, from engineers, to planners, to maintenance crews understand how to conduct their operations to minimize or reduce legal risk.

This course covers planning and design elements that provide context sensitive solutions based on the unique geometrics of a given facility while reducing legal risk through proper documentation and engineering judgment. We will discuss legal cases and court decisions that provide the framework for transportation entities to defend against unsafe condition cases. The various defenses available to the transportation entities will be covered, along with practical information for transportation employees to build into their workflow that minimize or reduce legal risk while allowing for creative, innovative design solutions for transportation infrastructure projects. Although the cases discussed will involve lawsuits resulting from highway design, the information provided will help civil engineers involved as witnesses in various types of litigation.

Additional course detail is provided in the sections below.

• Course Topics

  The course will provide transportation personnel with an understanding of the following:

  • Litigation process, including legal concepts for unsafe condition claims
  • The concept of joint and several liability
  • The available defenses
  • The need for early investigation in some collision cases and process of providing information (discovery) during a lawsuit
  • Various types of written discovery, oral testimony typically done in these cases, as well as the necessary preparation and Assistance needed by employees involved in the litigation matters
  • How to respond to questions from attorneys and become an effective witness in depositions and at trial
  • How to prepare for deposition testimony (and the importance of doing so)
  • How to testify in a trial
  • Interaction discussion and pointers on preparing for testimony
  • Dispositive motions that can end a case short of a jury
  • Several motions, including demurrers, motions to strike, motions for design immunity, and a trial on affirmative defenses
  • Explain these motions, and the non-legal transportation official's critical role in successful outcomes to these motions for Transportation entities
  • Focus on emerging trends in transportation engineering that affect tort liability and risk management. This will include a history of safety programs federally and in California, including the Highway Safety Act, various spot programs, as well as the evolution of corridor safety programs, and the transitions with reactive/proactive safety operations
  • Challenges of innovative transportation initiatives when juxtaposed with the tort liability scheme in California
• Course Outline

  [no outline provided]

• What you will learn

  The intent of the course is to improve public agency practices to effectively manage and reduce tort liability. The following learning objectives are primary for this course:

  • Understand the nature of roadway litigation against transportation entities
  • Understand the litigation process in tort liability litigation
  • Familiarize non-legal transportation personnel with the litigation process and their role in that process:
    • Helping them to proactively manage or reduce liability, while
    • Helping the legal team defend litigation matters effectively
  • Help participants with the process of deposition and trial testimony by helping them understand how to approach witness testimony
  • Address current trends in road liability litigation and how those trends can be positively or negatively affected by the transportation employee's work
  • Use real world case examples to teach transportation employees how to use liability neutral documentation
  • Understand the importance of balancing factors in addressing the needs of all road users
• Who should attend

  This course will benefit transportation professionals (engineers and planners) who work for consultants, cities, counties, and state agencies involved in designing roadway projects, and is designed for individuals with some background and training in designing streets and intersections who are interested in learning more about tort liability, how it relates to the highway design process.

  The course may also be helpful to the staff of public agencies who are involved with street and roadway maintenance on a day-to-day basis.

• Course Prerequisites

  [no prerequisites identified]

• Course Instructors

  Rock Miller

  PE, PTOE, Firm Principal/CEO, Rock E. Miller & Associates, Orange, CA

  Mr. Miller is a registered civil engineer and traffic engineer in California and is recognized as a leader in planning and design for complete streets and active transportation, with over 40 years in the transportation profession. Rock is an expert in working through issues posed by working with legacy design guidelines while providing for innovative transportation improvements. He has served as the International President of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) and has served on Caltrans and National Traffic Control Devices committees. Rock is also an expert on engineering liability defense and has assisted Caltrans and local agencies in litigation of roadway designs and traffic controls. Rock is also an excellent instructor and has delivered popular classes for Tech Transfer for many years.

  
  Heidi Skinner

  Assistant County Counsel of Litigation & Public Safety, County of San Diego

  Ms. Skinner has been an attorney for 26 years, working exclusively for public entities. Heidi's practice focuses on risk assessment, risk mitigation and risk reduction for public entities. Heidi currently works for the County of San Diego, as the Assistant County Counsel overseeing all litigation matters as well as the public safety group. Before that, Heidi worked for the State of California, Department of Transportation for 17 years, litigating, then supervising a team of attorneys handling civil litigation matters, including dangerous condition cases, employment, eminent domain, and inverse condemnation. She was the Chair of the Statewide Tort Committee and the Safety Legal Risk Management Committees. Heidi has tried dozens of trials and uses her experiences from jury trials to advise clients on risk avoidance, risk reduction and risk management.

• Registration Information

  Registration for this course occurs at the TechTransfer training host site. Use the button to the right to directly access the course page and registration portal. You will be asked to create a user account as part of the registration process.

  Approximately one week before the course start date, all paid students will receive detailed instructions on how to access the web based lecture and course site. You will also receive instructions on how to access the student course notebook.

  If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact the TechTransfer Registrar at (510) 643-4393 or registrar@techtransfer.berkeley.edu.

• For more information

  To learn more about TechTransfer courses and credits, see their FAQ (https://www.techtransfer.berkeley.edu/faq-page).

  To learn more about TechTransfer's cancellation, refund, and substitution policies, see How to Enroll (https://www.techtransfer.berkeley.edu/enrollment/how-enroll).

  Cancellation Policy:

  The cancellation fee for this course is $75. At TechTransfer, there are no refunds for classes with registration fees of $75 or less. For all other classes, you may cancel your enrollment and receive a refund of your registration fee less $75, provided they receive your written request to cancel at least 5 full working days before the class is scheduled to begin. In lieu of canceling your registration, you may (1) transfer your registration to another TechTransfer class, (2) receive a tuition credit for the full amount, useable toward a future class, or (3) send a substitute in your place.

  Note: TechTransfer recommends you discuss any possible problems or online security issues with your IT person before you register for any online classes. If you are worried about connectivity issues, please contact the online training coordinator the week before the class to schedule a time to test your system. If you do not test your system and you have technical issues during a live online class, we will not provide a refund.