Trucking accident attorney Stefano Portigliatti attended law school with the goal of joining his family business. However, his law school mentor sent him off on another path.
“He handed me a very tough product liability case against Four Loko,” Portigliatti recalled. “Coming from the business world, I had a certain disdain for injury claims. Despite having a hard time seeing the liability at first, I delved deep into the case and started to see glaring corporate recklessness that placed young kids at risk. The more I invested myself in the case, the clearer their wrongdoing became.”
This is when he “caught the bug.” He decided to stay in Jacksonville and practice law. He merged with Coker Law early in his career and now focuses on serious truck accident cases, which provides him the opportunity to expose corporate negligence while helping clients when they really need guidance and justice.
AALM: What challenges did you have to overcome in your early career?
SP: For several years—probably too many—I had difficulty choosing my battles. I felt the need to fight every discovery violation, push every theory, and argue every issue. This taught me a lot about the law and procedure, but I eventually started to see how it distracted my energy from what really mattered in the case and made it more difficult to establish collaborative relationships with opposing counsel. One of the important lessons I learned over time is how to identify the issues that will “move the needle” so I can focus my attention more efficiently and drive better results for my clients. Focus groups have been invaluable in framing discovery and understanding what issues matter most to members of our community.
AALM: Looking back, out of the hundreds of trucking cases you’ve handled, are there any that stand out to you as more memorable or that changed the way you practice?
SP: Absolutely. Several clients come to mind, clients who have inspired me to be a better husband, father, lawyer, and human. Mr. Chekhovskyy – a husband and father of three from Ukraine, who traveled the country ministering to churches and leading worship on the weekends, was run over by a tractor trailer in Maryland. Ms. Mazariego – she made a treacherous journey from Ecuador to the U.S. and rose from picking up plastic bottles on the side of the road to building several restaurants, and raising five incredible girls. She was hit by a logging truck in Georgia and fought for her life in a coma for 1.5 years before ultimately dying. Mr. Cascante – he could fix anything, taught his son what it means to be a man, and was always looking for thoughtful ways to treat his wife, before he was killed in a crash with a tractor-trailer. The responsibility of honoring these wonderful individuals and the effect their stories had on my own life has deeply impacted how I practice law.
AALM: Tell us about your decision to become certified in truck accidents.
SP: Trucking cases are not like standard car accident cases. Trucking cases involve layers of state and federal regulations and industry standards that vary greatly from those applicable to passenger vehicles. There is a treasure trove of electronic evidence available if one knows where to look, and defendants are often sophisticated and represented by specialized counsel. However, any law firm can advertise for truck accident cases. I wanted to provide clients and referring attorneys an objective and verifiable measure of expertise in that area of law. I’m proud to say I was among the first of 20 attorneys from across the country to become board certified by the National Board of Trial Advocates in trucking litigation. I believe there are only two of us in Florida.
AALM: What trends are you seeing in trucking litigation?
SP: One of the most troubling trends I’m seeing in the industry is the sub-contracting of transportation by large motor carriers to dangerous trucking operations. Large motor carriers use their size and reputation to obtain profitable transportation agreements with major shippers who are putting their confidence on the reputable motor carrier carrying out the work. They then pass that work down to sub-par companies that are out there causing horrific crashes. We tend to see this in cases involving Amazon, CH Robinson, XPO Logistics, JB Hunt, and many other big names in transportation.
When unsafe and underinsured trucks cause harm on our roadways, the motor carriers hide behind various brokerage or sub-contracting agreements to evade responsibility. While federal regulations envision this arrangement and provide a framework for responsibility to remain with the original motor carrier, many unwitting litigants are unable to get to the next level of responsibility. As a result, victims end up limiting their recovery and tragic harm goes without proper compensation.
AALM: Tell us about truck.law. What prompted you to launch this website?
SP: This is a website I created to share resources with other attorneys litigating truck accident cases – this includes discovery forms, pleadings, memoranda of law, company-specific documents, and industry materials. The objective was to help ensure that victims obtain a more just result and trucking companies are held accountable for unsafe operations and, hopefully, improve their practices.
AALM: What advice do you have for younger lawyers starting out in their career?
SP: Two things—Be the best version of yourself and look for instances of shared humanity. There is no mold for who a lawyer should be, look, sound or act outside the bounds of professionalism and ethics. The lawyers who have inspired me the most have been those who are willing to try unconventional things, share their vulnerabilities and connect on a human level. Look for the moments of joy, pain, fear, love that we all share. This can help us better understand our client’s plight, sympathize with our opponent’s challenges and inspire a jury. There is a powerful synergy between our uniqueness and relatedness.
