Want to stay out of court? Make your case! Transportation engineering documents are frequently used by litigants and courts as evidence against transportation agencies that are being sued for alleged negligence in facilities operation. TRB hosted a webinar on Wednesday, June 21, 2023 from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM Eastern that discussed the concepts of liability neutral language and its use in engineering publications, press releases, e-mails, and other forms of communication.
This webinar is based on NCHRP’s Legal Research Digest 83: Guidelines for Drafting Liability Neutral Transportation Engineering Documents and Communications Strategies.
This webinar was sponsored by TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program and the Standing Technical Committees on Safety Performance and Analysis and Tort Liability and Risk Management.
The slides are available. Please contact trbwebinar@nas.edu for a link to the recording. There may be a $50 fee.
Webinar agenda and presenters
Discussion of liability neutral concepts and editing of documents – Terri Parker, Missouri Department of Transportation
Documentation of decision-making processes and application of engineering judgement – Heidi Skinner, County of San Diego
Question and answer session moderated by Brelend C. Gowan, Attorney at Law & Legal Consultant
The first 40 minutes of the webinar were for presentations and the final 20 minutes were reserved for audience questions.
Learning Objectives
At the end of this webinar, participants can:
Use language that does not increase the risk of litigation for the agency
Professional Development Hours
This webinar was delivered as a scheduled – e-learning live event and is categorized within RCEP as Technical, Health and Safety.
Professional Development Hours (PDHs) earned on completion of this program were reported to the Registered Continuing Education Program (RCEP). Certificates of Completion are issued to all participants via the RCEP.net online system. Complaints about registered providers may be addressed to RCEP, 1015 15th Street, NW, 8th Fl., Washington, DC, 20005.
Continuing Legal Education Credits
TRB offered 1.0 CLE credit for this webinar. TRB did not seek approval for this webinar from the state board. Registered webinar attendees who signed in and viewed the entire webinar received a link to a certificate that they can fill out and provide to the appropriate MCLE Board(s) or Commission(s) within 30 days of activity.
