Survey - who has had a citation for RV overweight?

"The ultimate rv.net legal fantasy. Arguing 2500 vs 3500 GVWR with dualing experts in a jury trial. lol

I'd worry more about getting struck by lightning on the way to the courthouse. Love the armchair lawyer opinions in this thread."

^^^^ This....although several of my fellow members of the bar who practice on the plaintiff's side would gladly assert that the RV was overweight if it helped provide settlement leverage and/or additional fee-bearing discovery efforts.

CWSWine wrote:

CWSWine wrote:

spoon059 wrote:

CWSWine wrote:
When I sat on a jury we had to fill out form stating what factors caused an accident and one of the questions was "Was the Vehicle Operating within manufacture specs - Yes - No What percentage of cause do you assign" or sometime to those words.

Who is the manufacturer... the truck manufacturer that simply assembled the parts, or the manufacturer of the axle?

Is the axle the factor or is the frame, brakes and etc. The towing guides warns you not to exceed GVWR and GM even has page on their site not to exceed the GVWR Click Here YOu can argue all you want but you will to convince a jury of lay people that are not RVers that the warnings put out the Ford, Chevy and Ram are not a reason to go by. After sitting on a jury I will honor the manufacture specs. I don't want to spend legal fees to defend that either.

In a civil case you would have to convince a house wife that the specs on your 2500 are the same as 3500 and it is ok to exceed them even though the manufacture warns against it. While the other side shows manufacture specs that your are over weight according to the manufacture. I agree with lot or what you say and the truck will probably handle the weight I wouldn't want to be on your side of court room try to defend you position.

The jury instructions in a civil is more likely then not and the weight of each item that causes a accident is decided by the jury and over weight could 10% or 100% depends on what percentage the jury assigns to that one cause.

The ultimate rv.net legal fantasy. Arguing 2500 vs 3500 GVWR with dualing experts in a jury trial. lol

I'd worry more about getting struck by lightning on the way to the courthouse. Love the armchair lawyer opinions in this thread.

Sitting and think about the trail I was on there two witness that claimed at 65 miles per hour the car was within 10 feet of the back bumper of the car he hit in the rear. One jury member argued that 10 feet was plenty of room and she done it for years and never got in accident and there was no law against it. LOL

I would tell the court the weight rating on my truck is limited by cooling capacity. They would then contact the OEM who would tell them some bs line about not being able to release such Secret Information, same thing they tell their customers. Then the media would present alternator facts.

CWSWine wrote:

spoon059 wrote:

CWSWine wrote:
When I sat on a jury we had to fill out form stating what factors caused an accident and one of the questions was "Was the Vehicle Operating within manufacture specs - Yes - No What percentage of cause do you assign" or sometime to those words.

Who is the manufacturer... the truck manufacturer that simply assembled the parts, or the manufacturer of the axle?

Is the axle the factor or is the frame, brakes and etc. The towing guides warns you not to exceed GVWR and GM even has page on their site not to exceed the GVWR Click Here YOu can argue all you want but you will to convince a jury of lay people that are not RVers that the warnings put out the Ford, Chevy and Ram are not a reason to go by. After sitting on a jury I will honor the manufacture specs. I don't want to spend legal fees to defend that either.

In a civil case you would have to convince a house wife that the specs on your 2500 are the same as 3500 and it is ok to exceed them even though the manufacture warns against it. While the other side shows manufacture specs that your are over weight according to the manufacture. I agree with lot or what you say and the truck will probably handle the weight I wouldn't want to be on your side of court room try to defend you position.

The jury instructions in a civil is more likely then not and the weight of each item that causes a accident is decided by the jury and over weight could 10% or 100% depends on what percentage the jury assigns to that one cause.

spoon059 wrote:

blt2ski wrote:
Unless you end up in Hazard county dealing with Sheriff Pee Coaltrain or how ever his name is said......then all bets are off also.

Marty

Come on Marty... Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane is an institution!

Having a brain phart on the name. Thank you for correcting me!
The other I was thinking was the Jackie Gleason sheriff in "Smokey and the Bandit" or ilk like them.........

blt2ski wrote:
Unless you end up in Hazard county dealing with Sheriff Pee Coaltrain or how ever his name is said......then all bets are off also.

Marty

Come on Marty... Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane is an institution!

CWSWine wrote:
Is the axle the factor or is the frame, brakes and etc. The towing guides warns you not to exceed GVWR and GM even has page on their site not to exceed the GVWR Click Here YOu can argue all you want but you will to convince a jury of lay people that are not RVers that the warnings put out the Ford, Chevy and Ram are not a reason to go by. After sitting on a jury I will honor the manufacture specs. I don't want to spend legal fees to defend that either.

Axle specs take into account braking performance. Therefore Ram believes that my 2500 is capable of stopping 13K lbs, even though its only rated to 10K.

The frame on the 2500 and 3500 are exactly the same, except for the suspension mounts (coil vs leaf). Therefore Ram believes that my 2500 is capable of hauling 13K lbs.

What is your next argument?

The great thing about a jury is that they have these things called JURY INSTRUCTIONS. Those explain what you can consider, and what you cannot consider. Manufacturer specs don't carry the weight that you wish they did. I understand and respect your point of view, but that doesn't make it correct. Manufacturers are balancing warranty and repair costs when they make those ratings. That doesn't make it more or less "safe".

PA12DRVR wrote:
" If a person hasn't actually studied the law then please quit giving their opinion or popping off with what they think because they simply don't know and it just spreads erroneous information."

Perfectly valid point....and I wish all of the armchair lawyers on here who are not admitted to practice would quit pontificating on what will or won't happen in a civil lawsuit and what factors will or won't be alleged as causation for the accident.

I personally do not believe the OP was asking about what will happen in a civil suit. THAT court has a LOT of gray from a who can be convicted. ie think about OJ Simpson, not guilty in legal court, guilty in civil court!
From a true legal standpoint, ie an LEO/CVEO as Wadcutter is, they have black and white rules/laws to follow. Some like myself, and others, have to deal with these laws daily. We know and understand them. Would I last a minute in a civil court, probably not a second. Many of those types of attorneys throw stuff on the wall, like spaghetti noodles, what noodles stick, that is what they go after!
As the OP has asked, "has anyone had an overweight ticket in an RV" reality is NO! and probably never will. Unless you end up in Hazard county dealing with Sheriff Pee Coaltrain or how ever his name is said......then all bets are off also.

Marty

spoon059 wrote:

CWSWine wrote:
When I sat on a jury we had to fill out form stating what factors caused an accident and one of the questions was "Was the Vehicle Operating within manufacture specs - Yes - No What percentage of cause do you assign" or sometime to those words.

As you noted though, that is but one single piece of the puzzle. Being overloaded while driving in excess speed, while distracted by something, while following too closely, while running a red light is certainly enough to be civilly liable. But any one single thing is likely not enough to prove negligence.

That is so true overweight contributed to the accident and some lay people on a jury in civil case will assign a percentage of fault for being over weight and the the other factors. That is what we did but the case I was on was not over weight case it was car accident. Listening to the jury debate was interesting at the least.