Practice Groups

Transportation

For the last 14 decades Huddleston Bolen has been providing legal representation to the transportation industry.

Our firm traces it's beginning to the 1870s when railroad magnate Collis P. Huntington laid out a city on the banks of the Ohio River to take his name and to be the western terminus of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company. Today, Huddleston Bolen has one of the largest transportation law practices in the country. In addition to providing full service representation to the railroad industry, the firm's integrated transportation practice represents clients in the trucking and maritime industries, logistics companies, and multi-modal transportation companies.

Attorneys Practicing in this Area

Inland Maritime

Part of the firm's integrated transportation practice, the Inland Maritime Practice represents all aspects of inland marine operations. We represent barge owners and operators, towboat companies, line haul operators, fleets and terminals, coal loading facilities, and marine underwriters.

Operating from offices in Charleston and Huntington, West Virginia and Louisville and Ashland, Kentucky, our lawyers routinely handle cases in West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and Maryland. They represent clients in litigation, corporate, and administrative law matters, including:

Litigation personal injury claims arising under the Jones Act and the Longshoreman and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act
Defense of mass tort and toxic tort claims
Litigation of property damage claims
Corporate transactions, financing, securities, and bankruptcy matters
Employment and labor issues
Regulatory and administrative matters
Appellate advocacy
Government and administration relations

For example, Huddleston Bolen has represented a multi-state barge operator in a number of matters over the years, including cases involving serious injury and death. The firm's attorneys have handled cases involving the often complicated interplay of federal admiralty jurisdiction and state law claims. Attorneys in the Inland Maritime Practice also have considerable experience in insurance coverage litigation and arbitration; and have been intricately involved in the defense of toxic tort claims, particularly those pertaining to asbestos and chemical exposure, for decades.

In these challenging times, the experienced transportation lawyers at Huddleston Bolen LLP can help you navigate the most difficult legal challenges in the maritime industry.

Attorneys Practicing in this Sub Group

Rail

Rated #1 in the nation by Best Lawyers 2010 Guide, the firm's Railroad Practice is one of the largest in the nation. The firm's breadth of experience and capability is unparalleled in the Mid-South, Mid-West, and Mid-Atlantic regions.

With 25 railroad lawyers and roughly 250 years of combined railroad experience, we have the experience, capacity and capability to serve railroad clients across Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia.
Huddleston Bolen has more railroad lawyers than any other firm in the large, 10 state region of the Mid Atlantic, Mid-West, and South.
We have more railroad lawyers licensed in Kentucky than any other firm. In fact, Huddleston Bolen lawyers represent a full 1/3 of all railroad lawyers in Kentucky.
We have more railroad lawyers than all other firms in West Virginia - combined.
We have more lawyers who represent railroads licensed in Ohio than any firm south of Cleveland or Toledo.

Our history with the railroad industry dates back to the firm's founding in the late 1800s. Our commitment to the industry has never wavered. Today, Huddleston Bolen provides a wide range of legal representation to the industry:

Defense of FELA claims
Defense of toxic tort claims
Defense of railroad crossing matters
Eminent domain matters
Environmental matters
Contractual disputes
Real estate matters

Huddleston Bolen's experienced railroad attorneys understand the complexities of defending claims under the Federal Employer's Liability Act (FELA). Our attorneys have helped pioneer defenses to occupational claims from asbestos exposure, repetitive stress/strain, hearing loss, and chemical exposure claims. We also have wide ranging experience defending complex traumatic injury claims from railroad workers, whom often claim career-ending injuries.

In addition to our experience in the many types of actions that arise under the FELA, Huddleston Bolen attorneys have actively participated in the development of the law in their defense of railroad clients. Our railroad attorneys have obtained favorable preemption rulings, successfully excluded opposing expert witnesses, and worked to achieve industry priorities such as the proper standard of causation under the FELA.

We understand the legal, political, and regulatory problems that railroads confront, from the challenges of the Federal Employers Liability Act and occupational disease claims, to grade crossing litigation, chemical spills, labor issues, regulatory matters, and public and government relations. In our long history of serving the industry, Huddleston Bolen attorneys have protected the railroad's interests by appearing in venues ranging from rural county courtrooms to the United States Supreme Court. No matter where our railroad attorneys practice, they have the experience, training, and judgment to deliver effective and efficient results.

Attorneys Practicing in this Sub Group

Trucking

Huddleston Bolen's Trucking Practice defends motor freight carriers, their employees, and their insurers in a wide range of matters, including:

Accident reconstruction
Cargo claims
Claims involving catastrophic injury and death
Class actions
Commercial litigation
Contract litigation
Department of Transportation violations
Driver fatigue
Drug/alcohol use by drivers
Eminent domain
Environmental litigation
Freight claims
Mandolidis defense
Mass litigation
Toxic torts
Trucking and vehicle accidents
Occupational disease and injury
Premises liability
Personal injury
Real estate transactions
Wrongful death

With offices in Charleston and Huntington, West Virginia and Louisville and Ashland, Kentucky, the firm has the geographic scope to provide rapid response and effective representation across West Virginia, Kentucky, and Southern Ohio. Beyond our geographic breadth, the firm's long-standing history in the transportation industry provides superior knowledge of and access to a wide variety of accident experts, including: accident reconstructionists, engineers, and other professionals, who are available to be on-scene at an accident site within hours.

Attorneys Practicing in this Sub Group