Suing Amazon for Crash Cases: Establishing Corporate Liability and Maximizing Recovery

Joseph A. Fried, Founding Attorney | Fried Goldberg LLC

Joe Fried is considered by many to be the preeminent truck accident attorney in the country. He is credited with developing many best practices for handling truck crash cases and for teaching these practices to the plaintiff’s trial bar nationally. His office is in Atlanta, Georgia, but he has handled cases in over 40 States recovering more than $1 billion for his clients.

• Education & Credentials

He is among the first lawyers to be Board Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA) in Truck Accident Law (after helping establish the certification) and sits on the NBTA Board. Joe earned his J.D. cum laude from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1993 and his B.A. summa cum laude from Oglethorpe University in 1990, and completed Trial Lawyers College in 2002, where he has served on the faculty since 2005. He is licensed in Georgia, Florida, New York, Tennessee, and Texas. Early in his career he served as a federal law clerk to Judge B. Avant Edenfield in the Southern District of Georgia and sat as a Fulton County Magistrate Judge from 1994 to 2014.

• Recognition & Leadership

He is the Co-Founder of the Academy of Truck Accident Attorneys, former Chair of the American Association of Justice Truck Litigation Group, former President of the National Trial Lawyers Trucking Trial Lawyers and founding Chair of the National Board of Truck Accident Attorneys. Joe is one of the most sought-after presenters in the legal arena. The American Association for Justice Trucking Litigation Group named Joe its Trucking Trial Lawyer of the Year in 2014 and 2015. Best Lawyers in America named him Lawyer of the Year in Atlanta in 2016 and 2023 for Personal Injury Litigation and in 2020 for Product Liability Litigation for Plaintiffs. He was named a Georgia Legal Trailblazer by ALM in 2020 and has been named a Super Lawyer every year since 2007.

• Professional Involvement

When not preparing for and trying cases, he spends the rest of his time working as a trucking safety advocate, author and educator. Joe has authored books, DVDs and articles on trucking and litigation best practices, and has given over 1000 presentations on these subjects to lawyers, judges, and trucking industry stakeholders. Joe is also a founding partner of the Truck Accident Attorneys Roundtable and a senior faculty member at Trial Lawyers College. With his partner Michael Goldberg he co-authored Understanding Motor Carrier Claims, now in its sixth edition and used by thousands of lawyers throughout the U.S.

• Experience

In addition to his expertise in trucking, Joe is well-known for developing and teaching what has been called “Speed Trial”, a methodology that helps lawyers focus their cases and present them more effectively and efficiently. Joe is a former police officer with advanced training in crash investigation and reconstruction, human factors, psychodrama, storytelling and neurolinguistic programming. Joe’s diverse and unique background allows him to craft and present the compelling human story in each of his cases. Over 95% of Joe’s cases are sent to him by other lawyers who know about his abilities and track record.

Joseph V. Camerlengo Jr., B.C.S., Founding Partner | The Truck Accident Law Firm

Joe Camerlengo is a founding partner of The Truck Accident Law Firm where he maintains a nationwide trial practice specializing in the areas of serious personal injury and wrongful death caused by trucking, bus and commercial motor vehicle crashes. He is extremely hardworking and a relentless advocate for his clients. Joe is known for finding and holding accountable all of the companies that put unsafe trucks and truck drivers on our roadways, highlighted by a recent $95 million settlement.

• Education & Credentials

Joe is board certified in truck accident law by the National Board of Trial Advocates and board certified in civil trial law by both the Florida Bar and the National Board of Trial Advocates. Joe earned his B.S.B.A. in Finance with honors from the University of Florida Warrington College of Business in 1991 and his Juris Doctorate with honors from the University of Florida Levin College of Law in 1994. He has been a member of the Florida Bar since 1994 and is admitted to the U.S. District Courts for the Southern, Middle, and Northern Districts of Florida and the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

• Recognition & Leadership

Joe is a member of ABOTA, has achieved a preeminent AV rating by Martindale Hubbell and has been voted a Florida Super Lawyer in Civil Trial and Personally Injury Law every year since 2008. He has also been selected as a National Trial Lawyer Top 10 Trucking attorney. Joe received the National Board of Trial Advocates President’s Award in 2025 and has been recognized as a Top 10 Trucking Attorney by the National Trial Lawyers Top 100 since 2017.

• Professional Involvement

Joe remains actively involved in the leading trucking litigation attorney organizations. Joe is a past President of the Academy of Truck Accident Attorneys, Past Chair of the Florida Justice Association’s Trucking and CMV Crash Section, and Past Chair of the American Association for Justice Trucking Litigation Group and AAJ’s Bus Litigation Group. Currently Joe serves as an executive board member for the American Association for Justice Trucking Litigation Group, Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, and the Autonomous Vehicle Litigation Group, is on the Board of Regents for the Academy of Truck Accident Attorneys and serves on the board for the National Board of Trial Advocates and the National Board of Trucking Trial Advocates. Joe speaks all over the country on issues relating to handling trucking crash cases and advanced trial techniques. He has been a repeat speaker for the American Association for Justice, the Florida Justice Association, the Academy of Truck Accident Attorneys, the 360 Advocacy programs, Trial Lawyers University, Trial School, Trial Lawyer Nation, and many other trial lawyer organizations.

• Experience

Joe is passionate about making our roads safer by pursuing, and helping other attorneys pursue, brokers, shippers, bad trucking companies and dangerous truck drivers. Joe dedicates time to spreading highway safety messages in hopes of preventing crashes. He uses his podcast called Joe Knows Trucks and the firm’s YouTube channel to educate anyone willing to listen about safe driving, advanced safety measures, autonomous vehicles, and other safety related messages.

Joe began his legal career defending insurance companies and corporations for seven years before founding the Camerlengo Law Group in 2001 to focus on representing plaintiffs in serious injury and death cases. In 2017 he joined forces with leading trucking trial attorneys Michael Leizerman and Joe Fried to form The Truck Accident Law Firm, handling trucking crash cases all over the country from its main office in Jacksonville, Florida. His representative results include a $24.6 million judgment in a rear-end tractor-trailer wrongful death case and a $24 million settlement in a head-on tractor-trailer collision.

SESSION 1 – Delivery Van Cases: Amazon Delivery Service Partner Cases | 1:00pm – 2:00pm

This session opens with the rise of Amazon: how the company rapidly grew into the largest transportation company in the world, why delivery has been such a large focus of its efforts, and how it accomplished that feat. The panel then maps the two main types of Amazon cases, last mile DSP van and Flex car cases and middle mile 18-wheeler cases, before covering Delivery Service Partner cases in depth. Attorneys will learn how the DSP system works, agency theories built on how Amazon controls the DSP and driver, direct negligence theories including negligent training and supervision, the key discovery needed to prove each theory, and lessons from the Bradfield v. Amazon trial.

BREAK | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

SESSION 2 – 18-wheeler Cases: Amazon Relay Cases | 2:10pm – 3:10pm

This session covers Amazon Relay 18-wheeler cases. The panel explains how the Relay system works, then examines agency theories based on how Amazon controls the independent motor carrier and driver, and direct negligence theories, including that Amazon is acting as a motor carrier not a shipper, negligent selection, and failure to prevent known issues like single drivers pulling team loads, chameleon carriers, and improper brokering of loads. Attorneys will learn the key discovery needed to prove each theory and lessons from the Daniels v. Amazon case and others.