Truck Accident

Commercial trucks are heavier, harder to stop, and operated under federal rules that don't apply to regular drivers. That changes the shape of a claim in three ways: the injuries are usually more severe, there are more possible defendants (driver, motor carrier, cargo loader, maintenance company, broker), and the insurance policies involved are usually much larger.

In a passenger-car crash the driver is almost always the only defendant. In a truck case the list can be longer:

• The driver, for how they drove
• The trucking company, for hiring, training, or enforcing hours-of-service rules
• The company that loaded or secured the cargo
• A maintenance contractor, if mechanical failure contributed
• The equipment manufacturer, in rare cases involving defective parts

Trucks produce kinds of evidence passenger cars don't. Most modern commercial trucks have event data recorders (sometimes called 'black boxes'). Drivers keep hours-of-service logs, now usually electronic. Motor carriers keep maintenance records, driver qualification files, and drug-testing records. This evidence can disappear if it isn't preserved early, which is why a written preservation request to the carrier is common in serious cases.

Disputes in truck cases often turn on whether the driver was fatigued, whether the company pushed unrealistic schedules, whether the truck was maintained, and whether the cargo was loaded safely. Federal safety regulations (the FMCSRs) set minimum standards, and a violation is often treated as strong evidence of negligence.