Commercial Truck Accident Cases are Remarkably Different than Car Accidents
Each year, approximately 500,000 commercial trucks (commercial box trucks, tractor-trailer combinations/18-wheelers, buses) are involved in wrecks. Because of the sheer size of these vehicles, death or serious injury often occurs when they collide with normal-size vehicles. Approximately 5,000 big truck wrecks result in fatalities each year. The great majority of these deaths (97 percent) happen to occupants of the smaller passenger vehicles, not the drivers of the 18-wheelers.
Aside from the much greater percentage of fatalities in commercial truck accidents, there are also huge differences with respect to insurance requirements for 18-wheelers and other large commercial vehicles. Typically, they are required by law to carry much higher liability insurance limits than owners of normal vehicles.
With higher insurance limits at risk (usually well in excess of $1 million), trucking companies (and their insurers) hire more sophisticated defense counsel to handle such matters and most trucking companies have risk management departments to oversee such accidents. Shortly after an 18-wheeler or other commercial truck wreck happens, the insurance company as well as the trucking company will deploy investigators, reconstruction and accident investigation experts, their risk management team and a handful of company and insurance lawyers to the scene to begin preparing to defend forthcoming claims from the innocent victims and their families.
Experience and Results Matter in 18-Wheeler/Commercial Vehicle Crashes
It is extremely important for 18-wheeler and commercial truck accident victims to hire an experienced, highly qualified legal team to represent their interests.
Before dedicating our practice to personal injury victims, the founding partner of Burress Injury Law were the "go-to counsel" of several of the largest insurance companies in the world. We have handled many, many catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death cases involving 18-wheelers, buses, commercial trucks and large company vehicles. We are especially familiar with the complicated federal regulations and statutes (such as the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations) that govern transportation companies in most of these collisions. We understand the causes of these accidents and how negligent or reckless actions can lead to devastating injuries and death.
Our founding partner have represented insurance companies and personal injury victims in commercial truck cases and other types of motor vehicle accident claims. Our experience on both sides (Plaintiff and Defendant) provides us with an extremely unique perspective and strategic advantage. We know how to develop an 18-wheeler/commercial truck case and what steps to take to worry insurance companies and adjusters the most in order to force them to resolve the cases in our clients' favor. Indeed, we have successfully tried these cases before a jury and settled many others favorably on behalf of our clients.
Some of Our Results in Truck Accident Cases
In the case we tried in Odessa, Texas, last year in which we earned the seventh-largest motor vehicle accident verdict in Texas, our client suffered a minor traumatic brain injury after her car was hit by a very large company truck. Our team (attorneys, accident investigators and reconstruction experts) was on the ground days after the wreck happened and virtually hours after being retained by the victim's family. Our early investigation revealed that the oil company's driver was extremely fatigued while speeding and ran a red light, despite the Defendants refusing to take any responsibility whatsoever. Our investigation also revealed the defendant oil company failed to prevent fatigued drivers from operating its large trucks and repeatedly violated its own policy against using cellphones while driving (even having supervisors routinely contact its drivers at times when it knew they were driving the large trucks). After a two-week trial 400 miles from our home, we were very pleased to earn a huge judgment against the Defendants in the amount of $3,655,130.00, which the defendants were forced to pay.
In another case involving a large out-of-state 18-wheeler fatality, we earned a $4,785,000 settlement. Once again, immediately after being hired, we mobilized our attorneys, accident investigator and experts to the remote out-of-state accident location and uncovered crucial evidence including eyewitness testimony that the official state investigators missed. In this case, we proved the defendant driver was engaged in illegal activities at the time of the accident and earned a huge settlement without even putting our victim's family through depositions or trial. All specific information about the defendants in this case is strictly confidential at the defendants' and insurance company's insistence.
Waiting to Hire a Truck Wreck Attorney Will Hurt Your Case
Waiting to hire an experienced, highly qualified trucking accident lawyer/legal team to represent you and/or your family's interests is the worst thing you can do. Oftentimes, trucking companies and companies engaging in transportation of any type hide and destroy evidence or simply fail to preserve it. Spoliation letters (letters instructing trucking companies what categories of evidence to maintain) are extremely important. Having spent our careers defending transportation companies and representing catastrophic personal injury trucking accident and wrongful death victims, we know exactly what evidence should be maintained, how to force these companies to preserve such evidence and the penalties for failing to do so. We do not say this often, but please: If you do not hire our law firm to protect your interests in a trucking case, please hire a competent legal team immediately!
Commercial Truck Accident FAQs
While there are no exact figures for the total number of auto accidents in the U.S. per year, it is generally agreed that the average number of accidents is around six million. It is estimated that truck accidents account for 6 to 8 percent of all collisions.
Many truck accidents can be attributed to driver negligence in the form of drunk driving, distracted driving, or driving while fatigued. In some cases, the cause of an accident may be traced back to a mechanical failure, like malfunctioning brakes.
Fault for a commercial truck accident can most often be traced back to the truck driver. In many cases, truck drivers can be held accountable for acts of negligence like drunk, distracted, or fatigued driving, all of which can affect their ability to safely operate a vehicle.
Across the United States, collisions involving UPS and FedEx vehicles account for a significant proportion of truck accidents. J.B. Hunt, Swift Transportation, and Werner Enterprises also have recorded accidents totaling in the thousands per year. However, keep in mind that these figures are closely tied to the number of trucks that a company has deployed in its fleet.
A study by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) found that driver error was the cause behind 87 percent of truck accidents. These errors may result from fatigue, unfamiliarity with the roadway, or driving too fast given the conditions.
If you have been hit by a commercial truck, the first thing you should do is ensure the safety of yourself and anybody else inside your vehicle, pulling over somewhere safe if possible. Then, you should call 911 to have the accident reported and to request an ambulance if needed. If it is safe to do so, make contact with the other driver and obtain their identifying information, while being careful not to say anything that could be interpreted as an admission of fault.
Commercial truck accidents tend to be much more complex than accidents involving consumer vehicles. There may be multiple liable entities, including the truck driver, the trucking company, the manufacturer, and other third parties. Trucking companies may also have teams of lawyers who will aggressively take steps to deflect any blame, which makes securing legal representation after an accident all the more important.
In Texas, truck accident claims are bound by a two-year statute of limitations, meaning that victims only have two years from the date of the wreck to file a claim. However, there are some circumstances in which the statute of limitations can be extended, such as if the victim was a minor at the time of the wreck or if the victim was left mentally incapacitated after the accident.
A trucking company could be held liable for your damages after a wreck if the company’s policies contributed to the collision, such as disregarding cargo weight limits or overworking drivers by falsifying logbook hours. Additionally, the trucking company could also be held liable under a legal principle known as vicarious liability, which states that employers are responsible for an employee’s actions while they are performing their regular duties on the clock.
Truck accident victims may be entitled to compensation for various damages, including payment for monetary losses such as property damage, lost wages, and medical expenses. Accident victims can also recover compensation for non-economic damages, which are typically referred to as pain and suffering.
Learn More About How We Can Help You
Call us at 214-726-0016 for a free consultation or contact us online. You pay nothing unless we win your case.
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From our offices in McKinney, Frisco, Paris, and Sherman, we serve clients throughout Collin County, Lamar County, Grayson County, and all of the state of Texas, including Plano, Murphy, Allen, Princeton, Prosper, Celina, Carrollton, Denton, Lewisville, Bonham, Dallas, Garland, Melissa, Commerce, Greenville, Rockwall, Richardson, Anna, Van Alstyne, Little Elm, The Colony, Rowlett, Sachse, and Denison.
Results listed are not a guarantee or indication of future case results.
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