If you were seriously injured in a car/truck accident with a truck, semi-truck, tractor-trailer or 18-wheeler, you may be able to file a claim against the at-fault driver and his or her insurance carrier for lost wages, lost future income, medical expenses, property damage, pain, mental anguish, physical impairment, and disfigurement.

If your injuries are long-term, debilitating, and requiring permanent rest-of-your-life care, you need an experienced trucking accident lawyer to help you recover damages.

In many cases involving an accident with an 18-wheeler, it is well advised to bring on expert witnesses to help with the accident investigation. They have the ability to sift through and analyze information garnered at an accident scene to determine liability and thus be in a position to provide testimony in court relating to the question of liability. Experts are also often retained to ensure driving logs and safety inspections were done in accordance with the law.

One of the main reasons you want to retain legal representation after a truck accident is because the trucking company has a team of lawyers and investigators already on the way before the dust from the collision settles.

This means that the defense team for the trucking company is on the scene even before the vehicles involved are moved. This is a problem because evidence can go missing or be contaminated, making it more difficult to prove your injury case.

When the trucking company accident investigation teams arrive, they track down and talk to witnesses, talk to all the police officers on the scene, shoot pictures, take video, and document the scene in great detail. They are already developing a defense strategy to defend the trucker and trucking company that is designed to defer liability to the accident survivor or victim. They find everything they can to reduce the trucker’s liability.

This is important information for survivors and for families who have lost a loved one. Trucking companies and their drivers can be held liable for collisions in several ways, and a skilled trucking accident attorney can help you move your case forward. Additionally, trucking accidents are not the same as being involved in a crash with another vehicle.

One of the major differences in a trucking accident is that the owner of the truck may not be working for the trucking company or may not even work for the person hauling the load. There may be a separate owner for the trailer. It may be leased. Or you may have a situation where owner-operators own their truck but work for someone else. It is complex and confusing and only an experienced trucking accident attorney can sort out the whole situation.

The accident may have also been the result of negligent hiring. This refers to trucking companies that hire a driver but do not properly train, test, or screen them according to applicable rules and regulations. Trucking companies are, per federal and state regulations and rules, required to conduct a background check, call other employers, and do a drug screen. The level of liability they carry for a trucking accident can enormous.

There are two others areas to be aware of when it comes to trucking accidents. One is negligent retention of a driver and the other is negligent entrustment. Negligent entrustment means that a trucking company knows the trucker has a spotty driving record and history, and they still let the individual drive. Negligent retention is when a trucking company chooses to keep a trucker on the road even after they have demonstrated that they are not safe drivers or otherwise should not have been retained.

Trucking accidents are usually much worse than car accidents because of the weight of heavy loads trucks carry. Due to their size and weight, truck can not come to a full stop as fast as cars can. Therefore, trucking crashes tend to be worse. In addition, many large trucks also carry dangerous loads that increase the danger to other drivers on the road.

Legal weight for an eighteen-wheeler is 80,000 pounds or 40 tons. This weight calculation assumes that there are no oversize or overweight permits on a particular vehicle. In comparison, the average automobile weighs approximately 5,000 pounds.

Even a semi that is not carrying a load weighs significantly more than the average car. Without a load a semi may weigh between 16000 and 20000 pounds. In addition, the empty trailer tends to add several more tons.

According to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA), there were 333,000 large trucks involved in wrecks in 2016.

The short answer lies with the structure of a big rig. Most commercial trucks are designed to endure hauling a massive load. The side effects of that design includes, but is not limited to, poor braking ability, slower acceleration, poor visibility and larger blind spots. The general motoring public is not always conscious of these differences. Passenger vehicles react faster to dangerous situations than large trucks.

Additionally, many commercial trucking companies cut corners to make profits. Profit incentives encourage truckers to speed and to drive even when they’re tired. Trucking companies may hire cheaper, unqualified drivers, “save” money by limiting maintenance or training, or encourage their truckers to get as many loads out as possible — even if it takes speeding or fatigue to get it done.

Big rigs are dangerous for their size and their related lack of maneuverability. They cannot stop immediately due to their enormous weight, and they must make exceedingly wide turns. Drivers cannot always see vehicles or the blind spots that hide traffic from view.

A fully loaded commercial truck may weigh more than 80,000 pounds. But a passenger car weighs about 3,000 pounds. A loaded truck cannot stop as fast as a passenger vehicle, and the enormous force of 80,000 pounds slamming into 3,000 pounds often obliterates the latter.

There are a number of people or entities that may be sued as a result of a truck accident where it appears the driver is at fault. Those that may be sued include, but may not be limited to: the trucker, the truck owner, the tractor trailer owner, the company named on the vehicle, the loading facility and possibly the owner of the truck’s content.

The answer to this question depends on the details of the accident. Generally, if the truck driver was a cause of the wreck, your lawyer will sue the truck driver and the trucking company. Under Texas law, the trucking company is usually liable based on a theory of respondeat superior – meaning a company (the trucking company) is liable for the actions of its agents (the driver).

Additionally, trucking companies may also be liable for their own negligence that contributed to an accident. That can include having policies that make a wreck more likely, inadequate investigation into a driver’s background, inadequate supervision of drivers, inadequate training of drivers, and more.

It is critically important to get an experienced lawyer who knows these potential claims. Not pursuing the right claims can make a large difference in what evidence the jury gets to hear and thus, a big difference in your case.

Most people think that if they have been involved in an accident with a big rig that it is the driver at fault, or possibly the trucking company. However, there is more than one way in which drivers and trucking companies may be liable, responsible for an accident.

In 18-wheeler accidents the driver of the truck may not be working for the company or may not be employed by the person hauling the load. The trailer owner may be yet another company. In many instances, there are owner/operators who own their own truck, but they work for someone. Each entity in this equation has a role and responsibilities under the Department of Transportation’s rules and regulations governing trucking. Thus, there are various individuals and entities that may be sued in the event of an accident.

Lawyers can pursue negligent hiring where the employer does not properly vet a driver they had hired. For instance, did they do a drug screen, a background check or contact former employers. Or they may be able to pursue negligent in retention or negligent entrustment as an issue in your case. Negligent entrustment relates to the employer knowing the driver has a history of problems and hires that individual anyway. That may make the employer responsible for the accident as well. And negligent retention refers to an employer keeping/retaining a driver on staff after they have had a dischargeable offense and yet they are still permitted to drive.