How Are Commercial Truck Accident Cases Different From Regular Car Accident Cases?

Commercial truck accident cases are very different from a regular car accident. Here’s why. Truck cases are completely different animals. Federal regulations govern them. Their hours of service, maintenance records, driver qualifications, and load limits all come into play. There’s way more evidence to gather from driver logs, blackbox data, weigh station records, maintenance history, hiring records, and even drug test results. In trucking accident cases is often multiple defendants.

There’s the driver, the trucking company, cargo loader, and even the maintenance company. Insurance coverage can be much higher, but so is their defense budget. They’ll send investigators immediately to the scene to size up any injuries, which are typically more severe given the size difference between the truck and the cars that are involved. The physics are way different. There’s longer stopping distances, blind spots, and jacknifing risks when trucks are involved.

We often need specialized experts for these types of cases. Discovery can be massive. Thousands of pages of documents are not unusual. These cases can take much longer, but the settlements are usually a lot larger. It’s very important to have a law firm that’s experienced with truck accidents because they present special issues and special responsibilities to their clients.