A loaded 18-wheeler can weigh twenty times what your car does. The injuries are worse, and so is the opposition — trucking companies deploy investigators within hours.
Commercial trucking is governed by federal safety regulations covering driver hours, rest breaks, maintenance, inspections, cargo securement, and drug and alcohol testing. Those rules create records — and records create proof. A violation can establish negligence that would be hard to show otherwise.
We send a formal spoliation letter demanding preservation of all of it. If a company destroys evidence after that notice, courts can sanction them for it.
Rarely just the driver. Depending on the facts, liability can extend to the motor carrier, the company that owned or leased the truck, a maintenance contractor, the shipper or loader if cargo shifted, or a parts manufacturer in a mechanical-failure case. Identifying every responsible party matters because it determines how much insurance coverage is available.
Trucking companies often have rapid-response teams — investigators and defense counsel at the scene the same day, building their version before you have left the hospital. That is not a reason for despair; it is a reason not to wait.
The Texas filing deadline for most injury claims is two years. But the practical deadline for preserving truck evidence is measured in days to weeks, not years.
If you or a family member was hit by a commercial vehicle, call (713) 998-0444. See also our personal-injury overview.
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Call (713) 998-0444