Truck Accidents Law Firms

How to choose a truck accident lawyer

A truck case is not a bigger car case. It runs on a federal rulebook that does not apply to ordinary drivers, the evidence that decides it is held by the company being sued, and that company is allowed to destroy most of it on a schedule. Those three facts set what to ask about, and none of them is how much the firm has recovered.

The rulebook is federal, and breaking it is the case

Interstate carriers and their drivers are governed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, which set how long a driver may be at the wheel, what rest is required, how a vehicle must be inspected and maintained, and what the company must do before putting somebody in the cab. A violation of those rules is often the whole liability argument, and it is an argument about the company rather than about the moment of impact.

A firm that does this work talks about hours of service, the driver qualification file and the maintenance records without being prompted. One that does not will describe the crash and stop there.

The evidence is on a deletion schedule

Electronic logging records, the engine control module download, dash and lot camera footage, dispatch messages and driver qualification files all sit with the carrier, and the retention periods for several of them are measured in months. Nothing stops the clock except a letter telling the company, in writing, that litigation is anticipated and the material must be preserved.

That letter is the single most time-sensitive thing in this practice area. Ask when the firm sends one, what it lists, and whether it has ever moved for sanctions when a carrier destroyed something anyway.

• When do you send a spoliation letter, and what does it ask to be preserved?
• Have you deposed a safety director or a dispatcher?
• Do you work with a reconstruction engineer, and at what point?
• Do you look past the driver to the carrier, the broker and the shipper?
• If the carrier is out of state, where would this case be filed and why?

The defendant is a company with a legal department

Large carriers run rapid response teams that are at the scene within hours, sometimes before the vehicles are moved, taking measurements and statements. The insurance behind them is layered and the policy limits are large enough that the company will litigate rather than pay to be rid of a case.

This is the practical difference for a client. Firms that settle volume will take the first reasonable number; the question worth asking is which trucking cases the firm has actually tried, and against which carriers.