Semi-Truck - Tractor-Trailer Accident Attorney

Truck drivers and trucking companies have a long list of strict state and federal laws they must obey for the safety of workers and the population as a whole. These laws deal with hours of service regulations, cargo-loading procedures, driver training and hiring, fleet maintenance, electronic data logging, and more. Breaking any of these rules, resulting in a preventable truck accident, is negligence. Examples of negligence-related accidents include:

• A trucking company fails to maintain its vehicles properly. While on the road, a large truck suffers a tire blowout, causing the vehicle to lose control and collide head-on with oncoming traffic.
• A truck driver drives past his hours of service regulations to meet a deadline because his employer has pressured him to do so. He falls asleep behind the wheel and drifts into another lane of traffic, causing an accident.
• A trucking company rushes through a driver’s training to get him or her on the road faster. The driver doesn’t know how to properly drive the vehicle and ends up rear-ending someone due to improper braking techniques – or worse, ends up flipping his vehicle due to poorly-trained evasive procedures.

In these and similar situations, injured victims would have grounds to file lawsuits against both the truck driver and the trucking company. Trucking companies are vicariously liable for the actions and behaviors of their on-duty drivers. If the trucker was off-duty at the time of the crash, victims may be able to bring a claim against the individual driver instead. Other defendants, such as vehicle part manufacturers, third-party drivers, or the city in charge of roadway maintenance, also may be responsible.

With so many potentially responsible parties in the picture, it can be difficult to determine exactly who is culpable for your injuries and damages. Because of these complexities, it is ideal to contact the lawyers at Freedland Harwin Valori, PL for a consultation.