Why a truck case is not a bigger car case
A tractor-trailer weighs twenty to thirty times what your car does, so the injuries are worse and the coverage is deeper — commercial policies routinely carry limits many times a private driver’s. That is the good news. The bad news is that a national carrier’s rapid-response team can be at the scene the same night, photographing the road and taking driver statements before anyone has called you back.
What decides these cases is evidence that belongs to the trucking company: the electronic control module that recorded speed and braking in the seconds before impact, the driver’s hours-of-service logs, the maintenance and inspection file, the dispatch records. Federal rules let a carrier discard some of that on a schedule measured in months. A spoliation letter demanding it be preserved has to go out immediately, and that is the first thing we do.
Liability rarely stops at the driver. The motor carrier, the company that loaded the trailer, the owner of the tractor and the broker who arranged the haul can each carry their own policy and their own share of fault.
The cases we handle most
Jackknife and rollover
Usually speed or braking on a curve. The ECM data shows it, which is exactly why it has to be preserved.
Underride collisions
A car goes beneath the trailer. Missing or damaged rear and side guards put the trailer’s owner in the case.
Unsecured or shifted loads
The shipper and the loading company answer for cargo that was never secured to spec.
Fatigued driving
Hours-of-service logs, fuel receipts and GPS pings often contradict what the log book claims.
What we do once you call
We send a preservation letter to the carrier and its insurer demanding the ECM download, driver logs and maintenance file be held, and we put every policy on notice.
We pull the police report and any DOT inspection history, and move to get the truck itself inspected before it is repaired and back on the road.
We identify every company in the chain — carrier, owner, shipper, broker — and the coverage each one brings, while your treatment is documented properly.
We demand against the full stack of policies, and file suit when the offer ignores what the data shows. Defense counsel is on these files from day one; ours is too.
Common questions
The trucking company’s investigator already called me. What now?
Stop talking to them. They are not neutral and they are not there to help you — their job is to limit what the carrier pays. You have no obligation to give a recorded statement to the other side’s insurer, and anything you say about how you feel will be quoted back for the life of the claim.
Does no-fault still apply if a truck hit me?
Yes. If you were in a car, your own no-fault benefits still pay the first $50,000 of medical bills and lost earnings regardless of fault, and the application is generally due within 30 days. The claim against the trucking company is separate and is where the real compensation comes from.
How fast do I need to act?
Faster than in a car case. The statute of limitations is generally three years, but the electronic data and logs that win truck cases can be lawfully overwritten or discarded within months. The preservation letter is time-sensitive in a way the filing deadline is not.