Following a tractor-trailer wreck, you might be wondering who can be held liable for your injuries and property damage. Because determining liability in Austin truck accident claims can be difficult to do alone, you should consider contacting legal counsel to help you navigate the process. An experienced truck crash attorney could help you gather evidence and negotiate with insurance companies to fight for the financial compensation you deserve for your injuries.
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSR)
The FMCSR defines a set of rules to ensure the safety of commercial vehicles and their drivers as they travel on the nation’s highways. These rules play an important role when deciding liability in an Austin semi accident lawsuit. Here are some rules everyone should know;
- Hours of Service: Semi truck drivers can only drive for a maximum of 11 hours in a 14-hour window. This rule is set to avoid fatigue-related accidents, and this makes the employers of driver liable to pay for the damages done by the driver.
- Cargo Storage and Secure: It’s essential to secure the cargo on the semi and prevent shifting or falling down on the road. Unsecured cargo is susceptible to falling, and this can cause accidents. In this, the trucking company and cargo loaders share fault under the Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code § 33.013.
- DUI/Drug Use While Driving: All semi truck drivers must undergo drug/alcohol testing after the accident. In case the results are positive, the liability shifts to the employer for negligent retention.
In addition to these violations that are most commonly found in Austin semi accident lawsuits, an Austin trucking company negligence attorney will also look for signs of negligent hiring. When employers hire drivers with suspended CDLs or if they have prior DUIs or reckless driving convictions, the trucking company is held liable.
Is There Any Third-Party Liability in this Case?
Yes, an accident may happen without any wrongdoing from the driver, trucking company, cargo contractors, etc. Here are some situations where liability can shift further;
- Manufacturing Issue: According to the Texas Product Liability Act, you can sue the manufacturer for defective parts, provided it’s proven in the Austin semi crash lawsuit. The liability shifts to the manufacturer in design defects and manufacturing defects.
- Maintenance Problems: All semi trucks have to undergo mandatory inspections every 12 months or 25,000 miles. If, post an accident, it's found that the maintenance company failed to update fluids, repair a faulty part, or inform the truck company or driver about the faults, the liability falls on them.
Proving Negligence in Tractor-Trailer Accidents
All licensed motorists are required to drive as safely as possible while traveling on Austin’s roads. However, when a trucker does not drive safely and breaches their duty of care, they may be considered negligent when their recklessness leads to a collision, injuries, and property damage.
Additionally, multiple people can be considered negligent in a truck wreck case. The truck driver, their employer, or other motorists can all be considered liable, which can make proving negligence in a trucking accident claim difficult. An Austin attorney who is experienced in litigating commercial truck accident claims could help determine liability by gathering evidence and pertinent information, including police reports, witness interviews, and medical records and interviews from the physician who treated the victim after the crash.
Black Boxes in Truck Accident Cases
In addition to the evidence an attorney can get from other individuals, they could also retrieve the black box information from the truck’s dashboard to analyze what happened right before the accident. For example, the information in the box might indicate a hard brake event, swerving, and more to potentially present to insurance companies or a court. In these cases, it may be easier to analyze the truck crash by recreating it to determine who is liable.
Comparative Negligence in Austin
Texas is considered a comparative negligence state, which means if a victim is found to be partially liable for their own injuries but is less than 51 percent responsible for the collision, they can still recover damages from at-fault parties. However, if they are more responsible than the defendant, they are not entitled to recover damages.
Otherwise, an injured claimant’s compensatory award would be reduced in proportion to their assigned percentage of fault. For example, if they are 40 percent responsible for the trucking accident, they are entitled to only 60 percent of the total damages available. A court takes into consideration a variety of factors to determine negligence and fault, so it is important to have a skilled lawyer provide evidence that the injured individual is less liable than the defendant.
Negligence of Another Party
In most commercial vehicle accident cases, the truck driver is not the only party that bears civil liability. For example, if a trucking company has a history of violating federal regulations for hours of service, a court might consider those violations when determining liability for a truck collision in Austin. Under these circumstances, the truck driver could be held partially accountable, but a local attorney could seek to hold the trucking company liable, as well, for their contributions to the claimant’s losses.
How Can DJC Law Help You Build a Solid Austin Truck Crash Lawsuit?
DJC Law houses an Austin trucking company negligence lawyer who has expertise in this matter. Our lawyers will use several tactics and strategies to find evidence and ensure the liability falls on the entity responsible for the accident.
- Acquire Cell Phone Records: As per the Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 196.4, we can subpoena electronic records of drivers to determine if they were on call or texting during the crash timeline.
- Get FMCSA Reports: We obtain prior records of violations associated with the driver, trucking, and maintenance company to find evidence for failed inspections, hours-of-service breaches, among other reasons.
- Fight Corporate Tactics: Generally, the trucking companies take refuge in saying that the driver was off duty when the crash occurred. Their single lie can change the course of an Austin truck accident lawsuit, but we won’t let it happen. We acquire ELD data to find out if the driver was on the clock.
- Pre-Existing Injuries Defense: If we submit claims for injuries and damages, insurers generally ward them off, saying that the back pain existed before. But we prepared a strong case by submitting MRI comparisons and testimonies from treating physicians to call their bluff.
- Spoiling or Tampering with Evidence: It’s convenient for the at-fault parties to “misplace” the black box and lose driver data logs. Since we cannot retrieve evidence that has been deliberately destroyed, we can file for a spoliation motion under the Texas Rule of Evidence 193.6 to force an adverse jury instruction and get the case moving forward, while proving a deliberate attempt to delete evidence.
Our Recommendations for Accident Victims
As soon as someone is involved in a semi truck accident on potentially dangerous highways like the I-35, we request everyone to do the following and preserve evidence.
- Click plenty of photographs of the damaged truck, vehicles, and other property.
- Capture the skid marks on the road, broken railings, and cargo spills.
- Request the driver's Electronic Logging Device (ELD) data as they are required by the FMCSR rules to maintain this data.
- Take a lawyer’s help to file a spoliation letter, which will prevent the destruction of the black box data in an Austin semi crash lawsuit.
Let an Austin Attorney Help Determine Liability for a Truck Accident
Determining liability in Austin truck accident claims takes the careful examination and analysis of a qualified attorney. If you were harmed in one of these wrecks and want to know how to hold the correct parties responsible, call our firm right away to schedule a consultation.