Commercial trucks are governed by federal safety regulations — hours-of-service limits, maintenance and inspection requirements, driver qualification rules. The evidence is different too: electronic logging devices, black-box data, and driver logs that can prove what really happened. And the liable parties often go beyond the driver to the trucking company and others in the chain.
Jimmy personally reviews every submission — most people hear back the same day.
An ordinary car wreck is governed by Texas negligence law. A commercial truck crash is governed by that plus the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations — a detailed rulebook covering how long a driver may drive, how the vehicle must be inspected and maintained, who may be hired, and how it all must be documented.
That matters because it converts vague questions into checkable ones. "Was the driver careless?" is an argument. "Did the driver exceed the hours-of-service limits in part 395, and what do the electronic logs show?" is a records question with an answer.
The engine control module. Most tractors record speed, throttle, brake application and hard-braking events in the seconds before impact. It is often the most objective account of what happened, and it can be lost when the truck is repaired or the module is overwritten.
Electronic logging device records. ELDs capture duty status and driving time. They show whether the driver was legally able to be behind the wheel.
The driver qualification file. Required under part 391: driving history, prior employers, medical certification, road test. It shows what the company knew when it put that person in the truck.
Maintenance and inspection records, dispatch records, bills of lading, drug and alcohol testing records, and the carrier's own safety history. Each one can convert a "tragic accident" into a documented failure.
Serious trucking companies have rapid-response protocols. Investigators and defense counsel can be at the scene the same day, photographing, measuring, and interviewing while you are still in an emergency room. By the time an injured person is thinking about a lawyer, the other side may have a substantially complete file.
That is not a reason to panic. It is the reason to move quickly rather than wait.
Liability in trucking rarely stops at the driver. The motor carrier, the trailer owner, a broker, a shipper who loaded improperly, a maintenance contractor or a parts manufacturer may each have a role. Each additional responsible party can mean additional insurance available to pay the claim.
Interstate carriers carry far more insurance than the Texas auto minimum. That is the good news. The corollary is that more money attracts a more serious defense — experienced counsel, retained experts, and a willingness to litigate. These cases are usually built for trial whether or not they end up there.
Authority: 49 CFR part 395 — hours of service · 49 CFR 391.51 — driver qualification files
ECM data, ELD records and footage can be lost or overwritten. A spoliation letter has to land before that.
Carrier, trailer owner, broker, shipper, maintenance contractor. Each may carry its own coverage.
Their rapid-response team works for the company, not for you, however sympathetic the call is.
Prior violations and crash history can show a pattern, not a one-off.
Rear-endings, intersection crashes, uninsured drivers, hit-and-runs — in Houston, El Paso, and everywhere in between.
Federal regulations, black-box data, driver logs, multiple insurers. We move fast to preserve evidence before it disappears.
Hurt on the job for a non-subscriber employer, or injured by a third party at a job site? Texas gives you real options.
When the worst happens, we pursue accountability for surviving families with the care and seriousness it deserves.
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Every day you wait, evidence disappears and the insurer gets ahead. One free call. Straight answers about your case — in English or Spanish. If you need a fighter, you'll have one. If you don't, I'll tell you that too.
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