John N. Demas is an attorney specializing in the field of personal injury law in Sacramento, California. A founding partner at Demas & Rosenthal, LLP, Demas graduated from the McGeorge School of Law with a JD in 1992. Here, he explains how getting in an accident with a commercial vehicle is different than a typical car collision.
Big rig cases are unique cases. Of all of the various injury and auto accident cases out there, just the overall size and magnitude of these semi-trucks means these cases are usually large in nature. They typically cause more harm than a regular car collision. That’s why it is so important that anyone who is hit by a big rig truck gets an attorney involved early on in the case.
The majority of big rig trucks, along with the drivers and the companies that own the vehicles, are regulated both by the federal government and the various states in which they drive. There is what is called the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSR) , which are strict, definite regulations that typically apply to big rig trucks that drive across state lines.
Those guidelines govern all types of commercial vehicle issues—from how many hours a driver should be on the road, to the company’s driving log books, and what other ordinances a company should have in place for its drivers. For instance, whether a company should mandate drug tests for a professional driver after a car wreck, for example, would be something regulated by the FMCSR. Also, the FMCSR guidelines regulate how many points a commercial driver can legally have on his record.
From the company’s point of view, the FMCSR governs how the company should investigate a potential driver’s prior employment and driving history before hiring him. These rules have been put in place to make sure that commercial drivers don’t have any bad records in their past that could put the company—or the other drivers on the road—in danger.
In most cases, the company itself should also be following its own guidelines and keeping its own records, including keeping detailed maintenance records and log books for each of its trucks.
Unfortunately, you would be amazed at how quickly these log books and records can “disappear” after a truck has been involved in an accident. That is one of the key reasons you would want to hire an attorney and get him or her involved in the case right from the start—primarily as a way to preserve key evidence.
For instance, big rigs have ECM devices or black box-type devices that can record data from the big rig. So with this, you can get data as to how fast that big rig’s driver was driving at the time of impact. But you can’t get that data unless you ask for it, and unless you get it quickly.
These commercial trucking companies have access to the records, and you just don’t know what they can do with these log books before you are able to see them for yourself. So you want to put the company on notice to maintain and preserve that type of evidence—and letting them know you have retained a lawyer of your own is a great way to get their attention.
In addition to the ECM devices, you want this company to know that it needs to preserve those maintenance records specifically, because a lot of times those trucks on the road, especially now, aren’t properly maintained and serviced. And low and behold, a lot of service records disappear quickly after a collision.
Collisions involving big rig trucks are so much more common than many people think—and even collisions with smaller delivery vehicles are included in this category. While delivery trucks are commonly in accidents, however, it is really the big rigs or semi-trucks that individual drivers should worry about the most. Just the size of these trucks means that when they are in an accident, those accidents are far more likely to cause serious injury.
For the most part, truck drivers who are classified as employees of a particular company should be covered by that company’s insurance when it comes to obtaining representation to defend themselves in an accident-related case. However, there are times when truck drivers work as individual contractors and must find, retain, and pay for an attorney of their own in a big rig accident case, as well.
Along with this, it should be noted that just because there was an accident with a big rig truck, doesn’t necessarily mean the driver was to blame. Poor maintenance on a truck on the part of the operating company could easily be what caused the accident in a number of these cases, along with poor road conditions caused by a lack of proper maintenance.
No matter who is at fault, however, it is important that the victim in the case finds a lawyer as quickly as possible after the accident. Of all cases, just given the magnitude of the injury that big rigs could cause, you have to know all the specific ins and outs of big rig cases in order to get the financial settlement you deserve in a timely manner.
