RECENT SUCCESS STORY: $4,000,000 SEMI-TRUCK ACCIDENT SETTLEMENT
What Is a Tort?
You may have heard the term "tort" before, maybe when it was being used by a lawyer on TV or in some other legal context. But what does tort mean? What exactly is a tort? Answer: A tort is an act that harms someone, for which the offender can be sued. The term also refers...
How Big of a Problem Are Unsafe 18-Wheelers?
Most people are aware that commercial truck drivers occasionally make serious or even fatal mistakes at the wheel, but concerns about those misbehaviors sometimes overshadow another major issue: malfunctioning trucks, particularly those in states of terrible disrepair. A significant number of trucks and trailers in bad shape hit the road every day, but how big...
Why is Texas the Only State Where Injured Workers Can Sue Their Employer?
For the most part, every state in America other than Texas has eliminated work injury lawsuits. The way they did this was by forcing employers within their borders to participate in a workers' compensation program. Said programs all follow the same formula: the employer gets immunity from a lawsuit, the injured worker loses the right...
What Are My Rights if My Employer Is a Non-Subscriber?
If you've been hurt on the job in Texas, one of two things usually happens: you have the right to receive automatic benefits if your employer participates in the workers' compensation program, or your employer is a non-subscriber to workers' comp and you don't have that right. If you find yourself in the latter position,...
What is an 18-Wheeler Accident Investigation Kit?
When a commercial vehicle accident occurs, information must be gathered. Most trucking companies provide their truckers with something called an accident investigation kit, aka a "compliance kit," which is ostensibly used as a tool to tell truck drivers what information they need to collect at the accident scene. In our view, however, the whole thing...
What is the TABC “Know Your Limit” Blood Alcohol Chart?
Many drunk driving accidents are caused by people who were over-served simply because the server didn't know when to cut them off. In order to keep such accidents from happening, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission created an easy-to-use chart to help alcohol providers know when to cut a patron off. But what exactly is the...
What Kind of Inspection Does the State of Texas Require for 18-Wheelers?
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and state governments require 18-wheelers to meet certain minimum standards before they're deemed roadworthy. To be sure the trucks are in compliance, state and federal inspectors regularly evaluate them and their operators. That may lead some to wonder: What kind of inspection does Texas require for tractor-trailers? Answer:...
How Do Trucking Companies Cheat Electronic Logging Devices?
The regulations requiring truck drivers to rest after an interval of work are called hours of service (HOS) rules. Most modern truck drivers' hours of service are now monitored by federally-required Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs), which use data from an active 18-wheeler to create a picture of its movement and its driver's activity over a...
Are Side Underride Guards Required on 18-Wheelers?
An 18-wheeler's underride guard or "Mansfield bar" helps prevent a smaller vehicle from traveling underneath a semi-trailer during a rear-end collision. The standard guard design has room for improvement and a mixed success rate, but most would agree that something between a car and a trailer's undercarriage is generally better than nothing. The government seemingly...
How Do I Find Out if My Employer Has Workers’ Comp or if They’re a Non-Subscriber?
Most workers in Texas are surprised to learn that employers do not have to participate in the workers' compensation program. About 25% of the companies in Texas actually opt-out of workers comp; we call these companies non-subscribers. This means that if you are injured on the job, you can't assume you will receive workers compensation...