RECENT SUCCESS STORY: $4,000,000 SEMI-TRUCK ACCIDENT SETTLEMENT
What is Outlaw Trucking?
Over the years we've dealt with hundreds of 18-wheeler accidents where truck drivers were operating negligently—sometimes illegally—when they hurt innocent people. While we researched those cases we encountered the term outlaw trucking, used in commercial driver forums to describe "glory days" of looser regulations and an easier time breaking the rules for greater personal profit....
5 Ways to Ruin Your Truck Accident Case
When people are hurt in a truck accident, they know that the law empowers them to seek compensation even if they don't know the nuts and bolts of how that's done. What they may not realize is that there are many ways that an accident victim can damage their case before they ever begin the...
Hurt in a Crash with a Faulty Underride Guard? Let’s Sue.
A semi-trailer's underride guard (also called a Mansfield bar or a Rear Underrun Protection System) is a crucial piece of safety equipment. Its purpose is simple: When a smaller vehicle crashes into the back of an 18-wheeler, the bar keeps it from traveling underneath the trailer—at least that's what should happen. Unfortunately the guards fail...
The Legislative and Regulatory History of Underride Guards
Underride guards have been a mandatory piece of safety equipment on commercial trucks since the 1950's, but simple as they may seem the rules behind their use and design have had some odd twists and turns over the years. In this article we'll look at that history, what the future may hold, and what that...
More Regulation Isn’t Going to Shut Down Trucking School Scams
August 11th, 2015, federal and California State officials said that at least 100 commercial truck drivers paid up to $5,000 each in bribes to state Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) employees for fake California commercial drivers licenses (CDLs). Immediately following the news and after further investigation, the DMV revoked over 600 CDLs that they found...
Violations Found During the Roadside Inspection Blitzes Are Nothing to Brag About
Admittedly, truck safety inspections are one of those topics (like tax law, insurance coverage, and federal regulation) that doesn't stir up a lot of excitement. Enforcing truck safety regulations is something that largely takes place outside of the general public's consciousness, but that doesn't make it unimportant. The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) is a...
Is This The Worst Truck Company in Texas?
Last week, I told my boss, attorney Michael Grossman, "I think I may have found the worst trucking company in Texas." It's a bold claim to make to a man who has litigated truck accident cases longer than I've been alive. However, when he looked through what I found, he couldn't help but agree that...
Waiving Hours of Service Rules for Hurricane Ian Relief Doesn’t Mean Those Rules Shouldn’t Exist
During the initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) relaxed hours of service rules to ensure an uninterrupted supply of goods during the crisis. This led some in the trucking industry to suggest that the waiver meant that rules weren't necessary in the first place. Their thinking went, "If...
What Evidence Do Police Miss When Investigating Commercial Vehicle Crashes?
I've spent a good portion of my decades-long career pushing back against the myth that a police crash report is the final word on any collision. The most obvious reason not to place too much faith in police reports is that they don't conclusively establish fault for a crash. In other words, everyone is free...
A Look Back at How Spectacularly Wrong a 1982 Truck Accident Study Predicted the Future
New data bombards us, regardless of what we do. Given what I do for a living, I see a constant stream of truck accident data and studies. While I read, digest, and comment on this data, federal regulators make new laws based on the same studies, and responsible trucking companies use them to devise new...
