Did a Trucking Company Admit that Drivers Cheat Hours of Service Rules?
When a commercial truck accident injury and wrongful death law firm makes claims about reckless behavior and rule breaking in the trucking industry, people rightly take such claims with a shaker full of salt. But would it change anyone's mind if the admission of outrageous behavior came from an advertisement put out by a trucking...
Client Stories: The 20-Ton Boulder Parked On The Shoulder
The case we'll discuss today involves a semi-truck parked on the shoulder of a highway, when a woman driving by ended up colliding with it and suffering severe injuries.
Thoreau, NM Bus Crash Reporters: I’ll Do Your Job For You
Upton Sinclair is eye-rolling over in his grave today. The man who toiled for almost 2 months in a meatpacking plant to uncover the horrific working conditions of American laborers, can only watch from beyond the grave as his journalistic descendants, who, to a person, hold him up as an ideal, can't even be bothered...
Was A Semi-Truck Crash Properly Investigated? Only if it Has ECM Data
It's not uncommon for me, or someone else writing in this space, to suggest that people should almost always seek an independent investigation after a serious 18-wheeler truck accident. For many this is common sense advice, but others tend to ask, "What can an attorney do that the police don't already do?" I appreciate that...
The Bigger They Are, The Slower They Stop: The Importance of Following and Braking Distance
It no secret that as more people more to Texas, our roads become increasingly crowded. One of the first casualties of crowded roadways is proper following distance between vehicles. An incident in Southeast Texas made me ponder this dangerous element of modern driving culture. Copperas Cove, TX: January 17, 2018 65-year-old Roseann Lucidi of Kempner...
Is There Any Way a Truck Driver Isn’t Responsible for a Detached Trailer?
One of the most dangerous categories of truck accidents is when the trailer becomes detached from the truck. When this happens, it instantly places the equivalent of a multi-ton boulder in the path of every other vehicle on the road. Even drivers in the largest trucks on our highways have little chance of escaping serious...
Some Dangerous Drivers are Following Unsafe Orders.
There are times when we should weigh the morality of a decision against its profitability. Occasionally in the name of progress people in charge make decisions that, while not necessarily illegal, are certainly questionable. This kind of "me first" thinking is often most obvious when looking at certain businesses' expectations of their workers. Trucking companies...
No One Is Above Traffic Laws, So Learn and Abide By Them.
I work in an industry that continually sees the worst consequences of reckless driving, and for all my exposure to these cases, I am still utterly confused as to how they occur. Surely few people truly believe they're justified in running red lights or whipping in and out of traffic lanes, but it happens every...
Who’s Going to Investigate A Semi Truck Crash? Maybe Not Who You Think.
When an accident happens, who's the proper authority to investigate? Check the comments sections of news articles about the wreck and you'll find no shortage of armchair authorities who think they know exactly "who you gonna call." Their ideas on that are often wrong, but they'll treat them as the gospel truth when discussing the...
Do I Sue the Trucking Company or the Truck Driver?
Recently, I read about a truck accident that took place up in Hartley County, Texas. An 18-wheeler, driven by Keldrick Chappell of Dallas, 40, allegedly sideswiped a passenger car driven by Stanley Smith, 78. Mr. Smith reportedly died from injuries sustained in the accident. As much as the accident report, it caught my eye when...
When Open-and-Shut is Anything But: The Detailed Defenses in Trucking Accidents
Sometimes we at the firm read about cases that seem fairly open-and-shut. Having worked on thousands of personal injury cases, we know they often get a lot more complicated than they seem at first blush. Attorneys are trained to examine those complications--intentionally seeing the trees instead of the forest. Sometimes an accident's details aren't obvious...
Backing Crashes Are a Product of Negligence Behind the Wheel.
The dangers of backing crashes are compounded for larger, more unwieldy vehicles. Box trucks and 18-wheelers lumber to and fro in cramped neighborhood streets and pop out from parking lots and alleys--sometimes in reverse--endangering passing traffic and pedestrians. Tragedy can strike when the people driving these trucks neglect their duty to be completely aware of...
When All Else Fails, Trucking Companies Bluff Their Way to Victory
People often see a truck accident where it appears that the truck driver was obviously at fault. This leads them to believe that the victims are certain to get justice for the damages they've sustained. However, truck accidents are never open-and-shut cases. Our legal system affords everyone the opportunity to defend themselves, even if the...
Highway Hypnosis and Fatal Truck Accidents
We've written many times, and will write many more, about how alcohol and distractions can cause serious accidents, but sometimes these are not factors in a crash. A dangerous lapse in concentration can be caused by highway hypnosis--the phenomenon when a motorist's brain "checks out" and mindfulness of the present is lost. Put another way,...
Do I Need An Accident Reconstructionist for My Truck Accident?
It's a common misconception that a driver who rear-ends another vehicle is always at fault. The popular belief is that the driver in the back is expected to exercise greater caution, given that they can more easily monitor the activity of the car ahead of them. This idea suggests that a collision shows the rear...
Does Not Wearing a Seatbelt Bar Someone From Getting Compensation?
One of the questions that I get asked all the time by people is, "If someone isn't wearing a seabelt in a crash, can they still recover compensation for their injuries?" I learned of a recent trucking accident in the Texas Panhandle that makes answering this question particularly timely. Deaf Smith County, TX: April 4,...
How “Silver Alert” Bias Could Affect 18-Wheeler Accident Cases
Medicine and technology continue to improve, drastically improving the average citizen's lifespan. That can be something of a mixed blessing, however. On one hand, seeing the world change and one's family grow are likely a positive experience for many. On the other, extending a person's years increases their risk of a variety of disorders, including...
Cherchez La Trucker: Sometimes, It Really Is That Obvious.
Grossman Law has worked hundreds of truck-accident cases, and seen reports of thousands more. While they're not the only kind of case the firm handles, it's still a category in which far too many collisions occur. A runaway truck is a 40-ton, 60-foot projectile, and the laws of physics are very unkind to just about...
Kids Injured Around School Buses and Texas Law
In the past, we've discussed liability for bus drivers who hit children that are loading or unloading from school buses. In reviewing that article, it became apparent that we missed one important area of discussion. While it should be fairly obviously that people who run stops signs are liable for the damage they cause when...
When an Accident Implies Negligence: The Principle of Res Ipsa Loquitur
One can't look at any controversy in the courts without hearing someone getting worked up about "judges making laws." While judges shouldn't rewrite laws from the bench in the face of a clearly defined statute, our common law legal system actually encourages them to speak on issues where the law is silent. These well-established principles...
