If a commercial truck collides with you, more people or entities could be liable than just the driver, such as the business that owns the truck and the truck’s manufacturer. In this post, we consider some of the unique characteristics of commercial truck accident liability in Arizona, how it can affect you, and what to do if you are involved in a commercial truck accident.
If you or a loved one were involved in a truck accident, please call Stone Rose Law at (480) 498-8998 or use our contact form so we can help you receive the compensation you deserve.
Who you might seek compensation from after a commercial truck accident will depend on who can be held responsible for causing it. This chain of responsibility often draws in multiple possible defendants.
The role of the truck driver is the starting point of any commercial truck accident claim investigation. A plaintiff’s personal injury lawyer will consider whether the truck driver acted negligently, recklessly, or even intentionally in contributing to the crash.
Examples of truck driver negligence include:
If you are not the at-fault party in a commercial truck accident, the truck driver will be the easiest culpable person to identify. However, the commercial driver will usually not be a good candidate to pay for the severe injuries you might receive in a truck accident.
Therefore, a good truck accident law firm will always look deeper into the accident facts to find others who might share responsibility.
After truck drivers, truck owners are commonly identified defendants in commercial truck accident cases.
Even though the business that owns the truck has delegated authority to operate the truck to the driver, in most cases, it cannot escape responsibility for that driver getting into a crash.
Arizona law refers to the owner’s vicarious liability as “agency liability.” As an employee, the driver serves as an agent of the truck’s owner, meaning that the owner is still usually responsible for harm caused by the owner’s truck.
Even if the driver acts recklessly or intentionally in causing the accident, the trucking company can still be held at least partly responsible if a personal injury attorney can show that it was negligent in hiring, training, or supervising the dangerous driver.
In addition to properly vetting, hiring, and managing the driver, the trucking company is also responsible for maintaining the truck in good working order. So, for example, if poor truck maintenance leads to a brake failure, and that brake failure was a contributor to the truck accident, this is a liability connection to the trucking company.
Truck companies subject to the trucking regulations of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) can also be liable for failing to comply with those regulations, including motor vehicle safety standards, the maximum number of hours drivers are permitted to be behind the wheel, and workplace alcohol and drug testing programs.
Many commercial truck owners often hire other individuals and companies to do work on their trucks. These third parties may perform services including:
If any of these third parties act negligently in performing their roles, and that negligence contributes to the truck accidents, then legal responsibility can be attached to them.
If we return to our defective brake example above, let’s say the trucking company hires an automotive maintenance service to do brake repairs on a truck; however, that service is performed carelessly, causing the brakes to fail. This makes the maintenance provider partly responsible for causing the accident. The same applies to not changing truck tires frequently enough, resulting in tire blowouts.
Or, if the trucking company hires a contractor to load a semi-trailer but that contractor does so negligently, causing a rollover accident due to a load shift that damages your vehicle, this is another possible third-party liability connection.
Another source of third-party liability can be if the truck manufacturer or supplier of a component that is part of the truck’s manufacture was so careless in the design or construction of the truck or component that it made the truck unreasonably dangerous for its intended purpose.
This is known as product liability.
Again, let’s consider the defective brake example: if the reason why the brakes failed before the truck accident was not because of poor maintenance but rather because of poor design or manufacture that led to the failure even when the driver applied the brakes properly, this could be an example of product liability.
Two important considerations in product liability claims are:
Let’s say a semi-tractor truck driver is texting while driving, and this causes the driver to go slower than the speed limit. Another driver behind the truck becomes angry as a result, and engages in negligent or even reckless behavior that involves passing the truck, cutting sharply in front of it, and then “brake checking” the truck driver.
The truck driver slams on the brakes to avoid a collision with the brake-checking driver, and loses control over the truck in the attempt, causing the truck to jackknife, and this results in a collision between your car and the truck trailer.
In this case, the brake-checking driver is also a potentially liable defendant in your truck accident claim.
Or, if a “dead-walking” pedestrian (someone looking intently at a phone screen instead of paying attention to his or her surroundings) negligently crossed the road right in front of the truck causing the same accident result, that pedestrian is another potentially liable third party.
Government agencies are responsible for ensuring that public streets and highways are safely designed and maintained. If the agency responsible for road maintenance lets a stretch of highway deteriorate to the point where it becomes unsafe to drive on, and this contributes to a commercial truck accident, then that agency can possibly be held liable.
If the government agency hired a contractor to do the maintenance and repair work on that stretch of highway, and the contractor did the work negligently, then that contractor can also be held accountable in the chain of potential liability.
When we put it all together, the chain of responsibility for a truck accident can become almost nightmarishly complex:
Can you count the number of possible businesses, government actors, and individuals involved here?
The legal process with truck accidents differs in significant ways from car accidents that involve only passenger cars:
This is why, if you have been the victim of a commercial truck accident in Arizona, you need representation from an experienced truck accident attorney at Stone Rose Law.
Our personal injury lawyers are experienced, skilled negotiators who will not let insurance companies lowball you on settlement offers so you get less than the maximum compensation you deserve. And if negotiations do not work, we are highly experienced trial court litigators who will represent you on a contingency basis.
Call us at (480) 498-8998 to speak with an experienced truck accident attorney and set up a free case evaluation. You can also contact us online to ask a question or schedule a free consultation.
