The impact of trucking company practices on accident liability
Sometimes, a trucking company’s negligence or recklessness will cause or contribute to a truck accident. Negligent trucking company practices can severely affect accident liability for the collision. This is because the trucking company may become solely or jointly responsible for accident victims’ injuries and losses regardless of its employment relationship with the truck driver, Kreger Brodish LLP notes.
However, looking at complex facts and evidence may involve proving that a trucking company’s careless or reckless actions caused or contributed to a truck accident.
Trucking Company Practices That Affect Liability
A trucking company’s negligent or careless practices can make it liable when one of its employees causes an accident. Common examples of dangerous trucking company practices include:
Instructing or encouraging drivers to violate their hours of service limits and drive while fatigued or drowsy
Hiring unqualified drivers (drivers without CDLs or necessary license endorsements) or drivers with a history of violating regulations or causing truck accidents
Failing to train drivers on operating specific types of vehicles
Not conducting random drug and alcohol testing to ensure drivers do not work while intoxicated
Failing to inspect trucks or perform regular vehicle maintenance
Failing to inspect cargo loads for proper load balancing and securing
How These Practices Can Impact Your Case
A trucking company’s carelessness or violations of state and federal regulations may impose truck accident liability directly on the company. In many cases, drivers work for companies as independent contractors rather than employees, meaning truck accident victims cannot hold a trucking company liable for a driver’s negligence through a vicarious liability claim.
Suppose, though, that the trucking company’s negligence directly causes or contributes to a truck crash. In that case, the trucking company may bear liability regardless of its employment relationship with the truck driver. A claim against a truck driver can give you a better chance of securing maximum compensation for your injuries and losses from a truck accident.
How to Prove Trucking Company Negligence
In a case against a trucking company, you must prove the company’s negligence caused or contributed to the accident that injured you. Various kinds of evidence may help in determining liability, including:
The truck driver’s employment and driving records
Truck inspection and maintenance records
The trucking company’s drug testing policies
The trucking company’s safety regulations
The truck driver’s hours of service logs
The truck’s event data recorder (“black box”) logs
Radio dispatch logs
Eyewitness testimony
Cargo manifests
This story was produced by Kreger Brodish LLP and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
