What are Background Checks?

Who Can I Sue After My Tractor-trailer Accident?

Author: Patricia Woloch

If you have been involved in an accident with a tractor-trailer truck, your life has just been caught in the gears of a tremendous machine whose energies operate on a larger-than-human scale. Somewhere, someone has cut, drilled, mined, or manufactured and packaged the freight. This entity contracted with another entity to load the freight, which may or may not be the entity that is shipping the freight, which may not be connected to the person who is driving the truck. At the end of the line, there is the person who ordered the goods and demanded their timely delivery. Somewhere between, your accident occurred. If you have been seriously hurt and forced to try and recover damages to meet your unanticipated expenses, who can you sue? Just how many gears of this machine contributed to the mangling of your life?

The Short Answer

You can sue anyone who is negligent in causing the accident. This may include the truck driver, trucking company, truck owner, freight owner, shipping company, manufacturer of the vehicle or tires, the loading company, and persons or entities responsible for maintaining the road where the accident occurred.

The Long Answer

Although it is theoretically possible that you might sue any and all of these people, the success of your suit depends on the verifiable negligence of any party that contributed to your accident. Therefore, it only makes sense to sue people from whom you are likely to recover damages. You may choose to sue:

· The Truck Driver in any case where something the truck driver did, whether it is following too closely, driving while fatigued, driving too aggressively, failing to inspect cargo to ensure its security or the truck to ensure its safety.
· The Truck Owner in any case involving improperly maintained equipment that caused or contributed to the accident.
· The Freight Owner if he or she failed to inform the shipping, loading, or trucking company about any potential hazards inherent in the freight that may have led to or contributed to the accident.
· The Trucking Company in any case where it has a supervisory relationship with the driver, failed to properly monitor the driver's performance, encouraged the driver to operate the truck in an unsafe manner by establishing an unrealistic delivery schedule, hired a driver with a known poor safety record, owns a truck with failed equipment, carried out insufficient maintenance on a truck, or improperly loaded or inspected cargo.
· The Loading Company in any case where it loaded the cargo in an unsafe manner
· The Shipping Company in any case where it has a supervisory role over the trucking company, the loading company, and/or the driver. You can also sue the shipping company if it works with a trucking company, loading company, or driver known to use unsafe practices.
· The manufacturer of the vehicle, tires, brakes, or other equipment in cases where equipment failure caused or contributed to the accident. This includes cases where impact guards failed to prevent an underride accident.
· The Persons or Entities Responsible for Maintaining the Road in any case where poor or negligent road maintenance was a contributing factor.

In addition, you might decide to sue your own insurance company (in a separate suit) if it hassles you or fails to honor its obligations as specified in your insurance contract. And you may decide to sue any other drivers who were involved in or contributed to the accident through reckless or negligent behavior.

The Right Answer

The truth is, however, that there are so many variables in a trucking accident that you cannot know who you can sue unless you consult with an experienced trucking accident lawyer who can help you examine the circumstances of your case and determine whose negligence caused the accident.