Texas Truck Accident Lawyer Blog

With the tornadoes and rain we've had in the area lately, what is the impact on a Texas trucking collision if hazardous conditions are involved?

Hazardous driving conditions can be caused by many factors including

• Weather conditions causing slippery roads, flooding, or fallen rocks;
• Poor visibility due to sun glare, rain, snow, fog or improper lighting
• Road design or maintenance issues, including blocked signs, insufficient signage, potholes, drop-offs, bumps, narrow roads and shoulders, insufficient merge zones, and construction related hazards; and
• Miscellaneous hazards such as debris or obstacles in the road or prior accidents

Continue reading "Truck Accidents in Hazardous Conditions" »

Many factors can cause trucking collisions. Overloaded and improperly loaded trucks are common -- but hard to prove unless an immediate investigation is conducted by experts. These tractor-trailers violate federal and state law because they require longer braking distances and can cause brake failures, blown tires, and shattered axles. And improperly loaded trucks can cause load shifting which makes them more likely to lock up, jack knife or tip over. Cargo can fall onto the roadway or on top of another vehicle.

When an improperly loaded or overloaded truck is the cause of an accident, a trucking accident attorney will have to prove that this was the cause of the accident and that the shipper, company, driver, or some other entity is liable.

At the Law Offices of William K. Berenson, P.C. we have represented the victims of truck collisions for many years. If you have been injured or a loved one has been killed in a truck accident, we will conduct an immediate and detailed investigation to learn whether the trucking company and its driver caused the wreck.

Under federal law, the maximum weight is 80,000 pounds for a fully loaded tractor-trailer. A study showed that a tractor-trailer that is only loaded to 50,000 pounds is only one-half as likely to be involved in a fatal trucking accident.

Texas Republican representatives Allen Fletcher and Robert Nichols have proposed law that would increase the penalties for the many commerical carriers who are violating the law by exceeding weight limits.Trucking companies obviously overload their trucks to save money. They have to make fewer trips. They save money on driver's pay and gas. But the drivers don't know how to safely drive these dangerous tractor-trailers and innocent drivers next to them have to pay for it.

The new fines increase by $1.00 per pound overweight. Now, a truck that is overloaded by 10,000 pounds only pays $110.00, obviously not a deterrant. The new fine would cost the carrier $10,000.00. I certainly hope this bill passes.

We have been successfully representing people who have been injured by 18 wheelers and other large commercial trucks for many years and would be happy to discuss your case with you at no charge. Please contact us online or call toll free at 1-888-801-8585 or at 817-885-8000. We'll fight to get you the money you deserve.

According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the rate of truck
accidents and fatalities has increased.

In 2011, the most recent year for which data are available, 3,757 people died in collisions with trucks. That's an 11.2 percent increase over 2009. Nearly three times as many people die in truck accidents as die in aviation, boating and railroad accidents combined.

The nearly 11 million trucks that travel U.S. roads each year make up only 4.7 percent of all passenger vehicles, yet are involved in 12.4 percent of all fatal crashes. Fatalities (per miles driven) are 17 percent higher for trucks than for passenger vehicles.

This escalating safety issue is driven by an economic model that is fundamentally unsound. Truck drivers - compensated by miles driven, not hours worked - are pushed to ignore safety measures, delay repairs and drive in a fatigued state. Despite the significant and increasing amount of money devoted to trucking inspection, the task of reducing the risks from dangerous trucks is proving too much for regulators. There are simply too many dangers for inspectors to catch. The civil justice system is vital in holding negligent trucking companies accountable,

The civil courts provide compensation to those killed or injured by unsafe trucks. However, archaic insurance rules undermine the economic incentives to safety provided by the courts. The insurance market itself is unable to function properly - offering lower premiums to safe companies and higher premiums to companies with dangerous histories - because
outdated minimum insurance levels keep premiums artifi cially low for even the most
dangerous companies.

The fact that there is a strong relationship between a commercial truck driver's poor driving and his chances of being in a future crash was itemized by a two year study conducted by the American Transportation Research Institute in Virginia.

ATRI examined different things that a poor driver does that greatly increase his chances of crashing into my client's vehicles (like the one above).

Continue reading "18 Wheel Drivers WIth These Violations More Apt To Be In Future Ones: New Study" »

I am happy to report that I just met with a client to hand him a large check.

Last year an tractor trailer had passed this gentleman on I30, changed lanes, and caused him to run into a wall. Then the trucker claimed that my client had changed lanes into his 18 wheeler. I sued and made the trucking company pay my client a large amount of money. And I got him even more money when I was able to make medical providers greatly reduce their outstanding medical bills. My client said that he was "extremely happy."

Here are some similar results.

Continue reading "Another Good 18 Wheeler Accident Recovery For My Client" »

LBJ Freeway at Josey Lane in
Dallas was shut down for hours yesterday morning when a tractor-trailer crashed into another car and caused a huge chain reaction. Several people were rushed to area hospitals.

The wreck was typical of Texas 18-wheeler wrecks: it happened during rush hour so more vehicles were affected and was caused by a careless commercial driver.

Continue reading "Dallas 18 Wheeler Accident " »

Trucking litigation has recently changed with the addition of electronic discovery and new safety standards for the comercial carrier industry.

New electronic control modules, trip recorders, and satellite tracking equipment have changed the rules of the game. Plaintiff's lawyers can now discover details about the truck driver's activities before the collision, speed, reaction time, braking, maintenance, and other key aspects.

I have an investigator who specializes in 18-wheeler crashes who travels all across the state to download information from truck black boxes. There have been numerous cases where the information about speed, cruise control, and breaking has been the key piece of evidence proving the defendant's negligence.

Continue reading "E-Discovery for truck accident litigation" »

A tractor-trailer hauling about 100 young cows jack knifed and flipped over on the Trinity River bridge last night, shutting down I-35 and the canyon in downtown Dallas for nine hours.

The driver, only 20, has been charged with DWI.

And he was high on methamphetamines.

And he didn't have a commercial drivers license.

And the truck was unsafe.

Continue reading "Texas Truck Driver Drunk, High, and Unlicensed Flips Rig on I-35" »

Yesterday an Oregon jury returned a large verdict against a trucking brokerage company for its negligent hiring of a drug addict. The jury awarded over $5 million, including punitive damages, to the family of a man killed in 2008 because the broker failed to do any due diligence when it hired Washington Transportation to hire drivers to haul goods for bottled water giant Nestle Waters.

The jury was swayed by the fact that the truck driver was coming off a crystal methamphetamine high and fell asleep at the wheel when he crashed his 18 wheeler into the deceased man, who was standing beside his own tractor-trailer inspecting its brakes.

The key evidence was that the trucking broker negligently hired a man who claimed to be operating for Washington Transportation, when it was a company owned by his twin brother. Further, the broker did not carry insurance and had no legal operating authority, statutory violations which had repeatedly occurred in the past. Tje company had no legal authority to transact trucking business due to its repeated and flagrant disregard of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration rules and regulations.

The at fault truck driver served time in prison for negligent homicide and driving under the influence. The trucking broker is no longer in business.

I have handled similar cases where individuals have tragically been killed or seriously injured by commercial truck drivers and have collected damages for the negligent hiring, negligent supervision, and negligent retention against the trucker's company. However it has been difficult to prove negligence against the trucking broker. Here is a new case I will be able to argue, even though it is from an Oregon federal district court.

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration has just indicated that it may change federal guidelines regulating required stopping distances for all vehicles, including buses, automobiles, semi-trucks and tractor trailers, as well as improving heavy duty brake systems for tractor-trailers.

It can require as many as 335 feet to stop an 18 wheeler traveling at 60 miles per hour, depending on the weight of the load, road conditions, brakes, driver reaction, etc. That is more than the length of a football field.

I have handled many trucking accidents involving serious injuries and deaths which presumably would not have happened, or the injuries would not have been as severe, if these two restrictions had already been in place.

Here is a newspaper article from a case I handled a few years ago:

Victims want help inspecting wrecked oil truck

A hearing is set for Friday to see if an oil company should pay extra costs so attorneys representing a couple injured in a wreck in June can inspect the truck that hit them. The truck has been moved near Abilene.

The hearing will be in the 249th District Court of Johnson County in front of visiting Judge Kit Cooke.

Two women in the June 13 accident remain hospitalized at area hospitals, one in intensive care, attorney Bill Berenson said Wednesday.

Berenson is the attorney for Mary and John Reutter of Burleson, who both sustained serious injuries when an oil tanker truck driven by Ismael Villarreal, 41, of Abilene failed to stop in the southbound lane of Interstate 35W near the Briaroaks overpass and collided with two vehicles, creating a wreck with four other vehicles.

A fire from a burning hay truck had slowed traffic that afternoon, but Villarreal, ran over the back of the Reutters' 2002 Ford Mustang convertible, according to a police report compiled by Burleson Cpl. Sean Bolton.

The tanker then struck a 2003 Toyota RAV4 driven by Donna Ferolito, 32, of Austin. The force of that impact forced Ferolito's vehicle into a 2003 Jeep Cherokee driven by Diane Bogart, 50, of Burleson, and the Jeep was forced into a 1993 Ford pickup driven by Salvador Lopez, 23, of Alvarado.

After striking the Reutters' and Ferolito's vehicles, the trucker careened off the highway and drove until he crashed into a tree on the far side of the first crash, Berenson said.

Bolton cited Villarreal for following too closely. Ferolito and Mary Reutter, 60, were both transported by CareFlite to Fort Worth hospitals. John Reutter, 64, was transported by ambulance to the same hospital as his wife. He has been released.

The most seriously injured, Mary Reutter broke several bones in her upper body, suffered a punctured lung and remains in jeopardy of losing an arm due to nerve damage, Berenson said. She was driving the couple's convertible and the top was down.

The Reutters had just moved from Florida to avoid more hurricanes. They planned to build a home in southern Fort Worth.

Berenson said John Reutter told him the accident has ruined their lives.

The Reutters hired Berenson to represent them. A lawsuit has been filed for damages and pain and suffering as the victims continue to recover, but an emergency hearing has been planned to make sure the rig can be inspected.

In the meantime, the company who owns the tanker, United Petroleum Transports of Houston, moved the rig to near Abilene, out of reach of local accident investigators as they try to investigate the case and discover why Villarreal never applied his brakes as he struck the vehicles, Berenson said.

"The company, for no apparent reason, suddenly and without notice removed the vehicles to a location west of Abilene before such an inspection could proceed," the lawsuit alleged.

The lawsuit includes Villarreal's employers, L&L; Inc., which owned the truck.

The lawsuit argued the Reutters' attorneys have the right to inspect and test the tractor and tanker in Fort Worth, where it was first towed, or Burleson, where the collision occurred. Berenson said he is concerned that before an inspection can occur, the evidence will be repaired, altered or destroyed.

Berenson said United Petroleum has a facility in Euless, which would be close enough.

"Moving the vehicles west of Abilene obviously places a significant and entirely unnecessary financial burden on the Reutters and Ferolito, which may indicate the motivation behind this action," Berenson said.

Berenson said an accident reconstruction expert has warned that he will have to charge significant additional expenses to drive round trip to Abilene for that part of the investigation.

With attorneys for all parties working in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Berenson said it would have been quicker and cheaper to conduct the inspections locally, similar to costs for the other affected vehicles.

The lawsuit asks the judge to charge United Petroleum the additional expense if the inspection has to be held in near Abilene.

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Please call me for a free no obligation telephone or personal consultation. I am an experienced Texas 18 wheeler accident attorney with over 30 years of experience. My number is 817-885-8000 or toll free at 1-800-801-8585.

The U.S. Transportation Department has just revised the hours-of-service requirements to cut down on fatigued 18 wheeler truck drivers.

The new rule reduces by 12 hours the maximum number of hours a truck driver can work within a week. Under the old rule, truck drivers could work on average up to 82 hours within a seven-day period.

In addition, truck drivers cannot drive after working eight hours without first taking a break of at least 30 minutes. .

The regulation retains the current 11-hour daily driving limit.

Truck drivers who maximize their weekly work hours must now take at least two nights' rest when their 24-hour body clock demands sleep the most - from 1:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m.

Companies and drivers that commit egregious violations of the rule could face the maximum penalties for each offense. Trucking companies that allow drivers to exceed the 11-hour driving limit by 3 or more hours could be fined $11,000 per offense, and the drivers themselves could face civil penalties of up to $2,750 for each offense.

Commercial truck drivers and companies must comply with the rule by July 1, 2013.

Here's the math:

(11 hours) Monday 12a-11a

(11 hours) Monday to Tuesday 9p-8a

(11 hours) Tuesday to Wednesday 6p-5a

(11 hours) Wednesday to Thursday 3p-2a

(34 hour reset) Thursday 2a to Friday 12p

(11 hours) Friday 12p to 11p

(11 hours) Saturday 9a to 10p

(11 hours) Sunday 8a to 9p

(11 hours) Monday 7a to 6p

Here is an excellent column in today's Dallas Morning News that I wanted to share. Congratulations to my friend, Dallas lawyer Todd Clement, for his hard work fighting to stop truckers from driving while using cell phones and texting.

I just settled a large case where an 18 wheeler crashed into my client's vehicle which was at a complete stop on an interstate, because the trucker was on his cell phone and not paying attention to the road conditions ahead of him. This is a picture of her SUV.

by Steve Blow

It was more like an explosion than a collision. The work truck's cruise control was set at 71 miles an hour and the driver never touched the brake.

A car ahead of him was stopped in the highway, waiting to make a left turn. A 30-year-old woman and her 82-year-old grandmother were killed in an instant.

"The driver said, 'I never saw them.' And though he would dispute it later, in the aftermath of the accident, he told an EMS driver that he was texting prior to the wreck," said Dallas lawyer Todd Clement.

Clement represented the family of the women killed last year outside Sherman. He won a confidential settlement for them from the other driver's company. And Clement has been on a national campaign ever since to ban cellphone use in moving vehicles.

"This case affected me more than any other in my life," the 49-year-old lawyer said. "A 3-year-old and a 9-year-old lost their mom. A husband lost his wife of 62 years and had to go into a nursing home immediately after the accident."

On Tuesday, the National Transportation Safety Board unanimously recommended that states outlaw cellphone use while driving. And Clement supports that move. But he travels the country urging a step that would have a huge and much more immediate impact.

"Businesses have to ban this activity. That's the only way they can protect themselves," he said.

That goes against the tide, of course. More and more of us use our vehicles as mobile offices. The driver who hit Clement's clients worked for Cable ONE, a major provider of cable, phone and Internet service. He drove a pickup owned by the company.

But whether involving a company vehicle or not, the law is clear that a business is liable when an employee on the job causes an accident, Clement said. And cellphone use not only makes a crash far more likely, it also increases the likelihood of being found at fault, he said.

And this is an area where juries seem especially eager to issue "send-a-message verdicts," he said -- turning their displeasure over cellphones into huge monetary awards.

A 2009 Virginia Tech study concluded that cellphone users are at least six times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash.

A Texas Transportation Institute study released in October found that texting drivers were 11 times more likely to miss visual cues.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has stated that passengers in cars may be decapitated if their vehicles go under the rear of heavy-duty trailer trucks with guards -- even if the vehicles meet U.S. rules designed to prevent severe injuries.

I have handled these decapitation cases before, and they are truly horrendous.

I believe the tests show stronger rules are needed. The Institute has also recently said that trailers made to Canadian specifications were less likely to cause catastrophic injuries.

According to NHTSA data, 419 car occupants were killed in 2007 and 352 in 2008 in crashes involving passenger vehicles striking the rear of large trucks.
Almost 80 percent of crashes involving cars rear-ending trucks involved significant amounts of underride, even after NHTSA required stronger structures to be lowered to 22 inches off the ground.

NHTSA doesn't require the guards to be tested on trailers themselves, which has led to weaknesses: guards can fail if hardware attaching them to the trailer isn't strong enough to withstand impact. The tests underscore that guards installed to U.S. standards aren't holding up out in the real world.

NHTSA expects to complete its review of the regulation in 2012.

Canadian regulators require stronger crash guards. However trailers made by a corporation based in Lafayette, Indiana are engineered to exceed the Canadian requirements.

I feel very strongly that the U.S. standards for these guards are far too low and hope they are strengthened immediately.

Please call if you have been involved in an 18-wheeler wreck; I fight these trucking companies to get you the financial recovery that you deserve.

CHANGES PROPOSED TO "DAILY" DUTY

The required off-duty period of 10 consecutive hours will not change.
For drivers not otherwise except, the consecutive hours will be reduced from 16 hours consecutive hours down to 14 consecutive hours, a step in the right direction to make sure that sleepy, inattentive 18-wheelers are not out there on our roadways putting others at risk.

The new proposed maximum on-duty within a driving window would reduce consecutive hours from 14-16 down to 13 consecutive hours. Again, another step in the right direction.

Maximum driving within driving window is either going to remain the same at 11 consecutive hours or be reduced down to 10 hours.

Currently there is no limit on consecutive hours of driving but the newly proposed rule will make it so 18-wheelers may drive only if it has been 7 hours or less since last off-duty period of at least 30 minutes. This definitely need to change because currently there is no rule in place to make these drivers take a break, often resulting in inattentive driving which is a result of numerous wrecks that cause serious injury.

CHANGES PROPOSED TO "WEEKLY" DUTY PERIOD
There is currently no proposed change to the maximum on-duty hours of 60 hrs. in 7 days/ 70 hrs. in 8 days.

Currently, there are no limits on "restarts" but a proposed new rule would limit these periods to include:
(1) Must include two periods between Midnight-6 a.m.;
(2) May only be used once per week.
Driver must designate the period being used as a restart.

All of these newly proposed rules are a step in the right direction and I hope the FMCSA will adopt all of these if not further reduce the amount hours truckers are out on the roads continuously. For info on a warning letters click here.

I have sued on many cases involving inattentive 18-wheelers, including one where I have just recently taken a several day deposition where I fought to protect my clients from the 18-wheelers attorney who was trying to trip them up during the grueling ordeal. In this case we had already shown to the company and their attorneys that the defendant driver had violated many of the above regulations and do this immediately on any 18-wheeler case that comes into my office.

If you want the check the safety of a 18-Wheeler Carrier or Driver click here to be directed to the FMCSA/CSA SAFER search.

Continue reading "18-Wheeler Safety Regulations, FMCSA Proposed Changes " »

A hotly disputed issue in the trucking industry could heavily affect my clients and every one driving on our Texas highways.

Mexican truck drivers entering the United States are currently limited to traveling only within a 20-mile to 25-mile radius of specific ports of entry. Then their goods are picked up by American truckers and transported throughout the U.S.

But, Mexico has claimed that this restriction violated the 1994 NAFTA trade agreement between the U.S. and Mexico.

Many who are opposed to allowing Mexican truckers to access American roadways say that trucking jobs in the United States would be lost and roadways will be made unsafe because of the differences in safety standards between the two countries.

Really?!

The United States Department of Transportation has put forward a preliminary proposal that includes a requirement that Mexican Truckers who want to access Texas roadways will be required to have electronic recording devices to allow monitoring of the drivers' hours of services and compliance with American trucking laws and drivers will also have their combined American and Mexican driving records checked to ensure that they have no history of unsafe driving that would disqualify them under American standards.

Supporters of this proposal state that allowing cross-border trucking would boost trade opportunities for the U.S. and create jobs her in Texas.

I think that the safety issues need to be addressed and proven before allowing these unsafe Mexican trucks onto our roadways. There is already an issue with American companies allowing unsafe trucks and drivers onto our roadways and to add the lower regulated Mexican trucks out there it would even more dangerous.

I am currently represent various clients who have been injured by 18 wheelers and other commercial vehicles, including some from Mexico.

If you are involved in an 18 wheeler accident please contact my office immediately so that I can fight to get you everything you deserve.