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tracy-morgan-accident-300x154Truck driver Rene Flores drove long past the hours allowed by law, then he doctored his logbooks to cover it us. And his employers knew.

The truck driver told his story to a journalist at USA Today, claiming he was fired when he complained. Of course, his employer tells a different story, putting the blame back on the driver.

I have seen this type of situation in my law practice many times. Under federal and Texas laws, both driver and employer are liable for violations of hours of service laws and for injuries caused by the inevitable wreck.

That is why I conduct a thorough investigation into the driver’s conduct and the employer’s policies and practices. Does the company set unrealistic delivery schedules? Or employ an unfair pay scheme that encourages its drivers to work dangerously long hours? Does the employer know about the hours of service violations? Is the trucker’s job threatened if he rocks the boat? In a shocking number of cases, the answers to all these questions is “yes.” Continue reading

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https://www.texastruckaccidentlawyerblog.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/232/2017/07/Screen-Shot-2017-07-17-at-2.16.56-PM-237x300.pngActress Jayne Mansfield was famous for her sexy image. She starred in many movies in the 50’s and 60’s, won acting awards, and was one of the first Playmates. The Dallas resident studied at UT and SMU where I graduated in the 70’s.

But Mansfield is tragically remembered for the tragic tractor-trailer accident that killed her in 1967.

Mansfield was a passenger in a Buick that slammed into the back of an 18 wheeler. The car slid underneath the trailer’s carriage and killed her and two other adult passengers. She was only 34. Two other people died but miraculously her two children were not injured.

Her legacy survives today, not only in film and photographs, but every time you see a tractor-trailer. Her crash directly led to regulations requiring installation of red and white bars at the rear of semi-trucks. “Mansfield bars” are required on all tractor-trailers to stop cars from sliding underneath the truck.

But here’s the problem. Mansfield bars prevent under-ride in a medium impact rear-end collisions, such as occurred in Mansfield’s case. However, the bars aren’t often strong Acker_McDuff_PD1-Large-300x248enough to stop high-impact crashes.

Nor are they required on the sides of trucks, so they don’t stop cars from sliding under from the side either.

Here’s a photo from a case I handled where my client was lucky to survive a crash with an 18 wheeler that suddenly cut in front of her.

Under-ride crashes are exactly as awful as the word implies. During a collision with a tractor-trailer, the car slides underneath the semi, either sheering off or crushing the top of the car. The occupants of the car don’t stand a chance.

But what if these under-ride collisions could be close to totally avoided?

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Congress should put public safety above trucking industry demands

dreamstime_xs_85719919-300x200Trucking companies want bigger trucks and unfortunately many national lawmakers agree with them. Trucking companies want to increase 18-wheeler weight limits from 80,000 to 91,000 pounds on interstate highways, an increase of 14 percent.

After a similar bill was defeated in 2015, sponsors promised to reintroduce this bad idea again this year. Increasing truck weight limits flies against all reason. Tractor-trailer accident deaths jumped 26 percent between 2009 and 2015, a frightening trend that shows no sign of slowing down. In 2015, truck accident fatalities increased by eight percent from the previous year to 4,050 people.

We should expect our lawmakers to strengthen safety regulations, not weaken them. Continue reading

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https://www.texastruckaccidentlawyerblog.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/232/2017/06/DeadlyMtPleasantCrash-6_1490370616611_9036475_ver1.0-300x169.jpegOn Friday the Dallas County Medical Examiner released its autopsy report that revealed that the truck driver who caused this crash was high on meth.

The Mt. Pleasant High track team was headed home after a meet recently when a tractor-trailer crossed the center line and headed straight for their bus. The track coach fortunately swerved out of the way, narrowly avoiding a head-on collision. However the assistant coach following the bus in this car was struck head on and tragically died.

The school bus toppled over and skidded across the road, resulting in injuries to 18 students and the coach driving the bus. The 18-wheeler driver also died.

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I am again representing a client who was badly injured by a reckless trucker in the same spot where another client was seriously injured recently. Here’s a photo of thePicture1-300x170 18 wheeler dangling off a bridge on I-35 from CBS-11 television after it crashed into five vehicles.

A distracted trucker plowed into my client’s car and others in the exact same location a year and a half ago, seriously injuring her and killing her boyfriend.

Several years ago, I represented the family of a young tow-truck driver who was struck and killed by a fatigued trucker just up the road on I-35 who fell asleep at the wheel — or had a heart attack, as his insurance company attorneys claimed in federal court.

These wrecks are never-ending. Last week, a tractor-trailer barreled into six vehicles on I-35 in north Fort Worth and caught fire, injuring nine people and shutting down the highway for six hours. The truck driver was speeding and could not stop in time to avoid the crash. I’m sure that an investigation will show he was also distracted.

My law firm has represented many people who were injured and the families of those who were tragically killed by 18 wheelers.

When the same problem occurs over and over again, it’s time to fix it.

We know the dangers. How do we fix it?

4,067 people died in 2015 in tractor-trailer accidents, a huge increase of almost 10 percent over 2014. These fatality statistics includes pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, motorists and the truckers themselves.

Why are deaths increasing and how can we stop this terrible trend? Continue reading

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Watch This Video

Screen Shot 2016-09-13 at 12.25.50 PMIt’s hard to believe that no one died in this horrific tractor-trailer crash. I’m letting you know before you watch this, because otherwise the video of a woman trapped in a burning car might be too disturbing to watch. A wreck like this can happen in the blink of an eye. Hopefully not to you.

You can see the tractor trailer barreling through a construction zone and ramming into a line of cars like pin balls. To the left of the screen, you can see a car erupt into flames. It had been crushed against the center barricade. The driver was not able to get the door open as a fireball shot 10 feet in the air billowing black smoke.

The quick thinking of fellow motorists and a nearby construction crew fortunately saved her life. And somehow the woman suffered only minor cuts and bruises. So much for the age old insurance company argument that only big collisions can cause big injuries and small crashes yield minor injuries, right?

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https://www.texastruckaccidentlawyerblog.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/232/2017/04/Screen-Shot-2017-04-05-at-1.14.47-PM-300x159.pngThe National Transportation Safety Board issued its annual Most Wanted list for 2017. The wish list comprises easily implemented regulations that could prevent tractor-trailer deaths and injuries.

Safety regulations are important for the well being of truckers, but the general public is the real loser of lax regulations. Occupants and pedestrians account for 84 percent of tractor-trailer collision deaths versus 16 percent of trucker deaths. When the trucking industry claims that regulations will increase costs of transporting goods, which will be passed to the consumer, it is obvious that consumers already bear the costs of not implementing effective regulations.

Truck crash fatalities were 22 percent higher in 2015 than they were just six years earlier. Technology has improved by leaps and bounds in that time. We also have definitive studies that identify the causes of tractor-trailer crashes and yet the death rate continues to increase. Why is this happening? The ineffectiveness of trucking rules is a big reason.

Here are the NTSB’s suggestions for new procedures and devices that would make our roads safer. Continue reading

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Garda-Truck-thumb-300x152-88167-300x152In addition to dozens of auto and truck crashes in the North Texas area this weekend, there were two fatal 18 wheeler accidents that tragically took the lives of four people.

On Friday afternoon in Benbrook a tractor-trailer collided with a pickup truck on I-20, tragically killing two people.

Then on Saturday night a second tractor-trailer crash occurred in Cleburne. The 1997 Peterbuilt commercial truck T-boned a Kia van at the intersection of U.S. Highway 67 at FM Road 1434, taking the lives of an East Texas woman and man.

It was an unusually busy weekend for the Texas Highway Patrol, local police and accident investigators.

Both roads were closed for hours while investigators determined what happened. Although the crashes are now cleared, leaving no trace of the tragedies that unfolded hours ago, investigators have a long way to go to find answers. It is not clear at this time who was at fault for these two crashes.

Trust me, the trucking companies and their insurance companies adjusters and lawyers are working equally hard. In addition to getting to the bottom of what happened, they are focused on lessening their financial damages.

Think about what the trucking corporations have at stake. Violations can add up to costly fines and repairs, not to mention increased insurance premiums, keeping trucks out of service and bad publicity. And because truck wrecks are often catastrophic, the insurance company may be on the hook for huge million dollar jury verdicts or settlements.

If you have been involved in a collision, you can see that it is a good idea to consult with a personal injury lawyer as soon as you can so you are on an equal playing field. Continue reading

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3-photos-300x169An 18-wheeler driver crashed into a bus carrying the North Central Texas College women’s softball team in 2014, horrifically killing four students and injuring 12 other people.

The truck driver claimed that he was distracted as he reached for a drink in his cooler. However an investigation revealed that Richard Staley, who lived in north Fort Worth, was intoxicated on K2, a synthetic cannabinoid.

The driver was charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter. Last week, just before his criminal trial was set to begin, he committed suicide.

Will Staley’s death affect the civil lawsuits the victims and their families have already filed? And will it impede the new lawsuits just filed against the bus company for manufacturing a defective vehicle and the college for failing to enforce its seat belt rules?

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blog-pic-300x153For the families of two Dallas-Fort Worth women recently killed by a speeding tractor-trailer east of Dallas, the collision was unbelievable. A truck hit their loved ones as they sat in traffic on I-30. The truck driver failed to stop for the crawling traffic and rammed into another semi, an SUV, and two cars.

You might think that an out-of-control tractor-trailer barreling down on a small car is just the subject of action films. Tragically, this scenario is all too common. I hope it never happens to you or someone you love, but last year, 34,000 commercial vehicle accidents killed 601 people and injured more than 17,000 Americans –almost the crowd in a sold out show or game at the AAC Arena in Dallas.

I’m in the middle of a case involving an 18-wheeler crashing into the rear of my client’s SUV, seriously injuring my client and killing her boyfriend who was driving in Fort Worth in 2015. Here’s a scene photo.

I’ve represented many people and the families of deceased motorists in wrecks like this over the past 36 years as a personal injury attorney.

You might think that these are easy cases for an injury lawyer to win but this is not always true. Here’s why.

Proving liability

Being rear-ended by a semi seems like a no-brainer case. Clearly, the truck driver was at fault. But many plaintiffs have lost cases they should have won because they didn’t handle the legal details correctly.

A tractor-trailer collision case is not just a big car wreck case. And the commercial truck driver in the back is not automatically to blame.  I’ve handled cases where the truck driver was paying attention and driving below the speed limit when a motorist suddenly whipped in front of him and then slammed on his or her brakes, or it was rainy and the roads were slick, or a giant box in one and road debris in another flew up  and struck a driver’s windshield or vehicle, and many other scenarios.

Now let’s say the truck driver was clearly to blame, say you were stopped at a red light when a speeding truck hit you. In a court of law, you must prove your claim by a preponderance of the evidence. In layman’s terms this means that it is more likely than not that the driver caused a crash that resulted in your injuries. And Texas has adopted the comparative negligence rule, but here the truck driver would presumably be 100% at fault unless there is other evidence that could be admitted that could reduce his percentage of fault.

Obtaining critical evidence

What evidence do you need and how do you get that evidence and have it admitted at trial? What evidence will the trucking company be using and how can you keep it out of trial? This is where an experienced injury attorney can help.

The truck driver and trucking corporation are not going to admit fault. Just the opposite, they are going to deny liability, blame you and/or other vehicles or causes, conduct their own investigation, hire their own experts, take depositions, delay court dates, and fight you tooth and nail. Only an immediate and exhaustive investigation can prove what happened and who is liable so you can obtain the evidence you need.

To prove the trucker’s liability, some of the steps I might take in a rear-end collision case are to

  • Hire an accident reconstruction expert to go to the scene immediately to get vital evidence
  • Subpoena phone records to check for texting or calls that were placed immediately prior to the collision
  • Review the black box data to determine speed, brake application, steering and other driving behavior
  • File an emergency motion to stop the truck owner from repairing or moving the truck before I have the chance to inspect it
  • Analyze crash debris scatter for clues as to speed of travel and position of vehicles at time of the crash
  • Inspect hours of service logs to determine if the truck driver was sleep-deprived and fatigued
  • Analyze which Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulations were violated

I will discuss your 18-wheeler crash case in depth at a free case evaluation meeting where I will carefully review the facts of your collision and advise you on your rights and options for a medical and financial recovery.

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