Austin 18-wheeler and commercial truck accident lawyer

There is an employer, and the employer is usually the real defendant

A driver working in the course and scope of employment brings the carrier in with them. Beyond that, the carrier can be directly at fault for its own conduct: who it hired, how it trained, what it required on schedule, whether it maintained the vehicle, and whether it ignored something it already knew. Those are separate failures from the driver's, and they are proved from company documents rather than from testimony about the crash.

People ask this as "can I sue the trucking company and not just the driver".

There is a federal rulebook that applied before the crash

Interstate commercial vehicles run under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. Texas adopts those standards for intrastate operation through Chapter 644 of the Transportation Code, so a purely in-state carrier is not outside the rules. That means there is a written standard for hours, cargo, testing and fitness that existed before anything happened, and compliance with it is a fact that can be checked.

People ask this as "what rules do truck drivers have to follow in Texas".

There are records, and they expire

Duty status is logged electronically. Engine control modules capture vehicle data. Dispatch holds messages, routing and delivery windows. Maintenance files show what was reported and what was fixed. Most of it is generated automatically and none of it is kept forever. The evidence section below sets out what the retention floor actually is.

People ask this as "does the truck have a black box".

The insurance is written for commercial risk

Texas sets minimum liability coverage for motor vehicles generally under Chapter 601, and commercial policies are commonly written well above the private-car minimum. What that means in practice is that the coverage question in a truck case is usually about which policies apply and in what order, not about whether there is any coverage at all. We do not quote figures on this page, and no lawyer can tell you what your claim is worth from a phone call.

People ask this as "how much insurance do 18-wheelers carry".

18-wheelers and tractor-trailers

The classic combination vehicle: a tractor pulling one or more trailers, often with different owners for the tractor, the trailer and the cargo. Jackknife and rollover events turn on speed, braking and load distribution. Underride, where a smaller vehicle goes beneath the trailer, turns on guard equipment and conspicuity. Because ownership can be split three ways, identifying every responsible party is itself a step in the case.

Also called semi, big rig, tractor-trailer, eighteen wheeler.

Box trucks and straight trucks

A box body on a single chassis. Two things recur: the enclosed cargo area destroys rearward visibility, so backing and lane changes are higher risk, and drivers unfamiliar with the vehicle's height strike low clearances. Cargo securement still applies to a straight truck, and a shifting load inside a box changes the handling of a vehicle the driver may only occasionally operate.

Also called straight truck, cube truck, box van.

Delivery trucks in commercial service

Commercial delivery vehicles above the weight threshold run under the same federal standards as any other commercial motor vehicle: securement, fitness, and hours where the operation is not exempt. Frequent stops put the vehicle in and out of the traffic stream repeatedly, and the pressure point in these cases is usually the schedule the driver was working to.

Courier, gig and last-mile driver claims are a different subject with their own page.

Dump trucks

Loaded weight varies through the day and the centre of gravity is high, which matters on turns and ramps. Material escaping the bed is a securement question under the same cargo rules that apply to any other load. Construction-zone work puts these vehicles in and out of live lanes; Austin recorded 1,527 crashes in construction zones in 2025, which is 12.8 percent of the city total.

Also called tipper, gravel truck.

Garbage and refuse trucks

Stop-and-go operation on residential streets, frequent reversing, and crew members working on and around the vehicle in the traffic stream. The recurring facts are visibility around a large body, the predictability of the vehicle's movements to other traffic, and whether the route and crew practices were safe for the street they were on.

Also called refuse truck, sanitation truck.

Tanker trucks

Liquid cargo moves. Surge shifts weight during braking and turning in a way solid freight does not, which affects stability and stopping distance. Where the cargo is hazardous in a quantity requiring placarding, the vehicle is a commercial motor vehicle under § 390.5 regardless of weight, and routing and handling rules attach on top of the ordinary ones.

Also called fuel tanker, hazmat tanker, cistern truck.

Tow trucks and wreckers

Two distinct fact patterns. One is the towed vehicle or equipment coming loose in transit, which is a securement failure. The other is the operator working at the roadside, partly in a live lane, where the questions are lighting, positioning, warning devices and whether the scene was set up safely.

Also called wrecker, recovery vehicle.

Oversized and overweight loads

A load beyond legal size or weight limits moves under a permit, and the permit is the document that matters. Texas regulates vehicle size and weight in Chapter 621 and permitted movement in Chapter 623. Whether a permit existed, what route and hours it authorised, and whether required escorts were present are checkable facts rather than matters of opinion.

Also called wide load, superload, permitted load.

Electronic logs and supporting documents

The duty record shows when the driver was driving, on duty and off duty. Supporting documents are what corroborate it: fuel receipts, tolls, delivery paperwork, dispatch messages. Together they either match the log or they do not, and the mismatch is often the point.

The engine control module

Modern tractors record vehicle data around an event: speed, throttle, brake application, fault codes. It is captured on the vehicle, and the vehicle goes back into service or to salvage. Getting the download done properly, with the other side on notice, is time-sensitive in a way nothing else in the case is.

The driver qualification file

Hiring records, licensing, medical certification, prior employment checks and testing history. Under 49 CFR § 382.301 a driver must undergo controlled substances testing before performing safety-sensitive functions for an employer, and the employer must have a verified negative result before allowing that work. Whether that happened is a document, not a recollection.

Maintenance and inspection records

What was reported by drivers, what was inspected, what was repaired and when. A defect that was known and not fixed is a different case from a defect nobody had seen.

Dispatch and routing data

What the driver was told, when, and what the delivery window required. This is where a schedule that could not lawfully be met becomes visible.

A load that comes off the vehicle

Material in the roadway from a dump bed, an unsecured item from a flatbed, or a vehicle coming loose from a tow rig are all the same failure in law: cargo that was not secured against falling from the vehicle. The securement rules apply to trucks, truck tractors, semitrailers, full trailers and pole trailers alike.

A load that moves without leaving

Shifting cargo changes handling. That is expressly what the rule addresses when it requires cargo to be immobilised against movement that affects stability or manoeuvrability. Liquid surge in a partially filled tanker is the same problem in a different form.

Weight and permitted movement

Texas regulates vehicle size and weight under Chapter 621 of the Transportation Code, and movement of loads beyond those limits under Chapter 623. Where a permit was required, its terms are the standard: the authorised route, the authorised hours and any escort requirement. A movement outside those terms is a documented departure from what the state allowed.

The driver

For their own conduct behind the wheel.

The motor carrier

Both for the driver's conduct in the course and scope of employment, and for its own: hiring, training, supervision, scheduling, maintenance and retention of an unfit driver.

The owner of the tractor or trailer

Where the equipment is owned by someone other than the carrier operating it, which is common.

The shipper or loader

Where the load was prepared or secured by someone other than the carrier and the failure is in the load itself.

A maintenance contractor

Where repair or inspection work was outsourced and performed inadequately.

A manufacturer

Where a component failed rather than a person.

Two years, in most cases

Texas generally allows two years from the day the cause of action accrues to bring a personal injury suit, under Chapter 16 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code. There are situations that change that, in both directions, and a claim against a governmental unit carries much shorter notice requirements. Do not use this paragraph as your deadline; get the date confirmed for your own facts.

Your share of fault matters, and 51 percent ends it

Texas uses proportionate responsibility under Chapter 33. Your recovery is reduced by your percentage of responsibility, and if your percentage is greater than 50 you recover nothing. This is why the other side works hard to attach a share of fault to you, and why the evidence work above is not optional.

A death claim is a different statute

Where someone is killed, Chapter 71 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code governs who may bring the claim and what may be recovered. It is a different framework from an injury claim, not a larger version of one.