Austin Tractor-Trailer Accident Attorney

Unlike many commercial trucks, a loaded tractor-trailer can weigh up to 80,000 pounds under federal limits, and when one collides with a passenger car in Austin, the driver and passengers in the car absorb nearly all of the force. If you were hurt in a tractor-trailer crash, the injuries are likely serious and you are probably facing a long recovery, heavy medical bills, and time away from work.

Loewy Law Firm has represented injured Texans for more than 20 years and has recovered tens of millions of dollars for truck accident victims. In a tractor-trailer case, responsibility can rest with the driver, the motor carrier, the company that owns the trailer, or the company that loaded it, and we identify every party at fault and pursue each one for the full compensation you are owed.

Contact us today at (512) 280-0800 for a free consultation with a top-rated commercial truck accident lawyer who will take your case at no upfront cost and get paid only when you do.

Choose Loewy Law Firm After a Tractor-Trailer Accident

Tractor-trailer cases are defended by motor carriers and their insurance companies, and in our experience they bring in rapid-response investigators and defense attorneys who specialize in trucking litigation. You need a law firm on your side that has faced that opposition before and knows how to beat it. Choose Loewy Law Firm to pursue your case, because:

• We put your first. Our commitment to you starts with a free consultation so you can learn about your rights without pressure or obligation. We can connect you with medical care if you do not have your own providers already and can help you manage the cost of your treatment while your case is pending. We also keep a smaller caseload than comparable firms to better prioritize our clients.
• We earn respect. Loewy Law Firm maintains a 10.0/Superb rating through Avvo.com, the highest possible rating it offers. Adam Loewy is a member of the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum and National Academy of Personal Injury Attorneys.
• We deliver results. We have recovered tens of millions of dollars on behalf of tractor-trailer accident victims. While past results do not guarantee future outcomes, they are a testament to the lives we’ve changed for the better. Read our Google reviews to learn more about the experience of our clients.

Accidents Unique to Tractor-Trailers

A tractor-trailer is two vehicles joined at a single coupling, and the crashes that happen only to tractor-trailers start at that coupling or behind it in the trailer. Each crash type points to a different responsible party and a different set of records, which is why Loewy Law Firm identifies the crash type before anything else in the investigation.

Jackknife Crashes

A jackknife happens when the trailer swings around the fifth-wheel coupling until it folds against the tractor and sweeps across the lanes beside it. In our experience the cause is usually drive wheels locking under hard braking, trailer brakes out of adjustment, or an empty trailer with too little weight over its axles to hold traction, and each of those causes leads to a different party: the driver, the carrier’s maintenance program, or the company that dispatched the run.

Trailer Rollovers on Curves and Ramps

A loaded semi-trailer carries its weight high above the road, and cargo that was not blocked or braced can slide to one side on a curve or an exit ramp and pull the whole rig over. Federal cargo securement rules at 49 CFR Part 393, Subpart I require cargo to be secured so it cannot slide, tip, or fall, so a rollover accident caused by sliding cargo points to the company that loaded the trailer as well as the driver.

Rear and Side Underride Collisions

Underride means a passenger car goes beneath the trailer, and the trailer floor strikes the car at windshield height, above the crumple zones and airbags built to protect you. 49 CFR 393.86 requires a rear impact guard on most trailers and semitrailers, so in a rear underride case the guard’s presence, height, and condition become evidence. No federal rule currently requires side underride guards, which leaves a side underride case to be proven through the driver’s conduct and the condition of the trailer’s lighting and reflective tape.

Wide Right Turns and Off-Tracking

On every turn, the trailer’s rear wheels follow a tighter path than the tractor’s front wheels, so a driver making a right turn has to swing the tractor wide, and a car or cyclist in the lane to the driver’s right can end up trapped between the tractor and the trailer. In our experience the fight in a wide-turn case is over whether the driver checked the right mirror and signaled before beginning the swing.

Trailer Separation and Coupling Failures

A trailer that separates from the tractor at highway speed travels on with no steering until its emergency brakes stop it. Separation comes from a kingpin that never locked into the fifth wheel, a fifth wheel worn past its service limit, or a failed safety chain, and 49 CFR 392.7 requires the driver to confirm the coupling is secure before driving, so the question in a separation case is whether that check was performed and whether earlier inspection reports on the same trailer noted coupling problems that were never repaired.

Trailer Equipment Defects

Trailers are inspected and maintained as their own unit under 49 CFR Part 396, and a defect on the trailer can cause a crash even when the tractor was in perfect condition. In a tractor-trailer case, the trailer defects we look for first are:

• Trailer brakes out of adjustment, which lengthen the distance the rig needs to stop
• Worn or mismatched tires on the trailer axles
• A missing, bent, or improperly mounted rear impact guard
• Inoperative brake lights, turn signals, or marker lights on the trailer
• Missing or degraded reflective tape along the sides and rear of the trailer

Proving Liability in a Tractor-Trailer Accident Case

To recover compensation, you have to prove four elements of negligence by a preponderance of the evidence: duty, breach, causation, and damages. In a tractor-trailer case, the federal safety regulations supply most of the proof for the first two.

Duty

Every driver on the road owes you a duty of reasonable care. A commercial driver and the motor carrier also owe the duties set out in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, 49 CFR Parts 390 through 399, which Texas has adopted for carriers operating within the state through Transportation Code § 644.051 and 37 TAC § 4.11. When the trailer is leased, 49 CFR 376.12 requires the carrier to take complete responsibility for it, and when a separate company owns the trailer, that company owes its own duty to keep it in safe condition.

Breach

Breach is proven from records the carrier and trailer owner are required to keep. Electronic logging device data shows whether the driver was over hours. The trailer’s annual inspection report under 49 CFR 396.17 shows whether its brakes, tires, lights, and underride guard passed inspection, and the driver’s post-trip inspection reports under 49 CFR 396.11 show whether coupling, brake, or lighting defects on the trailer were reported and repaired before the trip. For a sealed trailer the driver never opened, the shipper’s loading records show who secured the cargo and how. A violation of a regulation that sets a specific standard, like the hours-of-service limits, can establish breach under Texas negligence per se principles. Rules that only require reasonable inspection or maintenance define the standard of care, and you still have to prove the conduct fell below it.

Causation

You also have to prove the breach caused the crash, and in our experience this is where trucking companies tend to concentrate their defense, sometimes by admitting a logbook or inspection violation and then arguing it had nothing to do with the collision. Texas law gives them a reason to argue it that way, as explained in the Chapter 72 discussion below. The tractor’s engine control module records speed, braking, and throttle in the seconds before impact, but it records nothing about the trailer. Trailer data comes from the ABS controller, which stores fault codes, and from a tracking unit if the carrier installed one, and where neither exists the trailer’s path is reconstructed from its tire marks and gouge marks at the scene.

Damages

You have to show measurable losses from the crash, such as medical bills, lost income, and the physical and emotional harm you continue to live with. The compensation section below covers each category.

Loewy Law Firm sends preservation demands to the carrier and the trailer owner at the start of every tractor-trailer case, because 49 CFR 395.8(k) allows a carrier to discard driver duty records after six months, and once they are gone, breach has to be proven another way.

Compensation in Tractor-Trailer Accident Cases

If someone else caused your tractor-trailer crash, Texas law allows you to recover for every loss that came from it. Economic damages cover the losses with a dollar figure attached:

• Past and future medical care, from emergency transport and surgery through rehabilitation, medication, and assistive devices
• Lost income while you are unable to work
• Lost earning capacity if your injuries keep you from returning to your career
• Repair or replacement of your vehicle

Non-economic damages cover the losses without a dollar figure:

• Physical pain and suffering
• Mental anguish
• Physical impairment, including loss of enjoyment of life
• Disfigurement

Future Care After an Underride, Rollover, or Jackknife Crash

The crash types described above are the ones that produce traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, amputations, and crush injuries, and in a case like that the largest part of the recovery is care you have not received yet. Loewy Law Firm works with life care planners to project decades of treatment, equipment, home modification, and attendant care, and with vocational experts to calculate the income a permanent impairment will cost you over a working lifetime, so the demand reflects what your injuries will require rather than what they have cost so far.

Insurance Policies That Pay a Tractor-Trailer Case

A tractor-trailer can carry more than one liability policy. The motor carrier’s policy is the starting point, and when a separate company owns the trailer, that company’s policy or the carrier’s trailer interchange coverage can respond as well, along with the shipper’s or broker’s policy when either shares fault. In a catastrophic injury case, identifying every policy that applies to the tractor, the trailer, and the load is what makes a full recovery possible, and Loewy Law Firm does that work at the start of the case.

Exemplary Damages for Gross Negligence

Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 41.003 allows a jury to award exemplary damages when you prove by clear and convincing evidence that the harm resulted from gross negligence. In a tractor-trailer case, the facts that support it are ones like a carrier that dispatched a trailer with known out-of-service brake or underride guard defects, or a driver kept on the road past federal hours limits. Section 41.008 caps the award at the greater of $200,000 or twice your economic damages plus non-economic damages up to $750,000.

Austin tractor-trailer accident attorney Adam Loewy reviews your case for free and gives you a specific assessment of the damages you can recover.

Laws That Might Affect Your Tractor-Trailer Accident Claim

Since 2021, Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Chapter 72 has governed how a lawsuit against a commercial motor carrier is tried. If the trucking company asks, the trial is split in two: the first phase decides fault and compensatory damages, and the second decides exemplary damages. In the first phase, a safety regulation violation is admissible only if it tends to prove the violation was a proximate cause of the crash, and if the carrier stipulates that the driver was its employee acting within the scope of employment, its first-phase liability rests on the driver’s negligence alone, with negligent hiring, training, and supervision held for the second phase. In practice, Chapter 72 is why the causation evidence described above, the engine control module data, the trailer’s ABS records, and the reconstruction, decides a tractor-trailer case, and why Loewy Law Firm builds that proof before the trucking company’s lawyers can argue a violation was harmless.

Texas’s modified comparative negligence rule comes into play when an accident victim is partially to blame for what happened. You could still be entitled to compensation as long as you are not primarily at fault for the tractor-trailer accident, although your compensation may be reduced in proportion to your share of fault. A lawyer can fight back against any attempts to minimize your recovery by shifting blame onto you.

Additionally, Texas’s statute of limitations on personal injury claims sets a deadline for how long you have to file suit – usually two years from the date of the accident. If you file after this deadline has passed, the court may dismiss your claim as untimely, barring you from recovering compensation regardless of how strong your case is. Protect your rights by contacting Loewy Law Firm right away.

Working Your Tractor-Trailer Accident Case

As you rest and recover from your injuries, Loewy Law Firm can get to work:

• Independently investigating the tractor-trailer accident and recovering critical evidence like the truck’s “black box,” toxicology reports, and maintenance records
• Working with accident reconstruction experts to understand what caused the accident, determine everyone who may be to blame, and identify all potential sources of recovery
• Calculating the fair value of your claim so that we pursue maximum compensation on your behalf
• Negotiating aggressively for a settlement so that you get the money you need without the time and uncertainty of a trial
• Preparing and filing legal complaints and pursuing your case in court if the at-fault parties won’t make you a fair offer

Throughout this process, we will provide you with regular case updates, meet with you whenever you have questions, and treat you with the respect you deserve. And because we work on contingency, we’ll do this work at no upfront or out-of-pocket cost to you. Instead, your fee is a percentage of what we recover on your behalf. If you don’t get paid, neither do we.

Contact a Tractor-Trailer Accident Lawyer in Austin Today

The days and weeks after a tractor-trailer accident in Austin are a painful, confusing time. Fortunately, you don’t have to go through it alone. Loewy Law Firm is here to provide you with the aggressive yet compassionate representation you need right now. Contact us today at (512) 280-0800 for a free consultation, and let us fight for justice and your future.