How can trucking companies and truckers be held responsible for an accident?

People will assume that in an accident the other driver is the one responsible for the crash. Many will also assume the driver is the owner of the truck. That may be the case in some accidents, however, not always.

When it comes to trucks, there are a number of different people or entities who might be responsible for the wreck. In some instances, the driver is the owner of the vehicle. In that case, both the driver and the company may be liable. In other cases, a large company may have a fleet of trucks and the driver could be an employee of that company. In other cases, a trucking company hires the driver and then carries its load for other companies. Often, the driver is an independent contractor who is using the truck to haul goods. In most trucking cases, there will be multiple defendants who are identified as having some responsibility for the wreck.

An important thing to know about truck accidents is that truck drivers are held to a much higher standard because of the requirements and duties commercial drivers have placed upon them.

An attorney may investigate negligent hiring when preparing for a large trucking accident case that resulted in life altering injuries. Negligent hiring occurs when a company hires a driver and does not properly investigate the driver’s driving record and does not get the required drug screen tests and/or background checks completed. These requirements are mandatory, but they do not always get performed.

A trucking accident attorney may also investigate negligent in retention or negligent entrustment. Negligent in retention means keeping a trucker on the road and allowing the trucker to drive a company vehicle after they have demonstrated through violations or other conduct that they should not be trusted to drive. Negligent entrustment is when a company knows a driver has a history of problems and yet they still let them drive. In doing so, the company is responsible for the accident(s). A company can also be responsible for a wreck by engaging in conduct that encourages unsafe driving. Many trucking companies have been busted for encouraging drivers to break the rules on the amount of rest a trucker is required by law to have. Other companies have been busted for making schedules that are impossible to keep without the driver proceeding at unsafe speeds.

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