Who Is At Fault?

There can be a lot of responsible parties in a commercial trucking accident; oftentimes it is the truck driver who is responsible for not paying attention or not controlling his speed. A trucker could be at fault for not taking the right action or not having the appropriate amount of rest. There are federal standards that require drivers to get a certain amount of rest in order to prevent accidents. The eighteen wheeler company could be responsible because it failed to provide proper training to ensure that the employee knows how to operate an eighteen wheeler, especially since it is a lot different than operating a Honda Accord or your standard passenger car. Separate from driver responsibility, the truck company can be at fault for failing to maintain certain parts of truck equipment – tires, things of that sort—and because they are trying to increase their profits as much as possible, vehicle maintenance is overlooked in many cases. In some instances, even the victim could be partially responsible. When that's the case, we do the best to minimize our client's responsibility by focusing the jury's attention on what the 18-wheeler driver did wrong; what the trucking company did wrong. The law allows you to bring a claim even if you are partially at fault, allowing you the opportunity to recover the percentage of damage that you aren't at fault.