Truck Driver Businesses and Accident Liability

There are thousands of trucks on the roads of the United States thesedays that transport millions of items ranging from clothing to food toelectronics to paper materials. If the number of trucks on the roads were todecrease incredibly the country’s economy would be in an obvious decline. Truckaccidents occur every day of the week, accounting for three percent of alltraffic accidents on the roads of the country. Truck accidents are responsiblefor 5,000 deaths and 130,000 injuries each year and they are so dangerousbecause trucks are 40 times heavier than passenger cars. Running a truck driverbusiness is a difficult venture to partake in, especially when a driver getsinto an accident.

Truck Company Liability

When a truck accident occurs, liability can be placed on the truckingcompany if the court involved in the case so deems that the company has beenfound to be at fault for the accident. For a trucking company to be foundliable in a truck accident case the plaintiff’s attorney will need to prove thefollowing:

1. The defendant (trucking company) owed theplaintiff a duty to exercise reasonable care to prevent injury under thecircumstances while on the roads.
2. The defendant failed to exercise reasonable careby breaching the duty owed to the plaintiff.
3. The defendant’s failure to apply reasonable carecaused the plaintiff’s injury.

Truck Company Accident Insurance

Truck companies are federally required by law to have driver liabilityinsurance. If the company is found without this insurance, they can be punishedwith fines and other penalties, including the shutting down of the companyafter an investigation. Trucking companies are required to have insurance forevery driver that they hire to drive a truck, no matter how far the trip will last.

Truck Company Accident Defenses

After an attorney has been hired to represent a trucking company, theattorney will then determine which defense to use for the trucking company oncelitigation begins. The same defenses used for truck drivers can be used for truckingcompanies. The two most popular defenses include comparative fault andassumption of risk. Comparative fault is when the plaintiff is found to havethe same fault or more fault than the defendant does and assumption of risk occurswhen the plaintiff subjectively knows a risk involved with an activity and thenknowingly performs that activity.

Determining Fault in a Big Rig Accident

Determining the fault in a trucking accident is difficult to accomplishbecause there are so many people that can be deemed at fault. There are thetruck driver, the other driver, the trucking company, the owner of the truck,the truck manufacturer, the brake manufacturer, the inspection company and manymore entities.