An 18-wheeler can weigh 80,000 pounds, and the case that follows a crash with one is nothing like a fender bender with another car. The truck driver answers to federal safety rules. The trucking company carries far more insurance than an ordinary driver, and its insurer starts building a defense right away. And the best evidence of what happened, the truck’s own data and the driver’s logbook, belongs to the company that doesn’t want you to see it. If you or someone in your family was hit by a semi or a garbage truck in Houston, the first weeks decide a lot about what the case is worth.
Call (713) 664-4000. Don’t give a recorded statement to the trucking company’s insurer before you talk to us.
The evidence that decides a truck case, and how long it lasts
Federal law only makes a carrier keep some of its records for a short time, and some evidence has no required retention period at all. That’s why the first thing we do in a truck case is send a preservation letter to the carrier, demanding it keep everything tied to the crash. Once a company knows or should know a claim is likely, it has a duty to preserve evidence. If it destroys evidence on purpose, or carelessly loses evidence the case can’t be proven without, a Texas court can tell the jury to presume that evidence would have hurt the company (Brookshire Bros. v. Aldridge, 438 S.W.3d 9 (Tex. 2014)). Courts save that for serious cases, so the goal is to get the evidence itself.
| Evidence | What it shows | What federal law requires |
|---|---|---|
| Hours-of-service records (electronic logging device data) | How long the driver had been driving and on duty | Kept 6 months (49 C.F.R. §§ 395.8(k), 395.22(i)) |
| Maintenance and repair records | Brake and tire problems the company knew about | Kept 1 year, and 6 months after the truck leaves the company’s control (§ 396.3(c)) |
| Drivers’ daily inspection reports | Defects the driver reported, and whether they were fixed | Kept only 3 months (§ 396.11) |
| Post-crash drug and alcohol tests | Whether the driver had alcohol or drugs in his system | Required after a fatal crash, or when the truck driver is cited and someone needed treatment away from the scene or a vehicle had to be towed. Alcohol within 8 hours and drugs within 32, and if the alcohol test is late the company has to document why (§ 382.303) |
| Engine computer and event data | Speed, braking and throttle in the seconds before impact | No set retention period. It can be lost once the truck goes back on the road |
| Dispatch records and fleet-management messages | What the company was asking the driver to do | Kept 6 months as supporting documents (§§ 395.8(k), 395.11) |
| Dash camera video | What the driver saw, and what he was doing | No federal rule. Some systems record over themselves within days |
Fatigue and the hours-of-service rules
Tired drivers cause truck wrecks, and the rules on driving hours exist for that reason. Under 49 C.F.R. § 395.3, a driver hauling property can drive no more than 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off, can’t drive past the 14th hour after coming on duty, has to take a 30-minute break after 8 hours of driving, and can’t drive after 60 hours on duty in 7 days, or 70 in 8. Drivers hauling freight that starts and ends in Texas follow the state’s version of these rules, which allows 12 hours of driving. A driver hauling a port container or other freight headed to or from another state or country is under the federal limits, even if the truck never leaves Texas. Logbooks get compared to fuel receipts, toll records, GPS data and delivery times, because a driver who was pushed to make a delivery window often ran over those limits, and the paper trail shows it.
Who can be held responsible
The driver is only the start. The motor carrier is responsible for its driver’s negligence on the job, and it can be liable in its own right for putting a driver it shouldn’t have hired behind the wheel, or for skipping maintenance. Depending on the facts, the company that loaded the cargo, the trailer’s owner, a maintenance shop or the manufacturer of a failed part can be responsible too. For-hire interstate carriers hauling ordinary freight in trucks over 10,000 pounds must carry at least $750,000 in liability coverage, with $1 million to $5 million for oil and hazardous materials (49 C.F.R. § 387.9). Finding every policy, including separate coverage on the tractor and the trailer, is part of the job.
How Texas trucking trials work since House Bill 19
In 2021 the Legislature passed House Bill 19, which changed how commercial vehicle cases are tried. If a defendant asks within 120 days of answering, the court must split the trial in two (Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 72.052). The first phase decides fault and compensatory damages. Punitive damages come in the second phase, where the standard is gross negligence proved by clear and convincing evidence (§ 41.003). If the company stipulates early in the case that the driver was its employee acting on the job, the jury in the first phase hears about hiring and supervision only through a specific statutory list, such as whether the driver was licensed and medically certified, whether he was over his hours that day, whether he’d refused a drug test in the prior two years, and, if he’d been with the company less than a year, whether it ran the required background checks (§ 72.054). That evidence can still be used in the second phase to prove gross negligence, and claims that don’t depend on the driver’s negligence, like negligent maintenance, still come in during the first phase. A regulation violation is admissible in the first phase only if it helped cause the crash (§ 72.053).
So a truck case has to be built on two tracks from the start: the crash itself, and what the company knew and allowed. A lawyer who treats it like a car wreck with a bigger vehicle leaves the second half of the case on the table.
Garbage trucks and city vehicles
A crash with a City of Houston solid waste truck is a claim against the city, and it runs under the Texas Tort Claims Act. The city can be liable for crashes caused by its employees driving city vehicles (§ 101.021), but for injury and death the city’s liability is capped at $250,000 per person and $500,000 per crash (§ 101.023(c)). Counties and school districts have lower caps. And the Houston city charter requires written, verified notice of the claim within 90 days. Miss that and the claim can be lost before anyone looks at the facts. Private haulers are ordinary commercial carriers. There’s no cap on compensation, and the normal two-year deadline applies.
Houston’s freight corridors
The Port of Houston and the refineries and warehouses on the east side put heavy trucks on I-10, I-610, Beltway 8 and I-45 around the clock, along with the construction traffic on every major highway project in the county. Knowing those roads, and the Harris County and federal courts that hear these cases, matters from the first letter we send.
Deadlines and fault
You have two years to file suit (§ 16.003), and in a death case the two years runs from the date of death. If a City of Houston vehicle was involved, you also have to give the city written, sworn notice within 90 days, and other government agencies have their own notice deadlines. Texas uses proportionate responsibility: you can recover as long as you were not more than 50 percent at fault, but your recovery is reduced by your share (§§ 33.001, 33.012). Trucking insurers know that rule well, and they use early recorded statements to push more of the blame onto you. Talk to us first.
Results in truck cases
A commercial truck driver following too closely rear-ended our client’s vehicle. We secured a $2.95 million settlement for our client. See more of our settlements and verdicts. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Hit by an 18-wheeler in Houston? Call Blass Law
Jay Blass Cohen has practiced in Houston since 2009. He’s a certified Drug Recognition Expert and an ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientist, which matters when a truck driver’s post-crash drug or alcohol test is part of the case, because we know how those tests are done and where they go wrong. We’ll get the preservation letter out and build the case against everyone responsible, not just the driver.
Call (713) 664-4000. If the crash just happened, call today, before the truck is back on the road.
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Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. See all case results →
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Why Are Truck Accident Claims More Complicated Than Car Accident Claims?
- What Federal Regulations Apply to Commercial Truck Drivers in Texas?
- How Long Do I Have to File a Truck Accident Lawsuit in Texas?
Reviewed by Jay Blass Cohen, founder of Blass Law PLLC, ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientist, certified Drug Recognition Expert, and SFST instructor, serving Houston since 2009. This article is general information, not legal advice for your situation. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.