The scene of a Bay Area trucking accident is often chaotic, involving multiple vehicles, serious injuries and lots of activity. The trucking industry is the subject of many personal injury lawsuits resulting from truck driver negligence and other forms of negligence so trucking companies have a vast array of strategies to defend against claims brought by those injured by these monstrous sized vehicles. One common strategy used by insurance companies in trucking accident cases involves trying to shift liability to other potential parties. Because this is such a common ploy by trucking companies, it is important to understand the wide range of parties who may be responsible for a trucking accident:
Drivers of Motor Vehicles (i.e. not the truck driver or injury victim): Sometimes the truck driver will contend that the negligence of a third party forced the truck driver to take evasive action to avoid a collision. The truck driver and the trucking company will often argue that the truck driver’s reaction was appropriate and that there was no way the truck driver could have responded to the error by the other driver that would have prevented the collision.
Trucking Accident Injury Victim: Unfortunately, insurance carriers for trucking companies often add insult to injury by blaming the trucking accident on the injury victim. The trucking company will attempt to show that the injury victim’s own failure to take reasonable care to prevent foreseeable harm (i.e. injuries in a trucking accident) was partially or totally responsible for the trucking collision. Generally, this strategy will only result in a reduction in the damages that a trucking accident victim recovers in California unless it is established that the accident victim’s proportion of fault is a hundred percent.
Truck Driver: The most common defendant in trucking accident cases in San Francisco and throughout the Bay Area are truck drivers. Truck driver errors that cause serious trucking accidents may include violation of hours of service rules (driver fatigue), speeding, improperly securing a load, drugged driving and other factors.
Truck Driver Employer (i.e. Trucking Company): Many times the trucking company cuts corners or ignores important California or federal safety regulations to increase profitability. When a trucking company fails to conduct drug testing or causes driver fatigue with unrealistic schedules the trucking company may be liable for injuries to a San Francisco trucking accident victim.
Independent Tractor-Trailer Repair Facility: Many times tractor-trailer maintenance or service is handled by an independent repair facility. If vehicle maintenance or repairs are not performed properly, this may be a basis for imposing liability on the repair company when the accident results from the substandard maintenance work.
Manufacturers and Retailers of Truck and Components: When a defect in a tractor-trailer component or system contributes to a collision, the manufacturer or retailer of the tractor-trailer may be liable for the resulting collision. For example, defective brake systems are sometimes the basis for a product liability claims against a manufacturer or retailer.
Public Entities: Government agencies that design roadways have a legal obligation to design and build roads that are reasonably safe, including ramps and signage. When a road is unsafe for a tractor-trailer because of steep grades or other factors, the public entity may be liable for not providing warning signs regarding the hazards posed for tractor-trailers. Similarly, public entities may have an obligation to implement remedial measures when a particular stretch of roadway is the sight of repeated trucking accidents.
While this is not a comprehensive list of every entity that may share responsibility in a San Francisco trucking accident, it should be clear that many parties may play a role in causing a trucking accident. Because there may be major differences in the insurance that is available based on the parties involved, our experienced San Francisco trucking accident lawyers work diligently to identify all potential responsible defendants in our clients’ cases.
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If you are involved in a San Francisco tractor-trailer accident, you may suffer catastrophic life-changing injuries. If you or someone you love has been injured or a loved one has died in a San Francisco tractor-trailer accident, you should contact us as soon as possible because critical deadlines apply. We invite you to contact The Law Office of Ian Zimmerman for your free initial consultation. We are open 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., speak Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese, and are available for weekend, evening, home and hospital meetings and visits. We also offer free initial consultations and work exclusively on a contingency fee basis so that you pay nothing if we don’t win your case.