Fleet operators and trucking companies can be legally responsible to commercial truck accident victims after a serious or fatal truck crash under our state personal injury laws.
Recent media coverage of serious or fatal semi-truck accident liability has included the passage of a new Texas state law limiting the liability of commercial trucking companies and fleet operators after a truck driver has been involved in a serious or fatal truck crash. In Texas, the law has changed to make the trucker’s employer or the rig’s owner liable only if the admissible evidence shows gross negligence on the part of the corporation. This legislation was passed over the outcries of safety advocates and victim’s groups who argue that limiting the legal responsibility of the trucking industry in fatal truck crashes only serves to increase the danger to both truck drivers and those who share the roads with them. Read, “Safe Streets Coalition Slams HB 19 For Making Roads More Dangerous,” published by Texas Watch on April 29, 2021.
Explains Bay Scoggin, director of the consumer advocacy organization TexPIRG, the Texas legislation perverts the incentives designed to keep companies accountable, stating “…[l]itigation is consumers’ last resort, but it’s currently our most important deterrent to deadly negligence and wrongdoing by commercial vehicle companies.”
This new statute applies only to incidents that happen within the State of Texas. Both Indiana and Illinois have not changed state negligence laws that define legal duties of fleet operators, motor carriers, trucking companies, and others in the trucking industry who may have liability for the damages that result from a serious or fatal truck crash involving commercial motor vehicles (“CMVs”) like semis, big rigs, 18 wheelers, or tractor-trailers.
Federal Regulations and Company Liability
Of course, much of the commercial truck traffic that moves through Indiana and Illinois, as the “Crossroads of America,” involves interstate trucking where federal law applies to the trucking operations. While the accident itself may be governed by the state personal injury laws and accompanying court case precedent that apply to the scene of the crash, federal regulations must be investigated as well for their application in the incident.
Independent Contractors Driving for Commercial Carriers
Of particular importance here is 49 CFR §390.5, which makes it clear that any truck driver working as an independent contractor is considered to be employed by the motor carrier paying for his or her services. Specifically, this regulation includes the following definitions for “employee” and “employer” insofar as commercial trucks moving through Illinois or Indiana (quoting the regulation):
- Employee means any individual, other than an employer, who is employed by an employer and who in the course of his or her employment directly affects commercial motor vehicle safety. Such term includes a driver of a commercial motor vehicle (including an independent contractor while in the course of operating a commercial motor vehicle), a mechanic, and a freight handler. Such term does not include an employee of the United States, any State, any political subdivision of a State, or any agency established under a compact between States and approved by the Congress of the United States who is acting within the course of such employment.
- Employer means any person engaged in a business affecting interstate commerce who owns or leases a commercial motor vehicle in connection with that business, or assigns employees to operate it, but such terms does not include the United States, any State, any political subdivision of a State, or an agency established under a compact between States approved by the Congress of the United States.
Explains the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration: the existence of operating authority has no bearing upon the issue. The motor carrier is, therefore, responsible for compliance with the FMCSRs by its driver employees, including those who are owner-operators.
Therefore, while some other motor vehicle accidents may have corporate defendants arguing heavily that they are not responsible for the deadly crash involving their driver because of a distinction between the legal nuances of “employee” and “independent contractor,” this is not an argument to be made in fatal semi-truck crashes in view of 49 CFR §390.5.
For more, read about ridesharing companies’ arguments regarding their liability for rideshare accidents in Chicago Uber and Lyft Ridesharing Accident Cases are Different from Other Illinois Motor Vehicle Accident Claims and Lyft or Uber Driver Car Crash: Liability in Rideshare Driver Accidents.
Fatal Truck Crashes and Shipping Companies, Fleet Operators, Carriers
In both Indiana and Illinois, state laws protect semi-truck accident victims by defining the liability of those who own the rig or employ the truck driver involved in the case. Experienced semi-truck crash victim advocates may find the basis for legal injury claims to be made against these companies under either direct or vicarious liability arguments.
Vicarious Liability
Under the concept of “vicarious liability,” a special relationship exists between the trucker and the company which can make that company legally responsible for the driver’s breach of duty of care or safety that has resulted in the crash.
Here, arguments can be made by the victims for things like “negligent entrustment” of the commercial motor vehicle to a driver who the facts reveal caused the crash. A trucker who was driving under the influence at the time of the crash, for instance, may share legal liability with the trucking company or fleet operator who knew or had reason to know of the truck driver’s history of driving while intoxicated.
For more, read:
- 2021 Quest Workforce Drug Testing Report: Shocking Number of Workers Using Drugs While on the Job
- When Trucking Companies and Truckers are Legally Deemed an Imminent Hazard to the Public Safety
- Truck Driver Drug Use in Indiana and Illinois: High Risk of a Fatal Truck Crash Caused by Impaired Trucker.
Direct Liability
Moreover, both states also recognize the “direct liability” of the company when its own actions or failures to act have contributed to the collision and its aftermath. Here, for instance, the failure of the trucking company to provide the trucker with a rig that had properly maintained tires or brakes in the aftermath of a crash involving mechanical failure may result in the company’s direct legal liability for the collision.
For more, read:
- Jackknife Semi-Truck Crash: Deadly Danger on Indiana and Illinois Roads
- Tire Failure and Fatal Crashes in Indiana and Illinois: the Legal Duty of Tire Maintenance
- Bad Brakes in Semi Trucks: How Many Trucks Will Be Placed Out of Service During Brake Safety Week?
Industry Pressure to Avoid Responsibility for Fatal Truck Crashes
While Indiana and Illinois do not have laws akin to the new Texas statute that protects the trucking industry from almost all legal liability in their serious or fatal truck crashes, the passage of the Texas law does serve as an incentive to try and get other states to pass similar measures. The clout of the trucking lobby and its focus on profits cannot be underestimated as its bottom line is impacted by victorious accident victims in semi-truck crash injury cases. Read, e.g., Nuclear Verdicts in Fatal Semi-Truck Crashes.
- The trucking industry, focused upon its bottom line, frets about its own legal responsibility for the monetary damages that result from a severe commercial truck accident. Meanwhile, they have enjoyed keeping their commercial insurance premiums at 50+ year old rates. Read, Will 1980 Legal Minimums for Truck Crash Liability Insurance Coverage Finally Be Increased by Congress?
- Federal changes to Hours-of-Service (HOS) rules, designed to safeguard the drivers, met with a hard-pressed fight that spanned years as challenges were made in various forums. Read, HOS Rules Lawsuit Challenges by Trucking Industry Finally Over? DC Appeals Court Issues Its Opinion This Week.
Today, accident victims and their loved ones who have suffered injury in a severe or fatal truck crash in either Indiana or Illinois are well served to have an experienced semi-truck crash advocate at their side to determine if the trucking company involved with the crash is directly or vicariously liable for the accident damages.
This is because the companies, their insurance adjusters and defense counsel are notorious for seeking ways to avoid liability in semi-truck crashes, no matter how horrific and tragic.
For more on truck crashes, see:
- Pending Trucking Legislation Before 2021 Indiana Statehouse and the Danger of Fatal Truck Crashes with Faster, Heavier Rigs on our Roads
- Danger of More Fatal Truck Crashes Caused by New 2020 Hours-Of-Service Rules
- Inadequate Truck Driver Training and Fatal Truck Crashes in Indiana or Illinois
- Trial Tactics for Plaintiff Semi-Truck Accident Claims: a Practical Guide from Investigation to Trial.
In the Crossroads of America, commercial truck accidents are a very great danger to truck drivers, their passengers, and those who share the roads with them. Please be careful out there!
