Truck accident
Hit by a commercial truck.
The short answer
- The trucking company starts working the case within hours. Its insurer, its lawyers and sometimes its own investigators move fast. Do not talk to them about fault or injuries.
- Evidence disappears on a schedule. Driver logs, the truck’s electronic data and dashcam video are kept for limited periods. A lawyer sends a preservation letter early.
- Federal rules apply to the truck, including hours a driver may work and how much insurance the carrier must carry. Texas and California add their own.
- More than one company may be responsible: the driver, the carrier, the owner of the trailer, the shipper that loaded it, the shop that maintained it.
- Deadlines are the same as a car crash in each state, with the short government claim rule if a public vehicle or road defect is involved.
Why a truck crash is different
Weight. Federal law lets a loaded tractor trailer weigh 80,000 pounds on the interstate, about twenty times a passenger car. The injuries are more severe, the insurance limits are higher, and the companies on the other side know what the case may be worth before you do. Many carriers have a rapid response plan: an adjuster or investigator reaches the scene, photographs it, interviews the driver and sometimes approaches the injured person at the hospital.
That is not illegal. It means the other side has a head start. The way to match it is to get your own record early, to keep the truck’s evidence from being lost, and to let a lawyer handle every contact with the carrier.
The rules a trucking company has to follow
Interstate carriers answer to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Its rules set how many hours a driver may drive before resting, what the driver’s medical and licensing qualifications must be, how the truck must be inspected and maintained, how cargo must be secured, and how much liability insurance the carrier must carry. For a for hire carrier hauling general freight across state lines, that minimum is $750,000.
California applies the federal hours of service rules to trucks that stay inside the state, with its own version: 11 hours of driving within a 14 hour window after 10 hours off. Texas sets a $500,000 minimum for intrastate trucks over 26,000 pounds. Washington applies the federal rules to intrastate carriers as well. The table below cites each.
A violation of these rules is evidence of negligence. Driver logs, electronic logging device data, the engine control module, inspection reports, drug and alcohol test results and the carrier’s hiring file for the driver all become part of the case. None of it is yours by right. A lawyer asks for it, and if the carrier will not give it up, a court orders it.
Who can be responsible
Often the driver works for one company, the tractor belongs to a second, the trailer to a third, and the cargo was loaded by a fourth. A broker may have arranged the load. Each may have insurance, and each may have made a mistake: a carrier that pushed a tired driver, a shipper that overloaded a trailer, a shop that signed off on worn brakes. Sorting out who did what is a large part of what a truck case is.
The comparative fault rules are the same as in any crash. California and Washington reduce your recovery by your share. Texas bars recovery above 50 percent, which is why carriers in Texas work hard to put fault on the other driver.
Why to call early
Federal rules require a carrier to keep a driver’s records of duty status for only six months, and a truck’s onboard data can be overwritten once the truck goes back to work. A preservation letter from a lawyer puts the carrier on notice to keep it. The earlier that letter goes, the more of the truth survives. If you were hurt by a commercial truck, the call to a lawyer is a same week task, not a someday task.
The deadlines page has the limitation periods for each state.
The rules, with their sources
These are the rules of law this page relies on. Each one is a general statement with exceptions that are not shown, and each links to the statute, regulation or court decision it comes from.
| Topic | California | Texas | Washington |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial trucks | A for hire trucking company hauling general freight across state lines must carry at least $750,000 in liability coverage under federal rules, and California requires the same $750,000 for most carriers that stay inside the state. Federal rules also limit a driver to 11 hours of driving inside a 14 hour window after 10 hours off duty. [1] | A trucking company hauling general freight across state lines must carry at least $750,000 in liability coverage under federal rules. Texas requires $500,000 for commercial vehicles over 26,000 pounds that stay inside the state. In a lawsuit over a commercial vehicle crash, the defendant can ask for the trial to be split into two phases. [2] | Washington applies the federal motor carrier safety rules, including driver hours, inspections and insurance, to carriers that operate only inside the state as well as those crossing state lines. The federal minimum for hauling general freight across state lines is $750,000 in liability coverage. [3] |
| If you were partly at fault | California reduces your damages by your percentage of responsibility. There is no cutoff: you can recover something even if you were mostly at fault. [4] | Texas reduces your damages by your percentage of responsibility. If you are found more than 50 percent responsible, you recover nothing. [5] | Your share of fault reduces your damages by that percentage but does not bar your claim. One exception: an injured person who was under the influence can be barred entirely if that was a cause of the injury and they were more than 50 percent at fault. [6] |
| Deadline to sue for an injury | Generally two years for an injury caused by someone else’s wrongful act or carelessness. [7] | Two years from the day the claim arises. For most crashes and falls that is the day of the injury. [8] | Three years for most injury claims. [9] |
| Claims against a government agency | A written claim must be presented to the city, county, state agency or other public entity within six months. If the entity sends a proper written rejection, a lawsuit generally has to be filed within six months of that notice. A request to file late must be made within a reasonable time, not to exceed one year after the claim arose. The statute leaves a few narrow kinds of time out of that year. [10] | A city, county, school district or state agency must receive notice of the claim within six months of the incident. The notice describes the injury or damage, the time and place, and what happened. A city’s charter can set its own notice period, which may be shorter, so do not assume you have the full six months. [11] | Before suing a city, county or other local government, you must present a tort claim form to its designated agent and then wait 60 calendar days. Claims against the State go to the Office of Risk Management with the same 60 day wait. The form has to be presented within the normal limitation period, and that period is paused during the 60 days. [12] |
Sources
- 49 C.F.R. §§ 387.9, 395.3; Cal. Veh. Code § 34631.5
- 49 C.F.R. § 387.9; 43 Tex. Admin. Code § 218.16; Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 72.052
- WAC 446-65-010; 49 C.F.R. § 387.9
- Li v. Yellow Cab Co. (1975) 13 Cal.3d 804; CACI No. 405
- Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §§ 33.001, 33.012
- RCW 4.22.005; RCW 5.40.060
- Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1
- Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003(a)
- RCW 4.16.080(2)
- Cal. Gov. Code §§ 911.2, 911.4, 945.6
- Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 101.101
- RCW 4.96.020; RCW 4.92.100; RCW 4.92.110
The rules on this page were last checked against these sources on October 3, 2026. Laws change, so follow the link before you rely on a rule.
Attorney review in progress. Responsible attorney: Emery Brett Ledger. Page last updated October 26, 2026.