Dallas Commercial Vehicle Accident Attorney

Commercial vehicle accidents in Dallas are different from passenger vehicle accidents in several respects. The size and weight of commercial vehicles is typically much larger, which can lead to catastrophic injuries or fatalities in an accident involving these vehicles. Commercial vehicles include company trucks like delivery vans, plumbing and other trade pick-up trucks or vans. The liable parties may not just include the negligent commercial vehicle driver, but also the company that owned the vehicle or hired the driver.

Federal and state insurance coverage requirements for commercial vehicles in Dallas are much higher than those of passenger cars. This means the insurance companies have serious financial stakes involved. For all these reasons, obtaining maximum financial compensation from all the liable parties is more complicated in these cases. If you were injured in a commercial vehicle accident, or someone close to you was killed in this accident, our dedicated Dallas commercial vehicle accident attorneys can help.

Contact Dallas Commercial Vehicle Accident Lawyers
1-888-987-0005

At Miller Weisbrod Olesky, we have extensive resources and decades of combined experience to successfully take on powerful corporations and influential insurance companies in order to win the best settlement or verdict for the injured persons and the families of wrongful death victims in Dallas commercial vehicle accidents.

We will fight to make sure you get all financial compensation you deserve through settlement against the responsible trucking company and their insurers or take your case to trial with through preparation of evidence and a winning legal strategy if they fail to pay you the money you are owed. Schedule your free consultation with our legal team today. Our proven record of success in obtaining substantial settlements and verdicts for our injured clients speaks for itself.

Our Truck Accident attorneys are led by Clay Miller who is Board-Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law. Less than 3% of all Texas attorneys have achieved board certification and less than that have a personal injury trial law board certification which required numerous jury trials and the passing a rigorous exam in the specialty.

Our law firm has recovered more than $1.3 Billion in settlements for clients in all kinds of personal injury, wrongful death, car accident cases, truck accidents, construction accidents and even medical malpractice lawsuits.

Commercial Vehicle Accident:
Our client was hit head on by a company truck. Her vascular system was badly damaged and over the course of a month her lower leg’s blood flow was so compromised that serious gangrene set in leading to an amputation. The case settled for $7,000,000.00.

If you were hurt or a loved one was severely injured or tragically killed in a trucking accident, immediate investigation and concerted legal action may be necessary to protect your right to seek maximum recovery. Contact our Dallas Commercial Vehicle Accident Lawyers for a free consultation.

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Video surveillance footage can play a critical role in proving the liability of the responsible parties in commercial vehicle accidents. Locating sources of video footage may present challenges, but our Dallas commercial vehicle accident attorneys at Miller Weisbrod Olesky possess the expertise and experience to identify and obtain footage from various cameras that may have captured the accident. We understand how to leverage this compelling evidence to your advantage.

Once you hire us, our commercial vehicle accident lawyers and in-house investigators in Dallas will swiftly visit the accident site and the surrounding potential locations to determine if any surveillance cameras have recorded your CMV accident. In case after case, we have utilized indisputable video surveillance footage from surrounding areas near the accident site to expose false statements made by commercial vehicle drivers to the police.

If you have been involved in a commercial motor vehicle accident in Dallas, there is a high likelihood that the collision was captured by one or more cameras. Possible sources of footage include:

Dash Cams

Dash cams, which are mounted on dashboards, are increasingly prevalent in the trucking industry. Commercial motor vehicle companies in Dallas have various types of dash cams installed in their vehicles:

• Four-way dash cams: Provide comprehensive coverage of the front, sides, and driver area of the truck
• Driver-facing dash cams: Record the driver's actions
• Forward-facing dash cams: Capture the view of the road ahead of the truck

Footage from truck dash cams may also favor your case. Additionally, more passenger car drivers are equipping their vehicles with dash cams, so it is worth exploring whether you or other motorists involved in the accident have captured video footage.

Traffic Cameras

Traffic cameras, installed on traffic lights and other areas of the road, continuously monitor traffic. While the use of photo-monitoring devices to prove traffic violations is prohibited in Texas, surveillance footage from traffic cameras can serve as evidence of fault in civil claims arising from commercial vehicle accidents and other crashes.

Surveillance Cameras

Security cameras are ubiquitous, ranging from doorbell cameras connected to homeowners' smartphones to comprehensive surveillance systems in commercial properties. If the camera is positioned appropriately, it may have captured video footage of your commercial vehicle accident, which can be valuable evidence for your case.

Police and Law Enforcement Body Cams

Using police and law enforcement body cams to capture statements of truck drivers and eyewitnesses during a truck accident can be an effective way to gather reliable and objective evidence. Body cams are small, wearable cameras that are typically attached to the uniforms or equipment of police officers and law enforcement personnel. They record audio and video footage of incidents from the perspective of the wearer.

To maintain the integrity of the evidence, it's fundamental to establish a clear chain of custody for the body cam footage. This involves properly handling and storing the recorded data to ensure it remains untampered and admissible in court.

Cell Phone Cameras

Nearly everyone nowadays carries a high-quality video camera in their pocket in the form of a cell phone. Witnesses to the accident might have recorded the events leading up to and during the crash. Our Dallas commercial vehicle accident lawyers at Miller Weisbrod Olesky can utilize this footage, along with witness testimony, to strengthen your case.

Important Considerations

Two key factors to bear in mind are: (a) Video footage is time-stamped, so knowing the date and preferably the exact time of the accident is necessary to acquire the relevant footage, and (b) Recordings are not stored indefinitely, and critical footage can get damage or be erased by trucking companies or others at any time. Most surveillance cameras only hold data for a week at most.

If you have been injured in a CMV accident, you should seek legal representation from our Dallas commercial vehicle accident lawyers at Miller Weisbrod Olesky as soon as possible in order to maximize your compensation from all the liable parties.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and the Texas Department of Public Safety have imposed numerous regulations to lower the risk of accidents involving different types of commercial vehicles. At Miller Weisbrod Olesky, our Dallas commercial vehicle accident lawyers know every rule in the rule book and how the commercial vehicle companies might be involved in the violation of these rules to increase their profits, which can result in devastating accidents and injuries.

Hours of Service (HOS) regulations, minimum insurance limits, medical fitness requirements for truckers, driver training requirements, speed limits, parking rules, on-board vehicle data recorder requirements, and safety regulations for different types of commercial vehicles in Dallas can vary according to whether it is a cargo transport vehicle, what type of load it carries, what is the weight of the vehicle when loaded, and what role or function the commercial vehicle performs in the city.

Our commercial vehicle accident attorneys in Dallas are well-versed in handling personal injury cases related to the following vehicles, among others:

• Tanker trucks
• Flatbed trucks
• Cement trucks
• Crane trucks
• Tow trucks
• Work/company trucks
• Service and utility trucks
• Garbage trucks
• Bucket trucks
• Dump trucks
• Farm trucks
• Street sweepers
• USPS mail trucks
• Moving trucks
• Panel trucks (delivery vans)

Distracted Commercial Truck Driver
$6,000,000.00 recovered for the family of a driver killed by a distracted truck driver using an on-board computer.

In commercial vehicle accidents, you will need a law firm that has the network and resources to invest in accident reconstruction, preparing expert witness testimonies, and obtaining critical vehicle data, company records, and driver log books before the defendants have a chance to tamper with potential evidence.

Our highly rated Dallas commercial vehicle accident attorneys will swing into action immediately when we represent you in your injury case. We will send accident reconstruction specialists to the crash site to piece together evidence regarding how your accident and injuries occurred. We will obtain the legal permissions to have crucial black box data downloaded from the commercial vehicle’s event data recorder (EDR).

We will gain access to commercial vehicle carrier’s HR records and driver logs to determine whether poor hiring, training or management practices, excessive pressure on the driver to meet deadlines, and violation of Hours of Service regulations may have contributed to your accident and injuries.

Many commercial vehicles now come with driver cameras that show not only the actions of the driver but also the front of the vehicle. These cameras are often critical evidence in a commercial vehicle wreck.

Miller Weisbrod Olesky has a full-time private investigator and team that will immediately survey the scene of an commercial vehicle accident. We visit any surrounding businesses and locations seeking out surveillance video of collisions. On many occasions, the company truck driver blames such things as intersection collisions on the victim. On dozens of occasions, our immediate investigation has turned up surveillance videos that win the case.

If necessary, our legal team will engage prominent medical experts, forensic experts, safety engineers, hazardous material experts, and vocation and financial specialists to establish your extent of injuries and toxic exposure, future loss of income, mental anguish, and life-altering pain and suffering that resulted from your commercial vehicle accident.

Defective Guardrails in Dallas

More than 40% of the guardrails along Texas highways, including Dallas, are outdated, faulty, or fail to meet the latest safety standards. New roadside design regulations in Dallas require minimum standards for guardrail dimensions, including beam heights and spacing between posts, as well as crash-worthy end treatment installations. Defective guardrails in Dallas can increase the severity of commercial vehicle crashes.

Hazardous Pavement Edge Drops in Dallas

Defective edge drops in Dallas are common, which can cause trucks to crash into smaller vehicles if the truck driver is inattentive. Heavy-duty commercial trucks and tractor-trailers are more vulnerable and sensitive to pavement edge drops. Sudden drop of the wheel triggered by the edge drop can surprise the truck driver, who may jump the traffic lane, crashing into other vehicles.

Poor Stopping Sight Distance at Dallas Intersections

Dallas has numerous uncontrolled intersections where trucks and tractor-trailers may find it hard to apply the brakes on time if they are momentarily distracted. In general, large commercial vehicles take 25% to 50% farther than cars to come to a complete halt. Minimum sight triangles are therefore vital for commercial vehicle drivers to look far ahead before deciding to continue towards an uncontrolled intersection.

Road Construction Dangers in Dallas

Commercial vehicle accidents on Dallas highways sometimes occur due to negligence in ongoing construction work and road maintenance in the area. Poor or missing road closure warning signs, edge drops near excavations, defective transition areas, and slow or carelessly moving maintenance vehicles can contribute to commercial vehicle crashes in Dallas.

The type of commercial vehicle and who owns or operates that vehicle can make a difference to the amount of damages you can potentially recover in case of an accident. For instance, under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, Title 5, Tort Claims Chapter 101, if you suffer injuries from a commercial vehicle owned by the state, the recoverable damages get limited to $250,000 for each injured victim and $500,000 per accident involving injuries or fatalities.

But if the commercial vehicle is owned by a private motor carrier, there is no upper limit or cap to the amount of damages you can claim. In fact, in case of big rigs and other large commercial vehicles, the minimum insurance limit itself may be as high as $5 million, depending on the type of cargo they are carrying. Our Dallas commercial vehicle accident attorneys will build a strong case to pursue maximum damages combined from all liable parties to help you and your family move forward in life.

In commercial vehicle crashes, driver’s negligence alone may not be the cause behind your accident and injuries. At Miller Weisbrod Olesky, our dedicated commercial vehicle accident lawyers will identify all the at-fault parties and hold them liable to maximize your compensation. The potential defendants may include:

• Commercial Vehicle Driver: In addition to negligent driving behavior, the commercial vehicle operator may also bear partial responsibility for any negligence in vehicle maintenance and cargo loading.
• Commercial Vehicle Company: The motor carrier that employed the negligent driver may be held liable for violation of FMCSA regulations, such as Hours of Service rules, negligence in hiring and training of the driver, or vehicle maintenance and inspections.
• Loading and Shipping Contractors: Sometimes a commercial vehicle company may outsource cargo loading and shipping to other carriers. Overloading, loose cargo, unauthorized cargo, or negligence in transporting could make these parties jointly or severally liable for your accident.
• Third Party Vendors: Repair, upkeep and maintenance of commercial vehicles, recruitment and training of drivers, and some administrative areas of fleet operations may be outsourced to third party vendors. Their negligence could make them potential defendants in your injury case.
• Component Manufacturers: Malfunction of the commercial vehicle, such as tire blowout, brake failure, or steering system defects could lead to your accident and injuries. We will hold the component manufacturer or even the dealer or distributor accountable in these cases.
• Other Potential Defendants: Government agencies, government contractors, and construction companies may be held responsible for road hazards, lack of proper signage, poor lighting, or dangerous movement of construction vehicles, which caused your accident and injuries.

The Texas statute of limitations for commercial vehicle injury and wrongful death cases is two years from the day the accident occurred (Section 16.003 of the Texas Civil Practices and Remedies Code). Considering the critical importance of truck black box data, physical evidence from the scene of accident, fresh memory of eyewitnesses, our Dallas commercial vehicle lawyers recommend that you should contact us as soon as possible after the accident to preserve evidence and build a strong claim.

At Miller Weisbrod Olesky, our seasoned Dallas Commercial Vehicle accident lawyers know these tactics of powerful defendants, and have extensive experience in proving their liability. Our investigators, accident reconstructionists, and lawyers will move fast to secure evidence, build a strong case, and hold all the negligent parties liable for maximum damages. Our formidable track record of verdicts and settlements and our trial preparedness usually work in favor our clients, and compel the defendants to agree to a fair settlement.

With a 30-year history heading the Commercial Vehicle Accident Department of Miller Weisbrod Olesky, firm partner Clay Miller has a proven record of holding Trucking Companies accountable. Clay regularly speaks to Trial Lawyer Groups around Dallas and across the State of Texas on the topics of trucking discovery and trial techniques and the latest Trucking Technologies in order to better assist Truck Wreck Cases throughout the state of Texas.

Clay was asked to be the featured speaker for the Texas Trial Lawyers Association on the new changes to trucking laws passed by the State of Texas. Clay has been a D Magazine Best Lawyer for every year since 2017, and is consistently listed in the best lawyers by Texas Monthly. Miller Weisbrod Olesky is regularly recognized by the U.S. News and World Report as one of the top injury law firms in the United States.