Who Is Liable in a Truck Accident? Every Party Explained

More than one party is often liable in a truck accident. The driver may be at fault, but the trucking company is usually responsible for its driver as well, and a loader, a mechanic, a manufacturer, or a broker can share the blame.

The short version:

• The trucking company is generally liable for what its driver does on the job, and can also be liable for its own failures in hiring, training, scheduling, or maintenance.
• Cargo loaders, repair shops, parts makers, and freight brokers can each be responsible for their part.
• Fault can be split by percentage, including with you. Most states reduce what you recover by your share.
• Identifying every party matters because each may have separate insurance.

This is general information, not legal advice. Liability rules differ from state to state.

The truck driver

The driver is liable for their own careless driving: speeding, following too closely, distraction, impairment, or driving while too tired to be safe. Federal rules limit how many hours a commercial driver may drive before resting. Driving past those limits is a violation in itself and strong evidence of negligence.

In practice the driver is rarely the only target of a claim, because the company behind the driver has far more insurance.

The trucking company

A motor carrier can be liable in two separate ways.

For its driver. Under a rule called respondeat superior, an employer is responsible for harm an employee causes while doing the job. Trucking companies sometimes argue that a driver is an independent contractor to avoid this. Federal regulations make that argument harder for carriers operating under their own authority, and courts look at how much control the company really had.

For its own conduct. The company may have been negligent itself, for example by:

• hiring a driver with a poor record, or failing to check it;
• inadequate training or supervision;
• setting schedules that cannot be met without breaking hours-of-service rules;
• skipping required inspection and maintenance;
• ignoring earlier violations.

Interstate carriers must carry minimum liability insurance. For most for-hire trucks hauling general freight the federal minimum is $750,000, rising to $1 million or $5 million for certain hazardous cargo. Many carriers carry more. The federal form that guarantees that minimum is the MCS-90 endorsement, which can make the insurer pay a judgment even when the policy would not.

The cargo loader or shipper

A load that is overweight, unbalanced, or badly secured changes how a truck brakes and turns, and cargo that shifts or falls can cause a crash directly. If a separate company loaded the trailer, it can be liable for doing it badly. The driver and carrier still have duties to check the load, so responsibility is often shared.

The maintenance contractor

Many carriers outsource repairs and inspections. A shop that did faulty brake work, missed an obvious defect, or signed off an inspection it did not properly perform can be liable for a crash that results.

The vehicle or parts manufacturer

If a defective part caused or worsened the crash, such as brakes, tyres, steering components, or the coupling between tractor and trailer, the manufacturer can be liable under products liability law. These claims usually need engineering experts and the failed part itself, which is one reason the truck should be preserved unrepaired.

The freight broker

Brokers arrange for a carrier to move a shipper’s load. A broker that hands freight to a carrier it knew, or should have known, was unsafe may be liable for negligent selection. This is a contested and changing area of law, and courts in different parts of the country have disagreed about how far federal law shields brokers from these claims.

Other drivers and government bodies

Another motorist may have set the crash in motion. A badly designed or maintained road can also play a part. Claims against a government body follow special rules, often with a much shorter deadline to give notice.

How fault is shared

When several parties are at fault, a court or the insurers assign each a percentage. Your own conduct counts too. Most states follow some form of comparative negligence:

• In many states, your compensation is reduced by your percentage of fault, and you recover nothing if your share reaches a set threshold, commonly 50 or 51 percent.
• In some states, you can recover even if you were mostly at fault, with the amount reduced accordingly.
• A small number of jurisdictions still bar recovery entirely if you were at fault at all.

Which rule applies depends on the state where the crash happened.

How liability is proved

Responsibility is established with records, most of them held by the trucking company: electronic logging and engine data, hours-of-service logs, the driver’s qualification file, maintenance records, dispatch messages, cargo documents, and post-crash test results. Some of these can be lawfully discarded within months, which is why a spoliation letter demanding they be kept is usually sent straight away.

What compensation a truck accident claim can include

Once liability is settled, the claim is for the same kinds of loss as any injury claim, often larger because truck crashes cause more serious injuries:

• Medical costs, now and in the future, and lost income, including lost earning capacity if you cannot return to the same work.
• Pain and suffering and other non-economic losses.
• Property damage to your vehicle.
• A family’s losses after a death, through a wrongful death claim, and a spouse’s claim for loss of consortium.
• Punitive damages, in some states, where a carrier knowingly let a driver break the hours-of-service rules or skip safety maintenance.

One reason truck claims are worth more in practice is insurance. Federal rules require for-hire interstate carriers of ordinary freight in vehicles of 10,001 pounds or more to carry at least $750,000 of liability coverage, and more for oil and hazardous materials (49 CFR 387.9). Each liable party in the list above may also have its own policy. How a claim becomes a settlement or a lawsuit is covered in how a car accident lawsuit works.

Frequently asked questions

Is the trucking company always liable for its driver?

Not always, but usually. An employer is generally responsible for an employee acting within the job. Disputes arise when the driver was an independent contractor, or was doing something personal at the time.

Can more than one party be liable for the same crash?

Yes, and in truck accidents it is common. The driver, the carrier, a loader, a repair shop, and a manufacturer can each be assigned a share.

What if I was partly at fault?

In most states you can still recover, with the amount reduced by your share of fault. The exact rule, and any cut-off, depends on the state.

Who pays if the driver was an independent contractor?

It depends on the arrangement and on state and federal rules. A carrier that leases a truck and driver under its own operating authority is often still responsible. This is a question to put to an attorney with the lease and the facts in hand.

How long do I have to bring a claim?

Every state sets its own statute of limitations for injury claims, commonly one to four years, with shorter notice periods when a government body is involved.

Where to go from here

Working out who is liable is investigative work, and it depends on evidence being kept. Read what a spoliation letter does and how to choose a truck accident lawyer, or see all the injury claim guides. Arhox is an independent publication, not a law firm; our editorial policy and disclaimer explain how these guides are prepared.