When people get involved in accidents with semi-trucks, they often try to determine if the company was liable for the accident, not just the driver. This is very different than getting involved in an accident with someone in their personal car, when it is very clear that they are the one who is at fault and that they should be liable for the damages.
If you run a trucking company, you’re probably worried about this situation happening to you. Were you actually liable in some way or are they just trying to seek compensation that they don’t deserve from your company?
What steps did you take?
What may become important are the steps that you took to try to keep people safe and prevent that accident from occurring. If you did nothing, you may be found negligent. But if you attempted to prevent the crash and simply weren’t able to do so because of mistakes made by the driver, then your company is not liable.
For instance, maybe your driver was under the influence of drugs when they got into the accident. This is a clear violation of numerous laws and it is obvious that the truck is the vehicle that caused that crash due to the driver’s impairment.
The injured party may claim that you allowed your drivers to operate their vehicles while under the influence or that you relaxed your regulatory measures. If you can show that you did all of the proper pre-employment drug testing and that all drivers knew exactly what was expected of them, then you can show that your company isn’t liable – even if that driver went against those rules and made a mistake.
There’s a lot of money on the line in these types of cases, so it’s very beneficial to understand the legal options you have.