Who is Liable in a California Truck Accident?

Newport Beach, CA Truck Accident Attorney Michelle West

Video Transcript:

Michelle West: 

So there is a lot of pressure on these people. It may be unwritten, but it is the pressure and they want to do a good job. They wanna provide for their families, and so it's really important that the trucking industry in general really understand that these are human beings.

Molly Hendrickson: 

If you're injured in a crash with a large truck, who can be held responsible? We're gonna find out right now on this episode of Ask The Lawyer. My guest is Attorney Michelle West, and I wanna remind you that if you wanna ask Michelle a question about your situation, it's easy. Go to askthelawyers.com, click the button up top that says Ask A Lawyer, or you can always call the phone number you'll see at the top of your screen. Thanks for joining us today, Michelle.

Michelle West: 

Hi, thanks for having me.

Molly Hendrickson: 

So I think if COVID taught us anything, it taught us that truck drivers are essential workers, something that we recognize now more than ever. When there's an accident with a truck driver and a passenger vehicle, is the driver responsible?

Michelle West: 

So that's a really great question, and the answer is, sometimes. I can tell you that I handle cases where people have been injured by a truck, and they are not... It's not always the truck driver's fault or responsibility. In fact, I often represent truck drivers themselves. But usually when I'm contacted about a trucking case, it involves a truck that has run into someone else or caused a collision. And so it can be the driver of the truck who is responsible, certainly. And then depending on if they are in the course and scope of their employment with the company, which is typically the case, then the company can also be responsible. And then you also want to make sure that you contact a lawyer who handles trucking cases, so that they can understand all the complexities of what we think of as trucking, which is a tractor trailer vehicle that's carrying goods. And so typically there's going to be brokers that are involved in brokering the load. There's gonna be shippers. There's gonna be a whole host of people who are involved in that transportation of goods, and so there may be not just the driver who's responsible. There may be the company who owns the truck or the trailer, and there may be even more responsibility that would run to the people who actually hired the truck and company to transport the goods.

So there's a bit of a complicated answer, but there are many people involved, and it's not always just the driver's fault, although the driver of the vehicle is often one of the responsible parties.

Molly Hendrickson: 

Several players in this. When it comes to trucking drivers and companies, who regulates them, and why is it so important?

Michelle West: 

So generally, the trucks that we think of, tractor trailer vehicles, if they travel interstate, meaning from one state to another, they are regulated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and there are a lot of safety regulations that apply to these large vehicles. And the reason that this administration exists and have safety regulations is because these are very large vehicles, and they weigh a lot, and they're all over the roadways, because they are essential workers. They're doing the work that we need so that we can get all the items and resources we need for our families and for our workplace, and so they are constantly on the roadways, and they're large vehicles. When a large vehicle like a tractor trailer gets into a collision with typical passenger cars that I would drive or most of us drive, the weight differential is such that it can cause a devastating harm to those who are in smaller vehicles, and often not just one vehicle, but could be involved in multiple vehicle crashes.

Molly Hendrickson: 

So there are a lot of regulations that they need to follow. When it comes to driving hours, are there certain caps or limits in the amount of hours that they can drive at one time, and why is this?

Michelle West: 

Sure, there definitely are, and that is going to be regulated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and they're called hours of service. And so hours of service are limited and they are only allowed to drive so many hours at a time before they need to then take a break. They have to have a designated number of maximum hours driving. There have to be breaks. And going back to the last question we talked about, there are also state rules and regulations. So there's California commercial vehicle code regulations, if you're driving in the State of California. And in California, there is a requirement that a truck driver takes a break every four hours, at least 10 minutes, and a 30-minute break for every five hours, and this is now in California, at least, unpaid time for the driver, if that driver is an employee. And so whether it's the state rules or the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration rules, the rules need to be followed, and they exist to make sure that a driver, the truck driver, doesn't get tired. This is a hard job. They get fatigued. And so regulating the hours when these hard workers... These truck drivers are hard workers. They have tight deadlines and they have a difficult job to do.

But the rules are there for their own safety and the safety of the traveling public, which is they can only drive so many hours in a row before they must take a rest break, and then they're also limited in the number of hours that they can drive over a certain time period, so over a week or over a certain time period, and those are all complicated depending on which law is regulating them at the time, and if it's the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations or the state regulations.

Molly Hendrickson: 

You mentioned those tight deadlines that they're up against. Are they ever pushed to break some of these rules, pushed to drive longer than they should or further than they should?

Michelle West: 

Absolutely, and some of it is self-imposed because they want to get back to their family. They want to get the job done. They probably are tired, and so I've seen many times that some of it is self-imposed. They wanna make it to this location so that they can get done more quickly, so that they can see their family. They want to get a bonus or incentive that is offered to them by a company that they're working for. And sometimes they are pushed. It's almost... They're trying to avoid punishment. Maybe if they don't get a certain job done in time, they won't get the best loads. They won't get the best opportunities from the company that they're working for, or from the companies that they are getting their loads from, and so there's a lot of pressure on these people. It may be unwritten, but it is the pressure, and they want to do a good job. They wanna provide for their families, and so it's really important that the trucking industry in general really understand that these are human beings.

Michelle West: 

They need time to rest. They need a reasonable amount of time to get the merchandise and freight from one point to another. And they are pushed to sometimes, in my opinion, go faster or cut corners, and sometimes it's because they're paid by the mile. They wanna make more money, and they know the more that they drive, the more they'll get paid. So there's a lot of factors that play there, and some of it is self-imposed, and some of it's just unwritten pressure, I would say, in the companies.

Molly Hendrickson: 

So how is this all tracked? How do they track the hours and the miles? And what happens to those logs or that evidence after an accident?

Michelle West: 

Sure. So they have... They have log books. Okay? And these log books, depending on whether... There are some entities, like tow trucks and other vehicles before... That were manufactured before the year of 2000, they still have old school paper log books, and so that means that the driver has to mark down on their daily logs the time that they were driving, the start point and the end point, and then they have to mark down when they're sleeping, when they're resting, and there are certain things that they have to track on their daily log. And so every day, they should be completing that daily log, and they should be doing it at the time that they're taking the activity, starting the trip, stopping the trip. That's a hard thing to do on paper logs when you're a busy truck driver, and if you don't remember to do it at the time, then it could be very difficult for them to keep up with. So there are mistakes that can happen. And then of course, there are some people who want to fudge it a little bit, and so sometimes falsifying a paper log can be done and has been done, and so those are things that you need to watch out for it.

Now, I think it was about 2019, electronic logging devices were used and are mandated, and this uses GPS coordinates to show where the trips began, where it ended, and it alerts the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration of all of this information. So the trucking companies and the trucks now have to be part of this electric logging, electronic logging. And I think it's helpful for the drivers. I think it's best for everyone. They have apps that can be on the driver's phones. They have technology and the trucks, and instead of worrying about marking down everything on a paper log, this can all be tracked, and it can be easily... Somewhat easily obtained. It's easily obtainable, so using the system, you can see where the vehicle was at a certain time of day, how many miles were travelled, and you can use the GPS coordinates for all of that. So it's very helpful.

Molly Hendrickson: 

And how can a lawyer help get some of this evidence and preserve it after an accident?

Michelle West: 

Sure. So that's really critical, and typically what happens is, if there is a serious collision, there will be a police report, and so that information may be requested by the police. It often is not, but typically, because there's a police report, there will be some tracking the police report of a certain trucking company that may have been involved in a crash. And so as part of the trucking company's policies typically, the policies are if you are in a collision that causes injury, that they would download that information, they would keep it, and all the hours of service records and the driving inspection records for that vehicle would typically be maintained by the trucking company. Now, there are some who will... Some companies who may make it difficult for plaintiffs and their counsel to obtain that, and they may require that you go get a court order. So as soon as a lawyer gets even a potential case where there was a truck involved, immediately you need to reach out and do a preservation of evidence letter letting them know that there will be litigation that you're looking into a claim, and that they must preserve that evidence.

Some states will require that you get a court order requiring them to turn over that information. Here in... Where I practice in California, we can typically do the preservation of evidence letter and then request a download. Often we can even do it informally. But the most important thing is that you take action immediately by sending the preservation of evidence letter, asking the trucking company to maintain that, and then seeking immediately to have your expert go out, and if the vehicle is available, conduct a download of the electronic control module, or what we just described as the black box, and then also obtain the electronic logging device system and information so that you can look at all that information together.

Molly Hendrickson: 

Which is why it's important to get a good attorney quickly after this happens. Michelle West, thank you for talking to us today.

Michelle West:

Thank you.

Molly Hendrickson: 

And that's gonna do it for this episode of Ask The Lawyer. My guest has been lawyer Michelle West. I wanna remind you, if you'd like to ask Michelle questions about your situation, go to askthelawyers.com, click the button at the top of the page that says Ask A Lawyer, and it will walk you through the very simple process. Thanks for watching. I'm Molly Hendrickson for Ask The Lawyers.

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