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A collision with an 80,000-pound vehicle is not a bigger car accident. It is a different case, against a different opponent, on a different clock.
No fee unless we win
Free consultation, no fee unless we win.
No fee unless we win
If you have been injured in a commercial truck accident, we can help build your case from start to end. Commercial truck cases are very complex and require extensive knowledge of the law given how multiple parties will be involved and special rules related to truck accident cases.
Most trucking companies and their insurers have a rapid response arrangement. When a serious collision is reported, investigators can be dispatched the same day: photographing the scene, examining the vehicles, and interviewing the driver while memories are fresh and before anyone has spoken for you.
That is not sinister; it is competent. But it means that by the time an injured person is out of hospital and thinking about a claim, the other side may already have the best version of the evidence, and some of it may no longer exist.
This is the single biggest practical difference between a truck case and a car case, and it is why the first days matter so much more.
You, or someone in your family, were hurt in a collision involving a semi, tractor-trailer, box truck, dump truck, tanker, delivery vehicle or other commercial vehicle in Ohio.
Weight and momentum make truck collisions disproportionately severe. Injuries that would be moderate in a car-to-car impact are frequently life-changing here, and some do not present fully for days.
The tractor and the trailer often belong to different companies, and the driver may be employed by a third. Photograph the door markings, the USDOT number, the trailer number, and any placards. Those identifiers are how the responsible companies are found later.
Electronic and paper records generated by a commercial carrier are kept for defined periods and can be lawfully destroyed on schedule once those periods pass. A formal preservation demand, sent early, is what stops the most important records disappearing as a matter of routine.
This will be a commercial insurer with substantial resources and experienced adjusters. There is no advantage to you in an early recorded statement.
Of everything on this page, this is the part that actually changes outcomes. A truck case begun in week one and a truck case begun in month four are not the same case, because the available evidence is not the same.
In a car crash there is generally one driver and one policy. In a trucking case, responsibility can sit with several parties at once: the driver, the motor carrier that employed or contracted them, the owner of the tractor, the owner of the trailer, a broker who arranged the load, the company that loaded it, a maintenance contractor, or a parts manufacturer. Establishing who is responsible for what is a substantial part of the work, and it is done from documents rather than from the scene.
Modern commercial vehicles generate data that no passenger car does. Electronic logging devices record driving and duty time. Engine control modules and event data recorders can capture speed, braking, throttle and fault codes around an incident. Many fleets also run telematics, GPS and forward-facing cameras. Together these can establish what a driver was actually doing in the seconds before impact, but only if they are secured before they are overwritten or lawfully purged.
Driver qualification files, previous violations, hiring and training records, dispatch instructions, bills of lading, weight tickets, maintenance and inspection history, and prior inspection reports all bear on whether this collision was an accident or an outcome the system made likely.
Interstate carriers must carry minimum levels of liability coverage far above ordinary car policies, and coverage is often layered across several insurers. That is good news for a seriously injured person, and it is also why these cases are defended much harder than car claims.
Identify every company in the chain, get a preservation demand out immediately, secure the electronic data before it ages out, obtain the regulatory and maintenance file, and reconstruct the collision from the physical and electronic evidence rather than from the carrier’s account of it. Then value the claim against the full injury picture, including care that will still be needed years from now.
Because of the disparity in mass, truck collisions produce a different injury profile from car crashes: spinal cord injury and paralysis, traumatic brain injury, multiple and complex fractures, crush and internal injuries, amputation, severe burns in fuel-fed fires, and fatal injury. Underride collisions, where a passenger vehicle passes beneath a trailer, are particularly catastrophic.
Cases like these are rarely about the next few months. They are about the cost of care over a lifetime, lost earning capacity, home and vehicle adaptation, and what the injury has done to a family, all of which has to be proved with evidence rather than asserted.
No charge for the consultation, no retainer, and no hourly bill. Truck accident cases are handled on a contingency fee: the fee is a share of what is recovered and is paid out of that recovery, and if there is no recovery there is no fee.
These cases are expensive to build properly: reconstruction, data analysis and expert evidence all cost money, and that cost is carried as the case proceeds rather than invoiced to an injured client.
General information, not legal advice. Every case turns on its own facts. The only way to know where yours stands is to have someone look at it.
You can, but you would be doing it against people who handle these claims full time, with investigators who reached the scene the day it happened and records you have never seen. The imbalance is not about intelligence; it is about information and experience. In a case of any severity, that gap decides the outcome.
It is shorthand for the electronic data a commercial vehicle generates, typically the engine control module or event data recorder, alongside the electronic logging device. Depending on the vehicle and system, that can include road speed, engine speed, brake application, throttle position, fault codes and hard-braking events around the time of a collision, plus the driver’s recorded driving and rest hours. It is often the most objective account of what happened, which is exactly why securing it early matters.
Yes, and usually without anyone acting improperly. Systems overwrite older data as a matter of normal operation, and carriers are only required to retain certain records for set periods, after which routine destruction is lawful. This is why a preservation demand goes out at the very start of a case rather than when litigation begins.
Frequently both, and sometimes others as well. A motor carrier can be responsible for the conduct of a driver acting in the course of their work, and separately for its own failures in hiring, training, supervision, scheduling or maintenance. Where a tractor, trailer, load and driver involve different businesses, each relationship has to be examined. Identifying every responsible party is also what determines how much insurance is available to the claim.
It helps, but a police report is an officer’s opinion formed quickly at a chaotic scene, and it is not binding. Carriers routinely dispute reports they dislike, and they do so with their own reconstruction evidence. The reverse is also true: a report that blames you is not the end of the matter, and electronic data has overturned that conclusion before.
The same Ohio deadline for personal injury claims applies, and once it passes the claim is generally lost. That said, the practical deadline in a trucking case is much earlier than the legal one: the evidence that decides these cases can be gone long before the limitation period runs. Ohio generally allows two years from the date a personal injury claim arises to bring it (Ohio Revised Code § 2305.10), and two years from the date of death in a wrongful death claim (§ 2125.02). Shorter notice periods can apply where a government entity or public vehicle is involved, so confirm your own deadline early rather than assuming.
No: a death gives rise to a separate kind of claim, brought by particular family members or the estate, with its own rules about who may bring it, what may be recovered and by when. It is also the situation in which carriers move fastest. If this is your situation, please call rather than reading further.
Nothing up front and nothing hourly. The fee is contingent on recovery, and the substantial costs of investigating and proving a trucking case are carried as the case runs rather than billed to you along the way.
Longer than car claims, generally. There are more parties, more documents, more expert evidence, and a defense with the resources to contest things properly. Serious injury also needs time before its long-term cost can be established honestly. We would rather take the time and be right about what your life is going to cost than settle early and leave you short.
If your collision involved a car or a motorcycle rather than a commercial vehicle, start there instead.
A crash that happens while you are working, including while driving for work, can be a workers’ compensation claim and an injury claim at the same time.
They did a great job for me, they explained the process to me until I fully understood it. All I had to do was answer a few questions and they took care of the rest. They were able to win my case for me and I am truly thankful they did.
Casper, Casper & Casper have always done an excellent job for us. We have used them once before and are now using them again and both times they have been super professional and always on top of our cases. Communication is easy and they are friendly and actually seem to care about the case.
I was very pleased with how the firm handled my case. They took care of everything and kept me inform through the entire process. There was not any surprises and the result was what I was expecting. I appreciate the care and time the firm took on my case.
From the get go I was constantly updated with what was going on with my case. Given realistic time frames about how the case should go. If I ever needed to speak with someone about my case I always got a call back quickly. They won my case for me way ahead of time. I feel truly blessed by having the Casper team handling my case. The whole process went through amazingly fast with no pressure on me.
By far, the best Law firm and representative I have ever had. The paralegals the lawyers the whole team is very professional very patient very understanding very kind. Communication is perfect, and I am just so grateful to have came across the Casper team. I 100% recommend them for your legal needs.
From the first day I spoke with Mr Steve Casper he was certain we would win my case. He gave me all the confidence that I needed. It's been a long journey but well worth it. We made it and with a win!! Mr Steve Casper is amazing. Ben his assistant is very nice and very knowledgeable too.
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Free consultation, no fee unless we win.
No fee unless we win
