They were very patient with me, worked with me, they filled me in on details, they stayed in communication, and they let me know what was going on.

-H. Lindquist
Workplace Accident Case

Fatal Trucking Accident Cases - Houston, Texas

Our Houston attorneys have years of experience investigating & litigating fatal truck accident cases.

A tractor trailer, semi-truck, commercial truck, or 18 wheeler can cause massive damage from the sheer mass of the vehicle. A typical 18 wheeler can weigh in excess of 80,000 pounds, while the typical car weighs approximately 3,000 pounds.

Do you have a legal question?
Enter your phone number below and let's talk.
--

Houston trucking accident wrongful death cases can be highly litigated cases and as such it is critical to obtain and preserve all relevant evidence. The evidence that must be marshaled immediately includes obtaining prior accident records, maintenance records, the drivers log books, witness statements and first responders to the scene, qualcom data and the trucking companies safety policies and procedures.


Possible Trucking Accident Causes

There are many possible causes of trucking accidents including but not limited to driver inattention, driver fatigue, improper distances, inadequate driver training, improper inspection, improper maintenance, and an overloaded truck.

I have recently heard of a Houston trucking accident that involved an 18 wheeler that was on a highway overpass above the plaintiff. The load that the 18 wheeler was carrying shifted causing the driver of the 18 wheeler to lose control. The tractor trailer fell over the overpass and down onto the top of the plaintiff crushing her.


How Can Grossman Law Offices Help me With my Houston Trucking Accident Case?

The benefit of hiring our Houston fatal trucking accident attorneys in these types of cases is that we can help preserve and obtain all of the evidence immediately and before the trucking company would have an opportunity to manipulate the evidence. Preserving all of the evidence at the beginning of the case can make the difference between winning and losing.


Bus Accidents

Bus accidents are similar to trucking accidents in that they involve large vehicles. Bus occupants who are injured or killed due to the negligent operation of a bus may have a cause of action against the bus driver and the bus company through the legal theory of respondeat superior.

Some of the same legal concepts apply in bus accidents as they do in trucking accidents in terms of obtaining all of the available evidence as early as possible. Bus companies have been known to alter or destroy critical evidence in a case.

Do you have a legal question?
Enter your phone number below and let's talk.
--

Accident-Preventing Trucking Laws

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration created the Act that governs the rules and regulations applicable to the safe operation of 18 wheelers. The purpose of the statute is to make the roads and highways safer for everyone.

Both state and federal laws limit the number of hours that a truck driver can drive in a 24 hour period. That is why driver log books and the computer data available in board the 18 wheeler is important. One of the main causes of tractor trailer accidents is fatigue and these state and federal laws help to prevent fatigue related accidents.

In 2003, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration adopted new more restrictive laws limiting the number of hours an 18 wheeler driver could drive in a day. Since the law change statistics have shown that the number of fatigue related wrongful death cases has been reduced by 20% to 40%.

Another common cause of trucking accident wrongful death cases is an intoxicated truck driver. Both state and federal law prohibit the consumption of alcohol while operating an 18 wheeler. The driver of an 18 wheeler has a legal and moral obligation to the public to be a responsible driver.

Trucking companies are required by law to properly maintain its trucks. Failure to routinely inspect and maintain the trucks can result in catastrophic failure of brakes, tires or other critical operating components. When a trucking company fails to properly maintain the trucks it puts out on the streets and highways it is certainly foreseeable that a catastrophic accident could occur.


What is the Trucking Company's Recourse in the Event of a Fatal Accident?

Lets discuss the chain of events that occur when a trucking company learns that one of its trucks has become involved an a fatality accident. Initially the truck driver radios in to dispatch to notify the trucking company what has happened. Immediately, representatives from the trucking company and insurance company are sent to the scene of the accident.

The representatives from the trucking company would most likely include the senior risk manager, a team of accident reconstruction experts, a private investigator, the trucking company lawyer or lawyers and possibly others. The insurance company for the trucking company would most likely deploy its own risk manager, investigator and team of lawyers.

These people are immediately sent to the scene if the accident to investigate and take inventory of what happened. All of these precautions are taken by all of these people on behalf of the trucking company and its insurance company for one reason. They want to develop all of the evidence necessary in order to pay as little as possible to the deceased person’s family.


What is my Recourse in the Event of a Fatal Accident?

Surely, if the trucking company and its insurance company are mounting such an aggressive defense, the family of the deceased should and needs to do the same thing in order to protect themselves. Your fatal trucking injury lawyer will assist the family of the deceased as aggressively or more than the trucking company and its insurance company.


Some of Our Most Recent Successful Cases
Confidential Recovery - Wrongful Death / Premises Liability
Facility sued for negligent contribution to the death of an innocent bystander. A fatal shooting occurred on the property after the facility failed to appropriately respond to outbursts of violence & gang activity. Following the young man's death, his parents hired our firm to pursue the facility for their negligent actions including failure to provide adequate security. The case was successfully resolved through litigation.
Total Recovery:
Confidential
Attorney Fees:
Confidential
Litigation Expenses:
Confidential
$625,000.00 Recovery - Wrongful Death / Medical Malpractice
Recovery for family of victim who died after receiving the wrong medication.
Total Recovery:
$625,000.00
Attorney Fees:
$206,250.00
Litigation Expenses:
$5,000.00
$250,000.00 Recovery - Wrongful Death / Commercial Vehicle Accident
Our attorneys were hired to investigate a fatal motor vehicle accident involving an 18-wheeler that claimed the lives of several men, the family of one in particular which our firm represented, felt that the official version of events as outlined in the police report was not an accurate portrayal of the facts and circumstances of the collision.

Our firm launched an investigation, the findings of which served as the basis for a subsequent lawsuit. We were able to determine that the defendant's accusations of contributory negligence on behalf of he driver of the vehicle did appear to be valid and plaintiffs conceded as much. However, the plaintiffs were adamant that the contributory negligence did not entirely overshadow the negligence on behalf of the defendant truck driver.

Through physical evidence and an admission of liability that our attorneys were able to importune from the defendant under oath, we were able to show that the defendant had indeed pulled into the path of the decedent's vehicle, which was of consequence irrespective of the decedent's own contributory negligence, and that icontact.com
Total Recovery:
$250,000.00
Attorney Fees:
$82,500.00
Litigation Expenses:
$10,000.00
Confidential Recovery - Wrongful Death / Automobile Accident
(policy limits) Our firm was hired to pursue an intoxicated driver who killed an elderly school crossing guard. The fatal accident occurred as the decedent was escorting a woman and her child across the roadway through a crosswalk. The defendant then sped through the school zone, in an intoxicated a state, and struck the decedent who died on the scene.

The family hired our firm to investigate and pursue the defendant under a wrongful death cause of action. Following our investigation and preliminary vehicle inspection, our attorneys issued a Stowers' demand to the defendants. A significant factor in resolving this claim is that merely days before we submitted our demand to the defendant' insurance carrier, we won a large case against the very same insurance carrier, which was one of several such victories secured against the carrier in our firm's history. Our threats of litigation were therefore heeded and the defendants offered policy limits to settle the claim without the need to file suit.
Total Recovery:
Confidential
Attorney Fees:
Confidential
Litigation Expenses:
Confidential
$400,000.00 Recovery - Wrongful Death / Medical Malpractice
A young handicapped woman lost her life when a long-term care facility failed to provide her with treatment for obvious symptoms of severe illness. The defendants maintained that there were no outwardly visible signs of illness. The medical evidence showed otherwise. The case was successfully resolved through litigation, though damages caps imposed by tort reform were a factor.
Total Recovery:
$400,000.00
Attorney Fees:
$132,000.00
Litigation Expenses:
$25,000.00
Confidential Recovery - Wrongful Death / Commercial Vehicle Accident
(policy limits) Our firm was hired by the wife and children of a retired Army Colonel who was killed in an underide 18-wheeler accident. In addition to being a decorated veteran, the decedent worked both professionally and on a voluntary basis to establish numerous learning institutions and vocational programs for at risk youths. The accident occurred as the decedent was traveling on a rural highway when an 18-wheeler failed to yield the right of way and made a rolling stop through a stop sign.

This placed the trailer of the 18-wheeler in a position whereby it blocked the entire roadway and shoulder, leaving the decedent no option but to collide with the trailer. Witnesses on the scene attempted to revive him but to no avail. Furthermore, while two female eye witnesses struggled to pry open the decedent's door to provide emergency care, the truck driver stayed in his truck and offered no assistance. Despite what appeared to be an incredibly apparent case of negligence on behalf of the defendant, defense counsel refused to accept liability resulting in rather lengthy litigation.

The defendants initially denied the claim based on the allegation that the decedent was speeding and the truck driver therefore could not adequately gauge the amount of time he had to pause at the stop sign. The physical evidence contradicted this notion entirely, notwithstanding the fact that even if the decedent had been contributorily negligent, that would not have outweighed the severe degree of negligence on the part of the defendant. Nevertheless, our attorneys were able to conclusively refute this argument based on eye-witness testimony and the testimony from police investigators who calculated the decedent's speed to be precisely at the posted speed limit. In a desperate and largely unprecedented move, the defendants then designated the state as a responsible third party.

Generally speaking, a defendant will often threaten to designate a third party in order to leverage their position but it is rare that such an arbitrary and arguably frivolous designation is actually carried out. However, that is precisely what occurred and the state was thusly incorporated into the lawsuit by the defendants. The basis of the defendant's argument was that the state erected a large street sign that obstructed the truck driver's view of approaching traffic.

Several months of intense litigation were required to before the defendant finally acquiesced in regard to this argument. The argument was finally abandoned by the defendants when in the first mediation our attorneys presented video footage shot (in a controlled setting) from the perspective of an 18-wheeler driver which showed that the sign simply did not obstruct enough of the roadway in order to be a hazard. The case was ultimately resolved through litigation.
Total Recovery:
Confidential
Attorney Fees:
Confidential
Litigation Expenses:
Confidential
Confidential Recovery - Wrongful Death / Workplace Accident
Major freight train company sued as the result of an incident which claimed the life of an employee. Our attorneys settled the case outside of court for a confidential amount.
Total Recovery:
Confidential
Attorney Fees:
Confidential
Litigation Expenses:
Confidential
$97,500.00 Recovery - Wrongful Death / First-Party Dram Shop Accident
(policy limits were $100k) Recovery for wife of a motorcyclist who was killed in a drunk driving accident.
Total Recovery:
$97,500.00
Attorney Fees:
$48,750.00
Litigation Expenses:
$0.00
$550,000.00 Recovery - Wrongful Death / First Party Dram Shop
A young woman lost her life after a bar over served her to more than three times the legal limit resulting in her burning to death in a single-vehicle accident. Witnesses stated that she was so intoxicated that she could barely make it to her vehicle without assistance. Through litigation, our attorneys ascertained the necessary evidence to prove that the establishment provided alcohol to an obviously intoxicated person, thus resulting in her ultimate demise.
Total Recovery:
$550,000.00
Attorney Fees:
$220,000.00
Litigation Expenses:
$25,000.00
$150,000.00 Recovery - Wrongful Death / Workplace Accident
(policy limits) Recovery of a disputed life insurance policy for the family of a contractor who died on the job.
Total Recovery:
$150,000.00
Attorney Fees:
$50,000.00
Litigation Expenses:
$341.00

"When I Lost My Daughter..."

Get Adobe Flash player

Our Cases in the News

Get Adobe Flash player

Contact Us

Full Name:

Phone Number:

Email Address:

Comments or Questions:

Related Articles

Click to Call

--
Enter your phone number above and
click "Call Me" to talk to one of our
lawyers about your potential case.

What Our Clients Say

Successes