When a commercial truck collides with your vehicle on Fort Worth’s busy highways, your entire world shifts in an instant. The medical bills start piling up. Insurance adjusters start calling with lowball offers. And suddenly, you’re facing complex federal regulations and billion-dollar trucking companies with entire legal departments built to minimize payouts.
Here’s some info you need to know: Texas leads the nation in fatal truck accidents, with more than 39,000 commercial motor vehicle crashes occurring in 2024, including 546 fatal incidents and more than 1,600 suspected serious injuries. Fort Worth sits at the heart of this crisis, with Tarrant County consistently ranking among the top counties for semi-truck collisions.
The difference between walking away with fair compensation and struggling with financial devastation often comes down to one decision: whether you hire a skilled personal injury attorney in Fort Worth who understands the unique challenges of truck accident cases.
What Makes Truck Crashes Different from Regular Car Accidents?
Before we get into why you need specialized legal help, let’s be clear about what you’re up against. Truck accidents involve layers of complexity that most people don’t realize until they’re already stuck in the middle of a claim.
Unlike fender benders with another passenger car, commercial truck crashes typically involve multiple defendants, federal safety regulations, aggressive corporate legal teams, and evidence that disappears within hours if not properly preserved. Texas reported over 35,000 commercial truck crashes in 2023, resulting in more than 600 deaths, and those numbers keep climbing as freight volume increases 22% by 2030.
The stakes are exponentially higher. Medical expenses from truck crashes can reach into the millions. Lost wages can stretch for years. And the trucking companies? They’re protected by commercial insurance policies worth $750,000 to $5 million, with legal teams deployed specifically to protect those assets.
Now let’s explore the seven critical reasons you need a truck accident lawyer protecting your rights.
1. How Do 2025 Federal Regulations Affect Your Truck Accident Claim?
Commercial trucking operates under an entirely different set of rules than regular drivers. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration establishes strict requirements for driver qualifications, vehicle maintenance, cargo loading, and hours of service. When trucking companies or drivers violate these regulations, it can prove negligence in your case.
Here’s where it gets tricky. In 2025, significant regulatory changes have created new challenges for proving liability. The FMCSA is overhauling its Safety Measurement System, and starting October 1, 2025, MC numbers are being eliminated in favor of USDOT identifiers. These changes affect how we investigate carriers, track safety violations, and build your case.
Federal enforcement actions to remove unsafe operators from the road have dropped 60 percent since January, with nearly 70 cases to shut down trucking companies with chronic violations stalled, giving problem carriers a green light to keep rolling.
What this means for you: Without an attorney who stays current with FMCSA regulations, you might miss critical violations that prove the trucking company’s negligence. Hours-of-service breaches show up in roughly 22% of rear-end collisions involving trucks. Falsified logbooks, inadequate maintenance records, and improper driver qualifications all establish liability, but only if your lawyer knows where to look and how to obtain these records quickly.
Taking Action on Federal Violations
At Turner-Monahan PLLC, we immediately request preservation of Electronic Logging Device data, FMCSA compliance records, and carrier safety profiles. Texas law gives you two years to file a claim, but evidence preservation must happen within days, not months. We submit spoliation letters within 24 hours to prevent trucking companies from erasing or altering critical records.
The reality: Trucking companies know these regulations inside and out. Their lawyers do too. You need someone equally knowledgeable fighting for you.
2. Why Is Black Box Data Vanishing from Truck Accident Cases?
Every commercial truck on the road carries an Event Data Recorder, commonly called a black box. This device captures crucial pre-crash information including vehicle speed, brake application, throttle position, and seatbelt use during the 8 to 30 seconds before impact.
Black box data is often the most powerful evidence in truck accident cases because it’s objective and irrefutable. It shows exactly what the truck was doing in those critical moments before the collision. Did the driver attempt to brake? Was the truck exceeding safe speeds? Were safety systems functioning properly?
Here’s the problem: This evidence disappears fast. EDR data can overwrite itself within minutes to hours, depending on the system. Trucks get repaired within days, making data retrieval impossible. And unfortunately, trucking companies often resist releasing this information, even when legally required to do so.
According to Houston attorney Greg Baumgartner in August 2025, “Black box data is irrefutable for establishing liability, but trucking firms resist release. Act fast or lose it forever.”
The 70% rule: Without legal intervention, black box data vanishes in approximately 70% of cases. Once it’s gone, you’ve lost your strongest proof of what actually happened.
How We Secure EDR Evidence
We file immediate subpoenas for black box downloads, working with certified accident reconstructionists to extract and preserve this data before it’s lost. Our team coordinates with FMCSA-certified experts to ensure the information is admissible in court and properly analyzed to support your claim.
Speed data alone can make or break your case. Records show speeding contributes to roughly 31% of fatal truck crashes in certain Texas counties. When combined with witness statements and physical evidence, EDR data creates an undeniable picture of negligence.
Don’t wait. Every hour that passes puts your evidence at risk.
3. Who Else Is Liable Besides the Truck Driver in Your Fort Worth Semi Crash?
One of the biggest misconceptions about truck accidents is that you’re only dealing with the driver who caused the crash. The truth? Truck accident liability typically spreads across multiple parties, each potentially responsible for your damages.
In a typical truck crash case, we investigate:
The truck driver – Violations like distracted driving, fatigue (a factor in 25% of truck accidents), speeding, or impaired operation establish direct negligence.
The trucking company – Corporate liability extends to negligent hiring, inadequate training, failure to maintain vehicles, or pressuring drivers to violate hours-of-service regulations.
Cargo loaders – Improperly secured or overloaded cargo causes approximately 15% of truck rollovers. When shifting cargo contributes to a crash, loading companies share liability.
Maintenance providers – Brake failures, tire blowouts, and mechanical defects stem from inadequate maintenance in many cases. When third-party maintenance companies fail to properly service vehicles, they can be held accountable.
Truck or parts manufacturers – Defective equipment contributes to roughly 10% of commercial truck accidents. Design flaws or manufacturing defects create product liability claims.
Government entities – Poor road design, inadequate signage, or dangerous road conditions sometimes contribute to crashes, potentially bringing municipalities into the case.
Why Multiple Defendants Matter
Under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 33, joint and several liability allows you to recover full compensation from any defendant found responsible. This is crucial because it gives you access to deeper insurance coverage and greater financial resources.
Most truck accident cases in Texas involve three or more defendants. Each brings separate insurance policies, ranging from the federal minimum of $750,000 to several million dollars in commercial coverage. Identifying every potentially liable party maximizes your recovery options.
At Turner-Monahan PLLC, we conduct thorough investigations using FMCSA carrier databases, maintenance records, employment files, and industry safety reports. We don’t stop at the obvious defendants. We follow the evidence to every party whose negligence contributed to your injuries.
The trucking industry has intricate relationships between carriers, brokers, independent contractors, and service providers. These corporate structures are often designed to limit liability. We cut through those barriers to hold everyone accountable.
4. How Do High-Limit Commercial Insurance Policies Delay Your Fair Settlement?
When you’re injured in a regular car accident, you typically deal with standard auto insurance policies. Truck accidents operate in an entirely different financial universe.
Federal law requires commercial trucks to carry minimum liability coverage of $750,000 for most carriers, and many carry $1 million to $5 million in coverage. That sounds like good news for injury victims, right? More coverage means better compensation?
Not quite. Higher coverage limits come with more aggressive insurance defense tactics.
Commercial insurance policies involve multiple layers of coverage, complex policy exclusions, subrogation rights, and umbrella policies that can take months to analyze. Insurance companies protecting these large policies have entire departments dedicated to minimizing payouts. They deploy rapid response teams, hire their own investigators, and bring in defense lawyers immediately after serious crashes.
State law in Texas allows juries to return monetary damages for medical expenses and pain and suffering when negligent trucking companies cause crashes, and also allows juries to return additional monetary damages meant to punish companies for their negligent actions.
The lowball game: Insurance adjusters typically make initial settlement offers that represent less than 50% of a case’s true value. They count on injury victims being desperate for money to accept inadequate compensation.
The Settlement Reality in Texas
Average truck accident settlements in Texas range from $50,000 to over $1 million, with approximately 50% of cases going to trial when insurance companies refuse fair settlements. Trial verdicts often exceed $1.5 million to $3 million for severe injuries, and sometimes reach tens of millions for catastrophic harm.
Take the 2025 Ben E. Keith settlement that reached $35 million. Cases like this show what’s possible when skilled attorneys refuse to accept lowball offers and prepare cases for trial.
We audit insurance policies to identify all available coverage, counter denial tactics with documented evidence, and negotiate from a position of strength because insurance companies know we’re prepared to take cases to trial.
Never accept the first offer. Let experienced attorneys evaluate whether it truly covers your medical expenses, lost wages, future care needs, and pain and suffering.
5. What Makes Truck Crash Damages Skyrocket in Texas?
The sheer size and weight of commercial trucks creates catastrophic injuries that change lives forever. An 80,000-pound semi-truck colliding with a 4,000-pound passenger car creates violent forces that human bodies simply cannot withstand.
Truck accident injuries typically include:
- Traumatic brain injuries that affect cognitive function, memory, and personality
- Spinal cord damage resulting in partial or complete paralysis
- Multiple fractures requiring extensive surgeries and rehabilitation
- Internal organ damage with long-term health complications
- Severe burns from post-collision fires or chemical spills
- Amputations of limbs crushed in the impact
Approximately 40% of serious truck crash cases involve traumatic brain injuries or spinal cord damage. These catastrophic injuries generate lifetime medical costs easily exceeding $5 million when you account for ongoing care, assistive devices, home modifications, and lost earning capacity.
According to the Texas Department of Transportation, more than 39,000 commercial motor vehicle crashes occurred in 2024, with 1,600 suspected serious injuries. The reality is stark: 82% of truck accident fatalities involve occupants of the other vehicle, not the truck.
Calculating Your True Damages
Many injury victims make the mistake of settling cases before understanding the full extent of their injuries. Some conditions worsen over time. Others require years of treatment. Rush to settlement, and you’ll be stuck with bills you can’t pay.
Proper damage calculation requires working with medical experts, life care planners, economists, and vocational specialists who can project:
- All future medical treatment costs
- Lost earning capacity over your remaining work life
- Diminished quality of life
- Ongoing care and assistance needs
- Modifications needed for your home or vehicle
Under Texas law, you can recover both economic damages (measurable financial losses) and non-economic damages (pain, suffering, loss of enjoyment of life). There’s no cap on economic damages in truck accident cases.
We work with specialists to build comprehensive damage presentations that show insurance companies and juries the true cost of your injuries. According to Fort Worth attorney Rich Godshall in December 2025, “Injuries from 80,000-lb rigs demand life-care planners. Delays undervalue claims.”
This isn’t about inflating numbers. This is about ensuring you receive compensation that actually covers the harm you’ve suffered and will continue to suffer.
6. Why Do Trucking Companies Fight Victims So Aggressively?
Here’s something most people don’t realize until they’re involved in a truck accident claim: Trucking companies deploy sophisticated legal and investigative resources within hours of serious crashes.
While you’re in the emergency room, trucking company representatives are already at the crash scene, interviewing witnesses, photographing evidence, and building their defense. They have rapid-response teams, company lawyers, and insurance adjusters whose sole job is minimizing liability and protecting corporate assets.
Safety enforcement has plummeted, with federal enforcement actions dropping 60 percent, giving problem carriers a green light to keep rolling. Companies that cut corners know they’re less likely to face regulatory consequences, making aggressive defense of lawsuits even more critical to their bottom line.
Blame-shifting tactics appear in roughly 60% of truck accident defenses. Companies claim you were speeding, distracted, or failed to yield. They argue that weather conditions or road defects caused the crash. They suggest pre-existing injuries explain your current condition. They do everything possible to avoid accountability.
The Stakes for Trucking Companies
Large verdicts create precedents that affect entire fleets. A major judgment against a carrier can impact their insurance rates, regulatory standing, and ability to secure contracts. This is why they fight so hard, even when liability seems clear.
Consider the 2025 case involving Hope Trans LLC, whose driver fell asleep and killed five people on Interstate 20 near Terrell. The company had a history of safety problems, including hours-of-service falsification, maintenance neglect, and fraudulent vehicle registration, with four injury crashes in one year and more than a third of its vehicles failing inspections.
Companies with these kinds of safety records can’t afford to have their negligence fully exposed in court. They’ll spend significant money defending cases to avoid even larger judgments.
Fighting Back with Equal Force
At Turner-Monahan PLLC, we level the playing field. We have the resources and experience to match corporate legal departments. We conduct independent investigations, secure expert witnesses, and prepare cases thoroughly for trial.
According to Monica Washington Rothbaum, a Texas attorney who spoke in September 2025, “Armies of lawyers shift blame. Victims need equal firepower.”
We operate on contingency fees, meaning you pay nothing unless we win your case. This allows ordinary people to access the same quality legal representation that corporations enjoy.
Don’t let trucking companies intimidate you into accepting less than you deserve. With proper legal representation, you can stand up to even the largest carriers.
7. How Do Evidence Preservation Deadlines Protect Your Fort Worth Claim?
Time works against truck accident victims in ways most people don’t understand until it’s too late.
Physical evidence disappears within days. Trucks get repaired. Witness memories fade. Security camera footage gets deleted. And once evidence is gone, proving your case becomes exponentially harder.
Texas law gives you two years from the accident date to file a personal injury lawsuit. That might sound like plenty of time, but evidence preservation needs to happen immediately, not eventually. By the time you realize you need a lawyer, crucial proof may already be lost.
What Disappears Fast
- Black box data – Overwrites in minutes to hours
- Truck damage – Companies repair vehicles within days to get them back on the road
- Logbooks and records – Electronic logs can be altered or “lost”
- Witness statements – Memories fade; witnesses move away or become unavailable
- Surveillance footage – Most businesses keep recordings for only 30 to 90 days
- Road conditions – Construction zones change; temporary hazards disappear
In June 2025, five people including four members of a family were killed when a tractor trailer subcontracted to haul U.S. mail barreled through a construction zone on Interstate 20 near Terrell, with the driver falling asleep at the wheel and never applying the brakes before collision.
Cases like this require immediate investigation while physical evidence, witness accounts, and vehicle data are still available. Wait too long, and the proof of what happened vanishes.
Immediate Action Requirements
We file preservation letters within 24 hours of being retained, demanding that trucking companies preserve all evidence. These legally binding notices prevent companies from destroying, altering, or “losing” critical information. If they violate preservation orders, courts can impose sanctions or allow juries to assume the missing evidence would have proven negligence.
We also conduct independent scene investigations, photograph vehicle damage, obtain witness statements, request police reports, subpoena surveillance footage, and download electronic data before it’s lost.
According to Fort Worth attorney Ed Rebenack in December 2025, “Trucks repair fast, erasing proof. Lawyers must seize data immediately.”
The difference between winning and losing your case often comes down to how quickly you took action after the crash. Once evidence is gone, it’s gone forever. No amount of legal skill can resurrect proof that was never preserved.
Take Control of Your Truck Accident Claim Today
Truck accidents turn lives upside down. Between mounting medical bills, lost income, insurance company pressure, and physical recovery, you’re facing challenges that no one should handle alone.
The trucking industry has massive resources dedicated to minimizing payouts. They count on injury victims being overwhelmed, uninformed, and willing to accept whatever settlement gets offered first. They win when you don’t know your rights or understand the true value of your case.
At Turner-Monahan PLLC, we’ve helped Fort Worth families recover compensation after devastating truck crashes. We understand federal trucking regulations, know how to preserve crucial evidence, and aren’t intimidated by corporate legal departments protecting billion-dollar companies.
Every day you wait makes your case harder to prove. Evidence disappears. Witnesses become harder to locate. Deadlines get closer. And trucking companies get more time to build their defense.
Your recovery matters. Your financial security matters. Your family’s future matters.
We operate on contingency fees, which means you pay nothing unless we win your case. You get experienced legal representation without upfront costs or financial risk. We handle negotiations with insurance companies, gather evidence, consult with experts, and prepare your case for trial if necessary.
Schedule a free legal consultation today to discuss your truck accident case. We’ll review what happened, explain your legal options, and help you understand the compensation you deserve.
Don’t let trucking companies take advantage of you during one of the most difficult times in your life. Contact Turner-Monahan PLLC and let us fight for the justice and compensation you deserve.
Frequently Asked Questions About Fort Worth Truck Accident Claims
How long do I have to file a truck accident lawsuit in Texas?
Texas law generally gives you two years from the accident date to file a personal injury claim. However, evidence preservation must happen immediately after the crash, not months later. The sooner you contact an attorney, the better your chances of building a strong case with preserved evidence.
What if the truck driver was an independent contractor?
Many trucking companies try to avoid liability by claiming drivers are independent contractors rather than employees. This doesn’t necessarily prevent you from holding the company accountable. We investigate the actual relationship between drivers and companies, looking at who controlled work conditions, provided equipment, and set delivery schedules. Companies that exercise substantial control can still be held liable regardless of how they classify workers.
How much is my truck accident case worth?
Case value depends on multiple factors including injury severity, medical expenses, lost wages, future care needs, degree of negligence, and available insurance coverage. Texas truck accident settlements typically range from $50,000 to over $1 million, with catastrophic injury cases sometimes reaching tens of millions. We evaluate your specific situation during a free consultation to discuss potential compensation.
Will my case go to trial?
Approximately 50% of Texas truck accident cases settle before trial, while others require litigation when insurance companies refuse fair compensation. We prepare every case as if it will go to trial, which strengthens our negotiating position. Many cases settle on favorable terms once insurance companies realize we’re fully prepared to litigate.
What if I was partially at fault for the accident?
Texas follows modified comparative negligence rules. You can still recover damages even if you were partially at fault, as long as your fault doesn’t exceed 50%. Your compensation gets reduced by your percentage of fault. For example, if you’re found 20% at fault and your damages total $100,000, you’d recover $80,000. An experienced attorney works to minimize your attributed fault and maximize your recovery.
How do I pay for a truck accident lawyer?
Turner-Monahan PLLC works on contingency fees, meaning we only get paid if we recover compensation for you. There are no upfront costs, hourly fees, or expenses unless we win your case. This allows everyone to access experienced legal representation regardless of financial situation.
What should I do immediately after a truck accident?
First, seek medical attention even if you feel fine. Some injuries don’t show symptoms immediately. Document the scene with photos if you’re able. Get contact information from witnesses. Report the accident to the police. Then contact an experienced truck accident attorney as quickly as possible to begin evidence preservation. Avoid giving recorded statements to insurance companies before speaking with a lawyer.
Why can’t I just use any personal injury lawyer for my truck accident case?
Truck accidents involve federal regulations, commercial insurance complexities, and corporate defense tactics that differ significantly from regular car accident cases. Attorneys experienced in truck accidents understand FMCSA rules, know how to obtain black box data, and have relationships with accident reconstruction experts and industry specialists needed to prove your case.
