Transportation / Trucking Liability

This legal area deals with road collisions that result in property damage and/or injury and involves specific types of vehicles – over-the-road commercial haulers, semi-trucks, delivery trucks and tanker trailers, which are also known as big rig trucks.

These types of accidents can be very devastating due to the size of these big rigs and difficult to defend. The trucking industry is highly regulated by state and federal laws, codes and regulations.

Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations is the leading source of federal trucking industry governance. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) are among the federal agencies that regulate the trucking industry. Texas also has a state level Department of Transportation which also enforces the state’s trucking laws.

Bus accidents also fall under the common carrier definition, because buses offer transportation services to people as part of a business. A common carrier is an individual or business that transports people, goods, or services for a fee, and offers its services to the general public under license or authority provided by a regulatory governmental body. Common carriers can be private companies or public entities.

If a bus accident is due to the negligence of the carrier; such as speeding, fatigue, maintenance failures, tire failures, or inadequate bus driver training; the carrier is liable for damages under personal injury or wrongful death tort law. When minor children, ill or disabled persons are injured as passengers on a bus, special rules may apply as well.

Dorsett Johnson & Swift has represented trucking and transportation companies on a national, statewide and regional level. We have defended companies against bus fatalities, trucking fatalities and injured school bus passengers.

At Dorsett Johnson & Swift, we have assembled an “immediate response” team that includes attorneys, investigators and experts (when necessary) to best defend our clients when they are most in need.