Undefeated Texas 18 Wheeler Accident Lawyers
Was someone you love tragically killed in a collision involving a large commercial truck or 18-wheeler? Unfortunately, you are not alone.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a staggering 5,472 people across the United States were killed in trucking-related accidents in 2023 alone. And in a country where fatal truck and 18-wheeler crashes continue to steadily rise, no state has proven to be more dangerous than Texas, which recorded 646 fatalities that year—the highest in the nation. As is almost always the case, the occupants of other vehicles accounted for the vast majority—493— of Texas truck accident deaths that year.
Our Undefeated Truck and 18-Wheeler Accident Lawyers have successfully represented thousands of crash victims and their families in Texas and throughout the United States. And if there’s one thing we’ve learned, it’s that fatal truck and 18-wheeler crashes are almost always preventable and more often than not result from negligence on the part of the trucking company, its driver, or both.
So how can negligent trucking companies be held accountable when a preventable crash results in wrongful death? Let’s take a closer look.
Two Paths to Justice: Wrongful Death and Survival Claims
When a truck or 18-wheeler accident causes the wrongful death of a loved one, families are entitled to pursue compensation against any negligent parties whose actions caused or contributed to the crash. Texas law provides two avenues to accountability: wrongful death lawsuits and survival claims.
What to Know About a Wrongful Death Lawsuit
A Texas wrongful death claim may be filed by the surviving spouse, children, and parents to compensate them for the financial and emotional damages incurred due to the untimely death of their loved one, including:
- Lost earning capacity: The income and benefits the deceased would have provided to the family.
- Medical expenses: Any related medical bills incurred by the deceased before death.
- Funeral expenses: The costs associated with the funeral and burial.
- Lost services: The value of the care, support, advice, and counsel the deceased would have continued to provide.
- Loss of companionship: The emotional distress and grief experienced by the family due to the loss of the relationship with the deceased.
When conduct is especially egregious — such as a trucking company knowingly sending out a fatigued driver or putting a truck with defective brakes on the road — Texas law also permits surviving loved ones to seek exemplary punitive damages. These damages are intended to punish the defendant for their reckless behavior and encourage safer practices throughout the trucking industry.
If none of the eligible parties files a wrongful death claim within three months of their loved one’s death, a personal representative of the estate, either an executor or court-appointed administrator, may do so unless the beneficiaries object.
What to Know About a Survival Claim
A survival action must be filed by the decedent’s estate and focuses on what the victim endured between the crash and death. Damages awarded in a survival claim may include:
- Medical expenses: Bills for medical treatment and hospital stays incurred prior to the victim’s death.
- Lost earnings: Wages or income the decedant would have earned from the date of their injury to the date of their death.
- Pain and Suffering: For the physical pain, mental anguish, and emotional distress the decedent experienced prior to their death.
- Physical Impairment: Damages for any physical limitations or disabilities the decedent suffered due to the incident.
- Property damage: Such as the cost of repairing or replacing the decedant’s vehicle and any other related expense
A Texas survival claim must be brought by the estate itself, typically through the executor or administrator. Damages are awarded to the estate, not the survivors, and are distributed according to the terms of the decedent’s will or Texas intestate succession law. That means heirs who cannot file a wrongful death lawsuit— siblings, for example — may still receive compensation for their loved one’s wrongful death through the estate.
Wrongful death and survival claims can be filed simultaneously in Texas. If a case must go to trial, we’ve found that presenting both claims allows a jury to better understand the actual consequences of the trucking company’s negligence and the toll inflicted on both the victim and their surviving loved ones.
Statute of Limitations: Why Timing Matters
Texas gives families just two years from the date of death to file wrongful death lawsuits or survival actions. Miss that filing deadline, and you will be barred forever from holding the trucking company, its driver, and any other responsible parties accountable for your loved one’s death.
However, it’s also important to understand that any delay in hiring an experienced truck accident lawyer could cripple your case, even if you do file within the statute of limitations. ELD logs are kept for only six months unless preserved, dash-cam footage may be overwritten in days, and dispatch notes or inspection sheets can be discarded during routine clean-outs.
Getting an attorney on the case as quickly as possible ensures witnesses and critical evidence remain available, while allowing time for the accident reconstruction and expert analysis needed to prove exactly how the crash happened, how it could have been avoided, and who was to blame.
Liability: Who Is Responsible for a Fatal Truck Accident
When an 18-wheeler, semi-truck, or tractor-trailer causes a fatal crash, the focus naturally falls on the truck driver. But our own experience has shown that deadly wrecks almost always involve failures higher up the chain. Trucking is an industry where tight schedules and thin margins create constant pressure to cut corners. As our truck accident attorneys work to establish fault, they’ll look closely at every individual and entity whose actions may have contributed to the crash, including:
- Truck driver: Negligence may include speeding, distraction, fatigue, impairment, or failing to inspect equipment before a run.
- Motor carrier or employer: Companies can be vicariously liable for a driver’s actions and directly liable for unsafe policies — from negligent hiring or lax training to pressuring employees to exceed hours-of-service limits.
- Freight broker or shipper: Brokers that hire unsafe carriers or shippers that impose impossible schedules can create dangerous pressure.
- Loading contractors: Poorly balanced or unsecured cargo can trigger rollovers or jackknifes; loaders must follow federal securement standards.
- Maintenance or repair shops: Returning trucks to service without addressing known hazards, or signing off on unperformed repairs, may support negligence claims.
- Manufacturers and parts suppliers: Defective brakes, steering systems, tires, or underride guards can give rise to product-liability suits.
- Other motorists: In multi-vehicle crashes, third parties who cut off or collide with trucks may share fault.
Proving Liability in a Trucking Wrongful Death Case
The fact that your loved one died in a truck or 18-wheeler accident is not enough to win a wrongful death lawsuit. To hold a trucking company accountable, you must also be able to prove the following elements:
- Duty of care: The defendant (driver, trucking company, or other party) had a legal duty to act in a safe manner.
- Breach: They breached their duty by engaging in reckless driving, poor hiring practices, overloading vehicles, violating federal trucking regulations, or other negligent behavior.
- Causation: Their breach caused the accident that resulted in death.
- Damages: You and your family incurred measurable financial and emotional losses due to your loved one’s wrongful death.
Proving each of these elements requires evidence such as accident reports, vehicle maintenance logs, driver records, expert accident reconstruction, black box / electronic data, eyewitness testimony, and medical records. Unfortunately, trucking companies have been known to lose or even destroy critical evidence that proves they or their driver was at fault—and they typically move quickly to do so.
Our Underfeated Texas Truck Accident Lawyers are familiar with these tactics. They know where to find the evidence needed to prove fault, and they know how to ensure it’s preserved before it has a chance to disappear.
How Trucking Companies Avoid Responsibility After a Crash
In our experience, trucking companies and their insurers are never willing to accept responsibility for a fatal crash. With a potentially multi-million-dollar verdict or settlement on the line, they’ll do almost anything to avoid paying your family all that you are owed, including:
- Pressuring you to accept a quick settlement offer far below what you and your family are actually entitled to.
- “Losing” critical evidence proving the company or its driver was at fault for the crash.
- Arguing the victim’s own driving contributed to the crash, which, under Texas’ comparative negligence law, may reduce damages or bar them entirely.
- Suggesting weather, mechanical failure, or another driver caused the wreck.
- Questioning wage estimates, blaming pre-existing conditions, and even downplaying your grief.
- Claiming the wrong defendant was sued, the statute of limitations expired, or proper legal procedures weren’t followed.
Our Texas truck accident attorneys have encountered every one of these tactics, and as our undefeated record proves, we know how to fight back. From filing the motions needed to preserve evidence to refusing to settle for anything less than the maximum compensation possible under the law, we’ll use all of our knowledge and resources to hold the trucking company and every other negligent party accountable for your devastating loss.
Contact our Undefeated Texas Truck Accident Lawyers for a Free Consultation at 1-888-603-3636
In addition to being undefeated, our Truck and 18 Wheeler Accident Lawyers have repeatedly won record-breaking verdicts and settlements against the largest trucking companies in the country, including the #1 Largest Truck Accident Settlement in Texas and a Record Wrongful Death Settlement in a fatal 18-wheeler accident case
If you lost a loved one because of a reckless truck driver or a negligent trucking company, we’re ready to help you hold the responsible parties accountable. Call 1-888-603-3636, use the “Chat Now” button on our website, or Click Here to send us a confidential email through our Contact Us form.
We’ll answer your questions, explain your rights and options, and provide the information you need to make the best decision for you and your family. And because we work on a contingency fee basis, you won’t pay us anything unless we win a verdict or settlement on your behalf.
Zehl & Associates Injury & Accident Lawyers – Houston
2700 Post Oak Blvd #1000, Houston, TX 77056
(888) 603-3636
Open 24 hours
Zehl & Associates Injury & Accident Lawyers – Midland
306 W Wall St Suite 701, Midland, TX 79701
(432) 220-0000
Open 24 hours