FREE CONSULTATION · NO FEE UNLESS WE WIN · OPEN 24/7
Texas Truck & 18-Wheeler Accident Attorneys
Texas Truck Accident Attorneys
A fully loaded 18-wheeler can legally weigh 80,000 pounds, roughly 20 times more than the car beside it, so when one slams into a passenger vehicle on I-10 or I-35, the people inside rarely walk away without serious harm.
The Texas truck and 18-wheeler accident attorneys at Goldberg & Loren step in the moment a normal drive turns into a fight against a trucking company that started building its defense before the wreckage was even cleared.
Legally reviewed by Matthew Kotzen
A former insurance-defense trial attorney, Matthew Kotzen spent the early part of his career representing insurance companies before switching sides to fight for injured people. He earned his J.D. from the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University and has represented thousands of injury victims. He is a Lifetime Member of Best Attorneys of America, was named to the Top 100 Civil Plaintiff Attorneys by The National Trial Lawyers, and is admitted to the State Bar of Texas.
“I spent years building cases for insurance companies. Now I use that same playbook to make sure they pay what they actually owe.”
Goldberg & Loren Fights for Maximum Compensation
Pay Nothing, Unless We Win
Texas Injury Law at a Glance
| Deadline to file a lawsuit | Two years from the date of the injury. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003 |
| Fault rule | Modified comparative responsibility ("51% bar"): you recover only if you are 50% or less at fault, and your award is reduced by your share. §§ 33.001, 33.012 |
| Reporting the crash | Notify police immediately when there is injury, death, or a vehicle that cannot be driven away safely. Tex. Transp. Code § 550.026 |
| Punitive (exemplary) damages | Available only on clear and convincing evidence of gross negligence, malice, or fraud. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 41.003 |
Truck cases are not just bigger car cases. Commercial carriers answer to a thick book of federal safety rules, carry insurance policies worth millions, and keep investigators on call to protect those policies, which is why you need a lawyer who handles trucking claims, not one who dabbles in them. Call us any time at (512) 254-4424. The consultation is free, and you pay nothing unless we win.
Why Texas Truck Accident Claims Are Tougher Than Car Wrecks
A car case usually involves two drivers and two insurance policies, while a truck case can involve a driver, a motor carrier, a cargo company, a maintenance contractor, and a commercial insurer that treats every dollar as its own to protect. Goldberg & Loren treats a truck case as the complex claim it is, because the defense is better funded and the rules that decide fault come from Washington as well as Austin.
Bigger Policies and Bigger Fights
Federal law forces most interstate trucking companies to carry at least 750,000 dollars in liability coverage, and many carry far more. That money is good news for a badly hurt victim and bad news for how hard the insurer fights, because when millions are on the line, the carrier spends heavily to keep them.
Federal Trucking Rules That Change Your Case
Commercial trucks operate under Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration rules that ordinary drivers never touch, covering how long a trucker can drive, how cargo must be secured, and how equipment must be inspected.
A violation of one of them can become powerful proof of negligence. The federal hours of service rules cap a property-carrying driver at 11 hours of driving after 10 hours off, inside a 14-hour daily window, and when a company pushes a driver past those limits to hit a delivery window, logbooks and dispatch records often reveal the pressure that put a tired trucker on the road.
Most commercial trucks also record speed, braking, and hours through an event data recorder and an electronic logging device, data that can show a driver never braked or had been driving for 13 straight hours, and that can be overwritten if no one demands it quickly.
State Rules That Stack on Top of Federal Law
Federal rules are only half the picture. Texas adds its own commercial vehicle standards through the Department of Public Safety, and a truck can violate state law and federal law in the same crash. Texas also caps how heavy and how long a commercial truck can be, and overweight rigs wear out brakes and tires faster, so when a carrier runs a truck over the limit, weigh station records and shipping manifests often reveal the overload that points straight to fault.
Who Can Be Held Liable After a Texas Truck or 18-Wheeler Accident
One of the biggest advantages in a truck case is that more than one party may owe you money. A car crash usually points to a single at-fault driver, but a truck crash can spread responsibility across an entire chain of companies, each with its own insurance. Depending on what the investigation uncovers, these parties may share the blame:
- The truck driver who broke a traffic law or drove while fatigued
- The motor carrier that pushed an unrealistic schedule or skipped safety checks
- The company that loaded or secured the cargo
- The owner of the trailer or the truck when they differ from the carrier
- A maintenance contractor that ignored a failing brake or tire
- A parts manufacturer whose defective component failed on the road
Finding every responsible party is not about spreading blame for its own sake. Each added defendant can mean another insurance policy, which often decides whether a catastrophic injury is fully covered or only partly paid.
When the Trucking Company Is Responsible
Motor carriers are legally responsible for their drivers in most situations, and often for their own choices on top of that. A company that hires a driver with a history of violations, skips required drug testing, or rewards speed over safety can be held directly liable. A carrier that keeps dispatching a driver already cited for logbook fraud owns that decision, and so it owns the crash that follows.
When a Cargo Loader or Manufacturer Shares Blame
Not every truck wreck starts with the driver. Cargo that is loaded too heavily or stacked wrong can shift and flip a trailer on a Basin highway curve. A brake supplier that sold a defective part can be on the hook when that brake fails on a downhill grade. We work with engineers and industry experts to trace a crash back to the company that actually set it in motion.
When a Maintenance Contractor Shares the Blame
Many carriers outsource repairs to third-party shops, which opens another door to responsibility. When a shop signs off on worn brakes or a bald tire that later fails, that company can be held accountable for the crash. These claims hinge on paperwork that most drivers never see.
We pull the maintenance file, inspection reports, and invoices from every shop that touched the truck, because a pattern of skipped repairs connects a mechanical failure to the company that ignored it.
Who Can Be Held Liable After a Texas Truck Accident
One of the biggest advantages in a truck case is that more than one party may owe you money. A car crash usually points to a single at-fault driver. A truck crash can spread responsibility across an entire chain of companies, each with its own insurance. We trace that chain to every party that contributed to the wreck. Depending on what the investigation uncovers, the following parties may share the blame.
- The truck driver who broke a traffic law or drove while fatigued
- The motor carrier that pushed an unrealistic schedule or skipped safety checks
- The company that loaded or secured the cargo
- The owner of the trailer or the truck when they differ from the carrier
- A maintenance contractor that ignored a failing brake or tire
- A parts manufacturer whose defective component failed on the road
Finding every responsible party is not about spreading blame for its own sake. Each added defendant can mean another insurance policy, and that often decides whether a catastrophic injury is fully covered or only partly paid.
When the Trucking Company Is Responsible
Motor carriers are legally responsible for their drivers in most situations, and often for their own choices on top of that. A company that hires a driver with a history of violations, skips required drug testing, or rewards speed over safety can be held directly liable. Picture a carrier that keeps dispatching a driver already cited for logbook fraud: that decision is the company’s, and so is the crash that follows.
When a Cargo Loader or Manufacturer Shares Blame
Not every truck wreck starts with the driver. Cargo that is loaded too heavily or stacked wrong can shift and flip a trailer on a Basin highway curve. A brake supplier that sold a defective part can be on the hook when that brake fails on a downhill grade. We work with engineers and industry experts to trace a crash back to the company that actually set it in motion.
When a Maintenance Contractor Shares the Blame
Many carriers outsource repairs to third-party shops, which opens another door to responsibility. When a shop signs off on worn brakes or a bald tire that later fails, that company can be held accountable for the crash. These claims hinge on paperwork that most drivers never see.
We pull the maintenance file, inspection reports, and invoices from every shop that touched the truck, because a pattern of skipped repairs connects a mechanical failure to the company that ignored it.
Table of Contents
What to Do at the Scene of a Texas Truck Accident
The steps you take in the first hour protect both your health and the evidence. If your injuries allow:
Call 911 and get medical care, a truck crash with injuries or a vehicle that cannot be driven away must be reported to police immediately (Tex. Transp. Code § 550.026), and adrenaline can hide a serious injury.
Get the truck’s identifying details, photograph the tractor and trailer, the plates, and the USDOT and motor-carrier (MC) numbers on the cab door, which identify the trucking company, not just the driver.
Photograph everything, both vehicles, the cargo, skid marks, road conditions, and your injuries, before anything is moved.
Get witness names and numbers, independent witnesses matter even more in a truck case, where the carrier sends its own investigators to shape the story.
Do not give the insurer a recorded statement and do not sign anything before you talk to a lawyer, their rapid-response team works to protect a large policy, not to help you.
Call a truck accident lawyer quickly, the black-box and logbook data that proves fault can be legally overwritten within months.
How Attorneys Preserve Evidence Before It Vanishes
The proof that wins a truck case has a short life. Electronic logs cycle out, damaged trucks get repaired, and drivers move on to the next haul, so we move within days to lock down every record. A spoliation letter is a formal legal demand that orders the trucking company to preserve specific evidence, naming the black box data, the driver logs, the maintenance records, and the dashcam footage, and warning of consequences for destroying any of it. That matters because a carrier can legally recycle certain records after a set number of months, and when a driver’s log would show a 14-hour shift, waiting three months to ask for it can mean it is simply gone.
The preservation demand is only the start, because the carrier still controls the files until a lawyer forces them open. Federal rules require carriers to screen drivers and test them for drugs and alcohol, and a missing test or a hidden history of failed screens can prove a company put an unfit driver behind the wheel. Every commercial truck must be inspected on a schedule, and gaps in those logs line up with the brake or tire that failed.
Catastrophic Truck Crash Injuries in Texas and What They Cost
The physics of a truck crash are brutal. A vehicle that heavy transfers enormous force into a smaller car, so what might be a sore neck in a low-speed car crash can be a spinal fracture, a traumatic brain injury, crushed limbs, or severe burns when a tractor-trailer is involved. A driver rear-ended by a semi on the Gulf Freeway can face months of surgery and never return to the job he had that morning.
Because the injuries run deep, the value of a truck case often does too, and a fair number is not the sum of today’s bills. It has to account for the treatment still ahead, the income a client can no longer earn, and the daily help a permanent injury demands.
For a catastrophic injury, we bring in medical and economic experts to build a life-care plan that projects the surgeries, therapy, equipment, and in-home care a client will need across a lifetime, turning a vague sense of future hardship into a documented number an insurer cannot easily dismiss.
Behind the hospital bill sit home modifications, lost retirement savings, and the unpaid work of a spouse who becomes a caregiver, and no insurer will volunteer those losses. For a field worker paralyzed when a sand truck ran a stop sign, the claim is decades of medical support, a modified home and vehicle, and every paycheck he will never earn.
Common Causes of Texas 18-Wheeler Accidents Our Attorneys Investigate
Every truck crash has a story, and the cause usually points straight to the party that should pay. Driver fatigue and hours-of-service violations are among the most common and most hidden, and the logs often prove a driver pushed past the federal limit. Overloaded or shifting cargo makes a trailer handle like a different vehicle and points to the loading company.
Poor maintenance sends a rolling hazard onto the highway, and a tire blowout at 70 miles per hour is rarely just bad luck. Distraction and stimulant use show up in phone records and post-crash testing, while speeding and following too closely turn small mistakes into deadly ones, with black box data often showing the truck never slowed before impact.
The deadliest wrecks, rollovers and underrides, point to specific failures like missing side guards or unsafe speed for the load, and finding them turns a tragic crash into a provable claim.
How Texas Truck Accident Lawyers Take On Trucking Insurers
The trucking insurer is not a neutral party. It is a business that protects a large policy by paying as little as the facts allow, so the sooner a skilled lawyer is involved, the less room it has to work.
Major carriers send investigators to serious crash scenes within hours, sometimes before the injured driver leaves the hospital, to photograph the scene, interview witnesses, and shape the story early.
We counter by launching our own investigation just as fast, then building a demand that tells the whole story with proof attached, from the medical records to the federal violations that caused the crash.
How Layers of Trucking Insurance Work
A large trucking loss is rarely covered by a single policy. Carriers often stack a primary policy under one or more excess policies, and separate coverage may sit with the trailer owner or the broker.
Peeling back those layers is how a serious claim gets fully paid. We press the companies to disclose every policy in play, not just the first one they mention, because a catastrophic injury can exhaust a primary policy and reach into the excess above it.
Why Injured Texans Trust Goldberg and Loren Truck Accident Attorneys
Hiring the right firm after a truck crash matters more than in almost any other injury case, because the other side is so well prepared. We bring decades of experience across personal injury and motor vehicle claims, so the carrier’s tactics are familiar, and so are the ways to beat them.
We work on a contingency fee, which means you owe no attorney fees unless we recover for you, and we advance the costs of experts and investigation, so any family can take on a trucking company.
You can reach us day or night, which matters when a call placed the night of the crash can put a preservation demand in motion before the sun comes up.
What Makes Truck Cases Different in the Courtroom
Truck trials turn on federal regulations, expert testimony, and stacks of company records a car case never involves. Jurors respond to clear proof that a company put profit ahead of safety. A firm that tells that story simply and backs it with documents holds the advantage, and that trial readiness matters even when a case settles, because insurers pay more when they believe the lawyer across the table is ready to win in front of a jury.
Texas Truck Accident Questions Attorneys Hear Most
Injured Texans tend to ask the same practical questions about truck claims.
Texas generally gives you two years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit, under Section 16.003 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code. Truck cases need that time, because building the evidence takes longer than a simple car claim, and waiting lets the carrier keep recycling records.
Two reasons drive the difference. The injuries are usually more severe because of the sheer force involved, and the available insurance is far larger. When multiple companies share the blame, several policies can contribute, which raises the ceiling on what a serious case can recover.
It depends on who caused it. The driver, the motor carrier, a cargo loader, a maintenance company, or a parts maker can each be responsible, and often more than one shares the bill. Identifying every liable party is a core part of what a truck accident lawyer does, because each one may bring another source of compensation.
It depends on who caused it. The driver, the motor carrier, a cargo loader, a maintenance company, or a parts maker can each be responsible, and often more than one shares the bill. Identifying every liable party is a core part of what a truck accident lawyer does, because each one may bring another source of compensation.
For anything beyond minor damage, yes. Trucking companies lawyer up immediately, and going it alone against their team rarely ends well. A free consultation costs nothing and tells you honestly whether your case needs representation.
An early denial is a negotiating position, not the last word. Carriers often blame the injured driver or a phantom vehicle to protect a large policy, but a denial frequently gives way once data and witnesses surface.
Our firm works on a contingency fee, so you pay no fee up front and none at all unless we win. The fee is a percentage of the recovery, set in writing before any work starts, so any family can take on a trucking company without worrying about hourly bills.
When a truck crash takes a life, close family members can bring a wrongful death claim for their loss, covering funeral costs, lost financial support, and the loss of companionship. These cases are painful, and we handle them with care while pursuing full accountability.
Texas’s freight corridors carry the heaviest commercial-truck traffic and the most serious wrecks, I-35, I-10, and I-20, plus the oil-field truck traffic of the Permian Basin around Midland and Odessa. TxDOT tracks the statewide toll through its #EndTheStreakTX campaign. From our Lakeway office we handle commercial-truck claims across the entire state.
Call Goldberg and Loren Texas Truck Accident Attorneys for a Free Consultation
A truck crash leaves you facing a company built to fight, while you are trying to heal. You do not have to take that fight alone, and you should not have to decode federal trucking rules from a hospital bed.
We will investigate the crash, identify every responsible company, and press for the full value of your claim while you focus on recovery. You pay nothing unless we win, and the first conversation is completely free. Every day that passes gives the trucking company more time to bury the evidence, so the sooner you reach out, the sooner we can lock it down.
Call Goldberg & Loren any time at (512) 254-4424 or reach us through our contact page to start your free consultation today. Let the Texas truck accident attorneys at Goldberg & Loren carry the fight while you get your life back.
How Long Do You Have to Report a Crash in Texas?
Reporting a crash and filing a lawsuit are two very different deadlines, and the reporting one is far shorter. Under Texas law, if anyone is injured or killed, or a vehicle is too damaged to be driven away safely, the drivers involved must notify police immediately, by the quickest means available, not days later (Tex. Transp. Code § 550.026). You also have to stop at the scene, give your name, address, and insurance information, and help anyone who is hurt (§§ 550.021–550.023). Leaving the scene of an injury crash is a serious crime in Texas, not a paperwork issue.
The well-known “ten day” crash-report deadline belongs to the investigating police officer, who must send the official report to the Texas Department of Transportation within ten days when a wreck causes injury, death, or at least $1,000 in property damage (§ 550.062). Your job is to report the crash to police right away, then notify your own insurance company promptly. You can request your official crash report from the local police department that worked the scene or order it online through the Texas Department of Transportation. If you are not sure how to get your report, call us at (512) 254-4424.
Call Goldberg and Loren Texas Truck Accident Attorneys for a Free Consultation
A truck crash leaves you facing a company built to fight, while you are trying to heal. You do not have to take that fight alone. We will investigate the crash, identify every responsible company, and press for the full value of your claim while you focus on recovery. You pay nothing unless we win, and the first conversation is free. Every day that passes gives the trucking company more time to bury the evidence.
Call Goldberg & Loren any time at (512) 254-4424 or reach us through our contact page to start your free consultation today.
Legal Sources & References
The Texas laws described on this page are cited to the official statutes published by the Texas Legislature and were last reviewed on July 31, 2026.
- Statute of limitations (2 years), Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003
- Comparative responsibility & reduction, Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §§ 33.001, 33.012
- Duty to report a crash, Tex. Transp. Code §§ 550.021–550.026, 550.062
- Exemplary (punitive) damages, Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 41.003
- Texas crash data, Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)
Goldberg & Loren
211 Ranch Rd 620 S, Suite #230
Lakeway, TX 78734
(512) 254-4424
A loaded 18-wheeler can weigh 40 tons — when one hits a passenger car, the damage is catastrophic and the trucking company's team starts building its defense that same day. I move fast for injured Texans to preserve the black-box data and logs, and go after every party responsible. You pay nothing unless we win.