Recent Recoveries
- $2,000,000Car crash — litigation settlement
- $1,750,000Slip & fall — litigation settlement
- $1,000,00018-wheeler — litigation settlement
- $850,000Tractor-trailer — litigation settlement
- $650,000Commercial collision — litigation settlement
- $650,000Trucking accident — litigation settlement
- $550,000On-the-job injury — litigation settlement
Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future case. Every case is decided on its own facts.
Almost everyone who reads this page has been handed a crash report, a claim number and a phone number for an insurance company that is not their own. What is below is what a commercial trucking case is actually made of — how these crashes happen, the people who can be held responsible, and what Texas law lets you recover.
A crash with an 18-wheeler is not a car crash with a bigger vehicle in it. The driver works to federal rules that count their hours and record them electronically; the company behind them keeps files on the driver, the load and the vehicle; and both are insured on a scale no car policy comes near. That is what makes these cases provable — and it is why they are defended the way they are.
Nothing here needs a decision from you this week except one, and it is not whether to sue anybody. It is whether to have the vehicle and its records held before they are lawfully gone.
Free case review
You speak to the attorney who would try it, not to a screener.
No fee unless we win
Nothing up front, and the fee comes out of the recovery.
The records held this week
Preservation letters to the carrier and its insurer before the retention periods run out.
The Vehicles
Six kinds of truck, and six different cases
“Truck accident” covers vehicles with very little in common beyond their weight. What the vehicle was doing decides which rules applied to it, which records exist, and who besides the driver is in the case.
- 01
Tractor-trailers and 18-wheelers
A tractor and a semitrailer running to a combined weight of up to 80,000 pounds without a permit. The freight fleet, and most of what is on I‑20, I‑30 and I‑35E.
- 02
Tankers
A liquid load that keeps moving after the truck stops. Surge shifts the centre of gravity mid-manoeuvre, and where the cargo is fuel or a chemical the crash has a second stage.
- 03
Dump trucks and mixers
High-sided, often loaded above the axle line, and working short local routes with far more turns and reversing than a highway run.
- 04
Box trucks and delivery vans
The parcel and contractor fleet. Many sit under 26,001 pounds, so the driver needs no commercial licence — and the carrier is still a carrier.
- 05
Flatbeds
Nothing contains the load but the securement. When a tiedown fails the cargo itself becomes the hazard, and whoever loaded it is usually not whoever was driving.
- 06
Buses and utility trucks
Coaches, refuse trucks and service fleets. Where one is publicly owned the notice deadlines are far shorter than the ordinary two years.
Why They Happen
Six causes, and the rule behind each one
On a commercial vehicle almost every cause has a federal regulation attached to it, and that is what makes them provable rather than merely arguable: a rule that was broken leaves a record of being broken.
A driver who has been at the wheel too long
Federal law counts a commercial driver’s hours and a device in the cab records them: 11 hours of driving after 10 consecutive hours off, inside a 14-hour window, a 30-minute break once 8 hours of driving time have passed, and no more than 60 or 70 hours in a rolling week.
Speed, and a stopping distance nobody allows for
A loaded tractor-trailer at highway speed needs several hundred feet of reaction and braking — roughly three times what the car in front of it needs.
A load that was not secured
Cargo that shifts changes what the vehicle does; cargo that comes off is a hazard to whoever is behind it.
Brakes, tyres and maintenance
A brake failure, a blowout or a steering defect on a vehicle of this weight is rarely bad luck.
Drink, drugs and the phone
A commercial driver is out of a job at 0.04 blood alcohol, half the limit for everybody else, may not drink within four hours of going on duty, and may not hold a phone while driving at all.
Blind spots and wide turns
A tractor-trailer cannot see down its right side, immediately behind the trailer, or for about twenty feet in front of the cab.
The Injuries
What a vehicle this heavy does to people
The occupants of the smaller vehicle take almost all of it. These are the injury patterns that recur in this practice, and each of them is valued on what treatment is still ahead rather than on the bills already in.
- 01
Traumatic brain injury
From a blow or from the head being thrown. The mild ones are the ones insurers fight, and they are the ones that change how somebody works.
- 02
Spinal cord injury
Complete or incomplete, and the difference between them is the difference between a lifetime care plan and a long recovery.
- 03
Crush injuries and amputation
The injury pattern this weight produces. Often surgical amputation days later rather than at the scene, which matters to how a claim is valued.
- 04
Burns
A tanker, a fuel tank or a load that ignites. Debridement, grafting and scar revision run for years after the medical bills stop arriving.
- 05
Multiple fractures
Pelvis, femur, ribs and the complex joints. Hardware, revision surgery and the arthritis that follows a joint that was rebuilt.
- 06
Internal and organ injury
Bleeding that is not visible at the roadside, which is the reason to be examined even when you walk away feeling able to.
Responsibility
Who ends up in the case
Somebody who sues the driver has usually found the least insured defendant on the road that day. These are the others, and which of them belongs in a particular case is a question of records rather than of opinion.
The driver, and the company behind them
Two separate claims, not one. A carrier is responsible for its driver’s negligence on the job because the driver was doing its work — and it is separately responsible for its own: hiring a driver whose record it should have read, training that was never given, a schedule that could not be run legally, or a vehicle it knew was unfit.
The company whose freight it was
Shippers and freight brokers choose who carries their goods. Where a carrier was hired despite a public safety record that was there to be read, or where the load itself was the problem, that choice is part of the case.
Whoever loaded it
Warehouses and third-party loaders answer for what they secure. Where the defect was concealed from the driver, responsibility does not move across to the driver for failing to spot it.
Whoever maintained it
Independent garages and fleet maintenance contractors are ordinary defendants where a brake, a tyre or a coupling failed and the work orders show why it was allowed to.
The manufacturer
Of the truck, the trailer, the tyres or the underride guard. A product claim is a different case with different experts, and it is worth asking about wherever a component gave way rather than wore out.
More than one of them, usually
Texas divides responsibility between everyone who bears some of it rather than picking a single defendant, so the practical question is not who caused the crash but who is on the list — and each name on it generally brings its own insurer.
What It Covers
What a truck accident claim can include
Two kinds of loss, and the distinction is not academic: the first is proved with paper and the second is argued, which is why an insurer’s first offer routinely covers one and ignores the other.
Economic losses
The part proved with paper. Bills, payslips, invoices and an economist’s projection where the loss runs into the future.
Medical treatment, past and future
Ambulance and trauma care through to the surgeries, therapy and equipment still ahead of you.
Lost earnings and earning capacity
The wages already missed, and the difference between what you could earn before and what you can earn now.
Care and household help
Attendant care, nursing and the things somebody now has to be paid to do.
Property and out-of-pocket
The vehicle, its contents, the mileage to appointments and the adaptations to a home.
Non-economic losses
The part that is argued rather than invoiced — and the part a first offer routinely leaves out, because there is no bill to point at.
Physical pain and mental anguish
Past and future, and the future is usually the larger of the two.
Physical impairment
What the body will not do again, valued separately from the pain of it.
Disfigurement
Scarring, grafting and amputation, valued as its own loss.
Exemplary damages
Where the conduct was grossly negligent — a carrier that knew and dispatched the truck anyway is the case this exists for.
The Process
What happens when you call us
You will not be asked to decide anything on the phone. This is the whole of it, in order, and the second step is the one that cannot wait.
- 01
You call, and we listen
Tell us what happened and what you have already been sent. If there is nothing here for you we will say so on that call.
- 02
The records get held
Preservation letters to the carrier, its insurer and anyone holding the vehicle, so the module data, the logs and the damage survive long enough to be examined.
- 03
We take over the calls
The carrier’s adjusters, its lawyers and its investigators deal with us. Nobody from the other side needs to speak to you again.
- 04
We reconstruct it and value it
The scene, the module data, the compliance records and the medical file, with the experts a case this size needs and an economist for what the loss actually is.
- 05
We resolve it, or we try it
Most cases settle. Carriers settle differently with a firm that tries cases, and we prepare every one as though it will be tried.
Client Reviews
What our clients say about us
Reviews left on Google by people this firm has represented, published as they were written. The first is from a client who was struck by a truck; the other two describe how this office runs a case, which is the part we can honestly show you.
Rated five out of five stars
“Was hit while at a complete stop by an all metal truck. Got my medical bills covered and enough of a settlement to pay off my new car and student loans with some to spare.”
Shawn Stroud
Rated five out of five stars
“They investigated the accident, gathered evidence, and negotiated with the insurance company. They were always available to answer my questions and kept me updated on the progress of my case.”
Rick Rye
Rated five out of five stars
“They took the time to listen to my concerns and walk me through every step of the process with kindness and patience… The entire team is honest and transparent.”
Mary McCullough
Your Attorney
The lawyer who works your case
This page has said more than once that you will speak to a real attorney rather than a call centre. It is only fair to say who that is.
Founder · Trial Attorney
Aaron Genthe
A Texas A&M graduate who went into personal injury straight out of law school, Aaron spent years as a litigator at one of the larger firms in Dallas — long enough to build a reputation as an aggressive and effective attorney, and long enough to watch how easily a client becomes a file number at a firm that size.
He started Genthe Law Firm so that the person you speak to about your case is the person who would try it. Commercial trucking is on the firm’s ledger of recoveries twice, and these are the cases it prepares for trial first and negotiates second.
- Practising since
- 2015
- Cases handled
- Hundreds, in Dallas and across Texas
- Education
- Texas A&M graduate
- Fee
- Contingency — nothing unless you recover
Questions
Truck accident FAQs
The questions people ask on the first call, answered the way we answer them on the phone.
What does it cost to hire a truck accident lawyer?
Nothing up front. We work on contingency, which means the fee comes out of the settlement or the verdict and there is no fee at all if there is no recovery.
The trucking company’s insurer has called me. Should I give a recorded statement?
Not before you have spoken to your own lawyer. A recorded statement is taken to be used, and it is taken early precisely because that is when you know least about your own injuries — the answer “I’m fine, just a bit sore” is quoted back months later against a surgical recommendation.
How long do I have to bring a truck accident claim in Texas?
Two years from the date of the crash in most cases, and two years from the date of death in a wrongful death claim. Miss it and the claim is gone regardless of its merits.
Who can I sue besides the driver?
Usually the motor carrier, and often several others. A carrier answers for its driver’s negligence on the job and separately for its own hiring, training, scheduling and maintenance.
Is there a cap on pain and suffering in Texas?
Not in an ordinary injury case, and this is worth being clear about because the internet is full of the opposite. Texas places no cap on non-economic damages — pain, mental anguish, impairment, disfigurement — in a truck accident claim.
What is my truck accident case worth?
Nobody honest gives a figure on a first call, and anybody who does is guessing. It turns on the injuries and what treatment they still require, on how much work you have lost and will lose, on how responsibility divides, and on how much cover the defendants between them carry.
The police report says I was partly at fault. Is that the end of it?
No. A crash report is an officer’s opinion formed at the roadside, generally without the truck’s own data, without the carrier’s records and without a reconstruction. It is not binding on anyone and reports are amended.
How long does a truck accident case take?
Longer than a straightforward car claim and for a specific reason: the compliance records, the module data and the expert reconstruction all have to be obtained before the case can be valued, and much of that comes out of the other side by request rather than by asking nicely.
What should I do right after a truck crash?
Get looked at medically, even if you think you are unhurt — the injuries this weight produces are not all visible at the roadside. Report it, get the crash report number, and photograph everything you safely can: the vehicles, the road, the debris, and the lettering and USDOT number on the truck.
Also Handled Here
Where to go from here
The three pages beneath this one go further into the rules, the litigation and the fatal cases.
- 01Texas Truck Accident LawsThe federal and state rules a carrier operates under
- 02Truck Accident LawsuitsWhat happens once one of these claims is filed
- 03Fatal Truck AccidentsWhere a crash killed a member of the family
- 04Car AccidentsCollisions between passenger vehicles
- 05Motorcycle AccidentsRiders struck by commercial and passenger vehicles
- 06Wrongful DeathWho may bring a Texas death claim, and what it covers
- 07Construction AccidentsSite injuries, including vehicle and machinery claims
- 08Pedestrian AccidentsPeople struck on foot, including by turning trucks
Read more on commercial vehicle claims
- Top Causes of 18-Wheeler Accidents in TexasAnd how negligence is proved in one
- Texas Truck Accident Liability LawsWho answers for what, under Texas law
- Legal Aspects of Semi Truck Accident LiabilityThe theories, one at a time
- Amazon and Delivery Truck AccidentsWho is liable when the van is a contractor’s
- Texas Truck Accident SettlementsWhat decides the size of one
- 18-Wheeler Blind SpotsWhere a truck cannot see you
- What Should You Do After a Truck Accident?The first week, in order
- When Should You Hire an Accident Reconstructionist?And what one actually produces
