Texas 18 Wheeler Accident Lawyers
Undefeated Truck and Big Rig Accident Lawyers
Our Texas 18-Wheeler Accident Lawyers are known for winning the #1 Largest Recoveries for Truck and 18-Wheeler Accident victims across Texas.
In addition to being Undefeated, our Truck Accident Attorneys have won Billions, including:
- #1 Largest Truck Accident Settlement in Texas
- #1 Largest Truck Accident Verdict in Texas
- $32 Million Truck Accident Settlement
- $23.5 Million Truck Accident Settlement
- #1 Largest 18-Wheeler Accident Verdict in R&L Trucking Company’s corporate history
Contact our Undefeated Texas Truck Accident Attorneys for a Free Consultation at 1-888-603-3636 or Click Here
The impact from a truck or 18-wheeler accident is often devastating, especially for the occupants of passenger vehicles. Along with the medical expenses and physical injuries, a crash can also rob Truck Accident victims of the ability to work and provide for their families, possibly forever.
After the crash, the trucking company and their insurance reps will downplay your injuries, attempt to blame you for the crash, and hire a team of “investigators” and lawyers to do everything possible to avoid paying you the money you need to pay your medical bills and provide for yourself and your family.
Without an Experienced Texas Truck Accident Lawyer on your side, the trucking company will continue to give you the run-around and NEVER pay you the compensation you deserve.
Don’t put your future and your family’s future at risk.
Contact our Texas 18 Wheeler Accident Lawyers for a Free Consultation at 1-888-603-3636 or send us a confidential email through our Contact Us form.
We Don’t Just Win for Truck Accident Victims – We Set Records
Our Texas Truck Accident Attorneys have repeatedly proven that no trucking company or team of lawyers is too big to prevent us from recovering the largest verdicts and settlements possible for our clients and their families.
Call 1-888-603-3636, click the “live chat” button or send us a confidential email through our Contact Form by Clicking Here.
All consultations are free—and you won’t pay a dime unless we win your case.
Record-Setting Verdicts and Settlements for Texas Truck and 18-Wheeler Accident Victims
Largest Truck Accident Settlement in Texas
Ryan Zehl recently obtained the largest Truck Accident Settlement in Texas – as well as the largest in the company’s corporate history – on behalf of a 34-year-old man who sustained severe injuries in a head-on collision with a commercial truck.
Because of our settlement, our client will continue to receive the best medical care available and be able to provide for himself and his family for the rest of his life.
Watch this video testimonial by clicking here to learn more about the record-setting settlement and our client’s experience working with our Houston truck accident attorneys.
Record-Setting Settlement in Fatal 18-Wheeler Accident
An Undefeated Texas Truck Accident Lawyer at Zehl & Associates recently negotiated a record-setting (and confidential) 18 Wheeler Wrongful Death Settlement on behalf of a woman and her 4-year-old son after an 18-wheeler crash claimed the life of her husband.
Although the trucking company, its driver, and their team of lawyers initially refused to accept any responsibility and attempted to blame the accident on her husband’s purported cellphone use, we were able to prove he had not used his phone at all that morning. Our 18 Wheeler Accident Lawyers also uncovered evidence showing the trucking company had violated federal and state safety regulations by allowing its driver—who had already been on the road for over 14 hours at the time of the crash—to remain behind the wheel.
We settled the case several weeks later, and our settlement remains the largest wrongful death settlement in the trucking company’s history.
Largest verdict in R&L Carrier’s Corporate History
Our 18-Wheeler Accident Lawyers also recovered the largest verdict in the corporate history of R&L Carriers, the largest privately owned trucking company in the United States.
Our client’s vehicle rolled over several times after being rear-ended by one of R&L’s drivers along I-20, just outside of Weatherford, Texas. But R&L disputed our client’s injuries and denied responsibility for the crash, offering just $150,000 to settle the case. We refused the inadequate offer and took the case to court.
After a five-week trial, the jury determined R&L was grossly negligent in failing to train its driver and awarded our client punitive damages. In addition to being the largest verdict in R&L’s corporate history, our record recovery is also the only time punitive damages were ever awarded against R&L and marked the first time in 15 years that a Texas Court of Appeals affirmed punitive damages.
Largest Settlement in the Corporate History of Oakley Trucking
Our Truck Accident Lawyers also obtained the #1 Largest Settlement in Oakley Trucking Company’s corporate history, following the company’s initial settlement offer of just $125,000.
Our client was rear-ended because of a truck driver who was distracted by his cellphone on Christmas Eve. The collision’s impact caused their pick-up truck to roll over on the highway at over 50 mph.
Within six months, Oakley agreed to pay our client more than 25-times its initial settlement offer.
Texas Truck and 18-Wheeler Accidents
Semi-trucks, 18-wheelers, and other big rigs were involved in more than 24,600 Texas Truck Accidents during 2020, including 465 fatal crashes. The prior year saw about 1,600 fewer trucking-related collisions overall and 32 fewer deadly crashes.
While Dallas and Harris Counties led Texas in fatal accidents that year, with 29 each, several sparsely-populated rural counties took four of the top ten spots, including Ector County, with 21 fatal crashes, Midland County with 16, Reeves County with 13, and Winkler County with 11.
Texas reported 1,386 fatal truck and 18-wheeler accidents between 2018 and 2020, more than any other state during that period.
Three Texas’ counties also ranked among the top ten in the nation for truck accident deaths: Harris County (third, with 81), Dallas (sixth, with 59), and Tarrant (ninth, with 44).
Why does Texas experience so many serious and fatal truck and 18-Wheeler accidents?
For one thing, the Lone Star State’s location in the center of the country means it sees a lot of traffic – including heavy truck traffic — coming from all directions, particularly the east and west. Texas is also home to 13 of the 100 worst trucking bottlenecks in the United States, including nine in Houston and two in Dallas.
Because Texas is such a big oil and natural gas producer, thousands of heavy oilfield trucks regularly travel the state’s roads and highways, often with inexperienced and fatigued drivers at the wheel. In fact, energy-producing regions — the Barnett Shale, Eagle Ford Shale, Granite Wash, Haynesville/Bossier Shale, and Permian Basin — accounted for nearly half of the traffic-related deaths reported in Texas during 2018.
In 2019, even the coronavirus pandemic and falling oil prices weren’t enough to slow the rate of fatal truck and 18-wheeler accidents in Texas.
Causes of Truck and 18-Wheeler Accidents
While rain-slicked or icy roads and poor visibility can cause or contribute to a crash, most accidents involving big trucks are caused by preventable untrained, fatigued and over-worked drivers.
Some of the most common causes of truck and 18-wheeler accidents include:
- Truck Driver Fatigue: The Hours of Service Regulations set strict limits on the number of hours truckers and other interstate commercial drivers can drive within a 24 hour period with the goal of preventing fatigue-related truck and 18 wheeler accidents. Unfortunately, the unrealistic delivery schedules set by many trucking companies often force truckers to push and even exceed those limits. Overworked and exhausted drivers can’t safely operate their rigs and are far more likely to cause a serious or deadly accident.
- Driving Under the Influence: Truckers are prohibited from driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. However, research suggests that driving under the influence of alcohol, marijuana, amphetamines, and cocaine is high among truckers.
- Distracted Driving: Federal law prevents truck drivers from using handheld cell phones or electronic devices while behind the wheel of a truck. Unfortunately, on a tight schedule, many truckers still resort to using cellphones, computers mounted in their cabs, and even eat meals on the road to avoid missing unreasonable delivery deadlines, all of which substantially increase the chance of a serious crash.
- Speeding: A big rig takes significantly more time to stop than a typical passenger car—especially when speeding, which was a factor in about 45% of the fatal truck and 18-wheeler accidents in the United States in 2019.
- Reckless or Aggressive Truckers: Reckless or aggressive behavior—tailgating, erratic lane changes, unsafe passing maneuvers, to name just a few—cause or contribute to a large number of trucking-related accidents.
- Improperly Loaded Cargo: Incorrectly loaded cargo may shift during transport, causing a semi-truck to lose balance and control of the tractor and trailer.
- Poor Maintenance and Improperly Maintained Equipment: While federal safety rules require 18-wheelers and other large commercial trucks to undergo regular maintenance and inspections, the Large Truck Crash Causation Study found that up to 15% of all trucking-related accidents are the result of mechanical problems affecting the truck itself.
Trucking Companies and Their Drivers Must Comply with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations
Truck and 18 wheeler accidents are nothing like a typical car crash. Because they’re substantially more likely to result in serious injuries, trucking companies and commercial drivers are required to comply with hundreds of state and federal regulations to ensure everyone’s safety.
Many of these rules are contained in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations — laws created by the United States Department of Transportation that govern everything from driver training and vehicle maintenance to the maximum number of hours a trucker can spend behind the wheel or “on-duty” to avoid driver fatigue.
In our experience, most serious and fatal truck accidents are entirely preventable and occurred because the trucking company and its driver cut corners and violated the state and federal safety laws designed to protect other drivers and passengers on the road.
To win against the trucking company and its teams of lawyers, the injured party’s attorney must have a thorough understanding of all of the rules and regulations that apply to commercial carriers and their drivers, as well as the experience and financial resources to prepare and take the case to trial.
Having successfully represented thousands of truck and 18 wheeler accident victims against the largest trucking companies in the world, our Texas Truck Accident Lawyers know what evidence to look for, how to obtain it, and how to use that evidence to show that the trucking company is responsible for the crash and our client’s injuries.
Our Clients See the Best Doctors and Medical Providers in the Country
In addition to their high fatality rate, truck and 18 wheeler accident victims are also more likely to suffer serious and catastrophic injuries. Some of the most common injuries seen in Big Rig accidents include:
- Traumatic Brain & Spinal Cord Injuries
- Herniated discs in the lumbar and cervical spine
- Soft tissue injuries (ligament sprains and muscle strains )
- Burns
- Bone fractures
- Amputations
But truck and 18-wheeler accidents don’t just cause physical injuries. The financial strain created by your medical bills and inability to work can make it difficult – if not impossible – to pay your mortgage or rent, pay for prescriptions, and take care of your family.
We Help You Pay Your Bills While Your Case is Pending
We don’t want our clients worrying about how they’re going to take care of themselves and their families while they’re trying to recover from their injuries.
To prevent this additional and unnecessary strain, we are happy to assist our clients with their reasonable and necessary living expenses while their truck accident cases are pending. That way, our clients can focus on what matters most: their recovery.
We Hold Negligent Trucking Companies and Drivers Accountable
When you hire our Texas Truck and 18-wheeler Accident Lawyers, we immediately obtain the truck driver’s logbook, the truck’s black box, and the ECM records. We also send an accident reconstruction team to inspect the scene and the vehicles involved in the crash. We use this evidence to create a reconstruction of what happened and to establish whether the trucking company complied with safety regulations and laws, how fast the truck was traveling prior to and at impact, and whether the driver was distracted, fatigued or driving while under the influence.
We then consult with your medical providers and our own medical experts to determine the nature and severity of your injuries, the doctors and specialists most qualified to treat them, and the cost and frequency of the treatments you’ll require in the future.
Once we know how the accident occurred and the severity of your injuries, we’ll work with experts and engineers to determine how the truck driver could have prevented the wreck, as well as the amount of compensation that will allow you to receive the best medical care and provide for yourself and your family for the rest of your life.
If the trucking company refuses to compensate you for all of your injuries and losses, we won’t hesitate to take the case to trial – where our truck and 18-wheeler accident lawyers remain undefeated.
Contact our Undefeated Texas 18 Wheeler Accident Attorneys for a Free Consultation at 1-888-603-3636 or Click Here
With Billions Recovered for our Clients—including the Largest Truck and 18-Wheeler Accident Verdicts and Settlements in history—our Texas Truck Accident Lawyers have consistently demonstrated that we don’t just win for truck accident victims—we Set Records.
If you or a loved one were injured or tragically killed by a truck or 18-wheeler, call 1-888-603-3636, click the “Chat Now” button, or send us a confidential email through our Contact Us form.
We’ll answer your questions, explain your rights, and make sure you have all the information you need to decide what’s best for you and your family.
All consultations are free, and you won’t pay us a penny unless we win your case.