Truck Accidents · Semi-Truck & 18-Wheeler Accidents
Las Vegas Truck Accident Lawyer for Semi and 18-Wheeler Crashes
A semi-truck changed your life in a few seconds, and now strangers are calling about it. We are a Las Vegas trial firm, and this page walks you through what to do now and what comes next.
The short answer
A Las Vegas truck accident lawyer investigates the crash, demands that the trucking company keep the truck's data and records before they are erased, finds every party that shares blame, from the driver to the carrier, a broker, a loader or a repair shop, and goes after every insurance policy that applies. At D.R. Patti & Associates a trial lawyer reviews your case, and you owe no fee until we recover money for you.
A truck hit you and now you have a hundred questions
You are probably asking yourself some version of these right now. Am I going to be able to work again? Who pays the rent while I heal? The driver is telling people it was my fault. What if the trucking company calls me? What if I wait too long and lose my chance? And if you are reading this for someone else, will my husband, my daughter, my father be all right?
This page answers those questions in the order they tend to come up. First the week when everything hurts and the phone will not stop. Then the month when the bills and paperwork pile up. Then the year when the case itself takes shape. We wrote it for the person in the hospital bed and for the person next to the bed with a phone, searching at two in the morning.
We will be straight with you about the hard parts. A crash with an 18-wheeler is not a bigger fender bender. The trucking company has people whose job is to limit what it pays, and they start working before most injured people are discharged. Some of the records that prove what happened, many of them electronic, are kept for short periods and can be overwritten or thrown away. You do not have to learn all of that. You do need to make two or three good choices early and avoid a few bad ones.
If you would rather talk than read, call (702) 500-7070. Tim, who runs our office, takes calls himself, and he will not read you a checklist.
What should I do right after a truck crash in Las Vegas?
Get medical care first, protect what you can from your phone, and say as little as possible to anyone connected to the trucking company. Everything below fills in that plan.
Get checked out and tell the doctor everything
Call 911 if nobody has. Let the paramedics examine you even if you feel fine, because adrenaline hides injuries, and the neck, back and head injuries that come from a truck impact often show up hours or days later. In the Las Vegas Valley, people with serious injuries are commonly taken to trauma-capable hospitals such as UMC or Sunrise Hospital, and the emergency room is the first place your injuries get written down.
Tell every doctor about every symptom, including the small ones. The tweak in your neck, the headache you never had before, the ringing in your ear. Dean tells clients that under-reporting to doctors is one of the biggest mistakes people make, because months later the insurance company points to the first chart and says you never mentioned it.
Take photos, including the number on the cab door
If you can, or if someone with you can, use your phone. Photograph all sides of the truck and trailer, the license plates, the company name, and the USDOT number printed on the cab door. That number tells us which carrier we are dealing with and helps us find the insurer. Get the driver's name and any witnesses' names and numbers. Photograph the road, the skid marks, the debris, your vehicle and your injuries. If there is a camera on the truck's windshield, photograph that too, because that footage may matter more than anything else. Do not apologize at the scene, and do not tell anyone you are fine. Say you are hurt or that you are not sure yet.
Do not give a recorded statement
Someone from the trucking company or its insurer may call within a day or two. They will sound kind. They may ask how you are feeling and whether you could just tell them what happened for their file. Be polite and say you will call back after you have spoken with a lawyer. Generally you have no obligation to give the other side's insurer a recorded statement, and a few careless sentences can follow you for years. Your own insurer is a different situation, because your policy may require cooperation, so call us before you speak with them too.
Write down what you remember tonight
Sleep may not come anyway. Write down the time, the lane, what the truck was doing before it hit you, whether you saw brake lights or a turn signal, whether the driver seemed to be on a phone, and where you were headed. Do not post about the crash on social media. The other side looks.
That is everything you can do from a hospital bed. The next step falls on our side, and the next two sections explain why it cannot wait.
What is the trucking company doing while I am in the hospital?
Its people are building a defense, and they probably started before you left the emergency room. Many trucking companies and their insurers keep a rapid response team for serious crashes. What it includes varies, but it can mean an adjuster, an investigator with a camera and sometimes an accident reconstructionist, and they can be at the scene or the tow yard within hours. They photograph the truck and the road. They download the truck's electronic data on their own terms. They talk to the driver, so the driver's version is set before anyone has asked for yours. A claims representative may call you or a family member to see how you are doing.
Then come the offers. A small check, sometimes with a short release attached, offered to cover the tow and the first hospital bill. The timing is not an accident. The first offer arrives while you are frightened, in pain and behind on bills, and before anyone knows what the injury will cost over the rest of your life. A release can close the entire claim, including injuries nobody has found yet. Never sign anything until you know exactly what it gives up.
You cannot out-hustle a rapid response team from a hospital bed, and you should not try. What you can do is get a lawyer working for you quickly, so someone is doing for you what they are doing for the company. When a call involves a crash scene, speed is part of the job. Tim decides on that first call whether the matter can wait for morning or whether Dean needs to be woken up and sent out. Physical evidence at a road scene can be gone within a day or two, and once it is gone, a claim that could have been proven sometimes cannot be.
Why is a semi-truck case different from a car crash case?
Because everything is bigger, the safety rules are federal, and there is almost always more than one company in the case.
The size is the obvious part. A loaded tractor-trailer can generally weigh up to 80,000 pounds on the interstate, many times what a passenger car weighs, and it takes far longer to stop. That is why the injuries so often involve the brain, the spine, crushed limbs and internal bleeding.
The rules are the part people miss. Federal regulations govern how many hours a driver can work, who can hold a commercial license, how drivers are tested for drugs and alcohol, how trucks are inspected and repaired, and how cargo is secured. When a company breaks one of them, it can become evidence of negligence. A car driver has no such paper trail. A trucking company has a file on the driver, a file on the truck, and a record of the trip.
Then there are the companies. The driver, the carrier, a broker, a warehouse and a repair shop may each have a lawyer and an insurer, and each may point at another.
Finally, there is where the trucks come from. Interstate 15 brings freight up from Southern California, US-95 runs north toward Reno, and the road past Boulder City toward the Hoover Dam corridor and Arizona carries its share as well. Warehouses in North Las Vegas and Henderson, and the constant resupply of the Strip, keep tractor-trailers and delivery trucks on the valley's streets and the 215 around the clock. Many of the trucks near you here belong to carriers headquartered somewhere else. This page is about semi-trucks. If you were hit by a box truck or a delivery van, our page on delivery truck accidents covers the same issues with a different cast.
What evidence disappears after a truck crash, and how do you stop it?
A great deal disappears quickly unless the trucking company is put on written notice to keep it. That notice is called a spoliation letter, or a preservation letter, and we send it early.
The letter itself
A preservation letter tells the carrier, the driver and their insurers in writing that a claim is coming and that they must keep everything connected to the crash. Once a company knows a lawsuit is likely, the law generally expects it to hold onto relevant evidence, and a court can penalize a party that lets evidence vanish, in some cases by telling the jury it may infer the missing evidence would have hurt that party. We send letters to everyone who may hold records, usually within days of being hired.
The truck's electronic control module
Most heavy trucks carry an engine control module that people often call the black box. Depending on the make, model year and settings, it may record speed, braking, throttle and engine data, and in some trucks a snapshot of the seconds around a hard-braking event. The data can be overwritten when the truck goes back into service, lost when a module is repaired or replaced, or downloaded by the company alone in a way nobody else can check. We ask for a protocol so a qualified technician does the download with all sides present, or at minimum so we get the raw file.
Driver logs and electronic logging data
Federal rules limit how long a driver can drive and require most drivers to record their duty status on an electronic logging device. Carriers must keep those logs for at least six months, along with a limited set of supporting documents such as dispatch records, bills of lading and expense receipts. Other records have their own retention periods, and after the required period ends a company can discard the logs without breaking a rule. When a log says the driver was resting and a fuel receipt says the truck was pumping diesel two hundred miles away, that mismatch is exactly what these records can reveal.
Dashcam and camera footage
Some carriers put cameras on the windshield, and some also record the driver. The video is often the best evidence in a case, and it can be overwritten on a loop or saved only in clips. We ask for all of it. Cameras on nearby businesses and other drivers' dashboards overwrite too, so we move fast on those.
The driver qualification file
Federal rules require a trucking company to keep a qualification file on every driver. It generally holds the job application, the driver's record from the state, a road test or its equivalent, and the medical examiner's certificate. The company must also keep the safety history it gets from past employers and a record of its federal drug and alcohol clearinghouse checks, under separate rules. A thin file can show a company that hired in a hurry. A file full of earlier violations can show a company that knew.
Maintenance and inspection records
Brakes, tires, steering and lights fail in ways that look like driver error until somebody reads the repair history. We ask for the truck's and trailer's service history, the driver vehicle inspection reports, the annual inspection, the invoices from any outside shop, and the failed parts themselves. A truck that gets repaired and put back on the road can send the one part that mattered into a dumpster.
Drug and alcohol testing
After certain serious crashes, federal rules require the carrier to test the driver. The alcohol test is supposed to happen as soon as possible, ideally within two hours, and the drug test within 32 hours. We want to know whether the testing happened, when, who ran it and what it found. If a test was required and it was skipped or late, that tells us something too. We also want the driver's earlier test history.
Phones, dispatch messages and GPS
Phone records, dispatch messages and GPS data show where the truck was, how fast it was going and what the driver was being told. Pressure to hit a delivery window leaves tracks here, and so does a driver who was looking at a screen.
Who can be held responsible besides the driver?
Often several parties share blame, and the driver is usually the one least able to pay for what happened to you. Finding every responsible party is some of the most important work we do.
It matters for a reason that surprises people. Nevada generally makes each defendant pay only its own percentage of fault, with limited exceptions. If a responsible company never gets named, the companies that are named can point at the empty chair and say the blame belongs there, and nobody in that chair is ever ordered to pay you. An empty chair at the defense table helps the people sitting in the other chairs.
The trucking company
The company that employs the driver is generally responsible for what the driver does on the job. It can also be responsible for its own choices, like hiring a driver with a poor record, training him badly, pushing hours that cannot be driven legally, ignoring complaints, or sending out a truck with bad brakes. When the driver is an owner-operator, federal leasing rules generally put responsibility on the carrier whose name is on the door, though carriers often argue otherwise.
The company that loaded the trailer
Cargo that is overloaded, unbalanced or poorly secured can roll a trailer or spill into traffic. The loader, the warehouse or the shipper who packed it may share responsibility, along with the driver who accepted the load and the carrier who let it leave.
The broker that picked the carrier
A freight broker arranges the load and chooses the trucking company. If it hired a carrier with a record of safety violations, there may be a claim against the broker. Whether a particular broker can be held responsible depends on the facts, so we look at it case by case and promise nothing.
The shop that fixed the brakes
Many carriers use outside shops. If a shop signed off on a brake job or an inspection it did not do right, it may share the blame.
The company that made a part
A defective tire, brake component or steering part can put a truck out of control no matter how well the driver drove. Dean once represented a young woman whose car rolled over with no other vehicle involved. Many lawyers saw a single-car crash and nothing to pursue. He sued the vehicle maker and the tire maker, spent heavily on the investigation, and kept at it until the case resolved on the eve of trial for far more than the early offers. She still sends the firm a card every Christmas. Truck cases can turn on the same kind of work.
The agency or contractor that built or kept up the road
Poor road design, missing signs, bad signals and unsafe work areas can contribute to a truck crash. Claims against a government agency come with special claim rules, covered below, and they are another reason not to wait.
Other drivers
Sometimes a car cut in front of the truck or forced it to swerve. The truck driver and the carrier will certainly say so. We look at that closely, because it can be true and can still leave the carrier with a share.
What federal rules does a trucking company have to follow?
Quite a few, and a broken rule is often how we show what went wrong. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration writes most of them, and they apply to carriers and drivers who haul freight across state lines. Nevada has its own commercial vehicle rules too, and the Nevada Highway Patrol enforces them on our roads.
Hours of service rules limit driving time. Generally a property-carrying driver may drive up to 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty, may not drive past the 14th hour after coming on duty, may not keep driving once eight hours have passed without a break of at least 30 minutes, and is capped on total hours over a seven or eight day stretch. These rules exist because fatigue causes serious truck crashes.
Other rules cover licensing and medical exams, drug and alcohol testing, vehicle inspections, repair records and cargo tie-downs. Federal rules also forbid texting while driving a commercial vehicle and restrict hand-held phone use.
A carrier's inspection and crash history is also partly public, and we look at it early. A pattern of out-of-service orders or hours violations before your crash says something about how the company runs its trucks. None of this means a violation automatically wins a case. It means the violation can be strong evidence, and a company that cut corners has a harder time telling a jury that your crash was an unavoidable accident.
How many insurance policies are involved in a truck crash?
Usually more than one, and finding every one of them matters, because the first policy may not be big enough for what happened to you.
The federal government sets minimum liability coverage for motor carriers, and for most for-hire carriers hauling ordinary freight across state lines that minimum is $750,000, with higher minimums for certain hazardous cargo. It is a floor. Many carriers carry more, and larger ones often have excess policies sitting above the primary coverage. Some keep a retention, meaning they pay the first portion of a claim themselves. Once a lawsuit is filed, Nevada's rules require the parties to disclose their insurance, which is how we confirm what is really there.
Other policies may apply. A broker may carry contingent liability coverage. The loader, the shop, the parts maker and a public agency may each have coverage of their own. On your side, you may have uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, medical payments coverage, and health insurance that pays your bills in the meantime. A lawyer should check all of it.
The limit on a policy is not always the limit on what can be recovered. In a different kind of case, a driver who hit two young girls in a crosswalk had only a small policy. Dean sued him personally, and the girls received well beyond the policy limit, in part from the driver's own assets. Many lawyers stop at the policy. We look further, and our guide on going beyond the other driver's insurance explains where.
Does the way the crash happened change my case?
Yes. Each kind of truck crash points to different evidence and sometimes to different people at fault.
Jackknife
The trailer swings out sideways, usually after hard braking or a skid, and sweeps across lanes. Speed, brake condition, the load and the road all matter. We cover it on our page about jackknife truck accidents.
Rear-end by a loaded truck
A truck that fails to slow for stopped traffic can flatten a car. We look at following distance, speed, alertness, phone use, and whether the brakes and any collision-warning system worked. Stop-and-go traffic where I-15 and US-95 meet downtown, the interchange locals call the Spaghetti Bowl, is where a distracted driver can get into trouble fast.
Wide turn and blind spot
Trucks swing wide to turn and have large blind areas on every side. The carrier will often say the car was in the driver's blind spot. A professional driver is trained to deal with those blind spots, and a blind spot does not automatically put the fault on you.
Tire blowout
Desert heat is hard on tires, and so are overloaded trailers, bad retreads and tires nobody checked. A blowout can send a truck across lanes. We want the tire, the inspection records and the name of whoever last touched it.
Rollover, lost load and underride
Curves, ramps, speed and unbalanced loads can tip a rig, and cargo that shifts or spills raises the question of who loaded it and who checked. In an underride crash, a car slides under the back or side of a trailer, and the trailer's guards, lights and reflective tape come into the case.
What if the trucking company says I was partly at fault?
They almost certainly will, and it does not end your case. Nevada uses a modified comparative negligence rule. Generally you can still recover if you are not more than 50 percent at fault, and your award is reduced by your share. If a jury puts you above 50 percent, you recover nothing. When more than one company is sued, your share of the blame is measured against the combined share of the companies you are suing, which is another reason to name everyone.
Expect the blind-spot argument, the sudden lane change argument, the argument that you braked too hard. The truck's data and any camera footage are what answer them. Facts that look bad to you on day one sometimes look very different once the black box is read.
Tell us everything, including the part you worry about. Tim hears this on calls all the time, people leaving out the thing they think will make them look bad because they are afraid we will not take the case. We would rather know on day one. Finding out in a deposition that you left something out is far worse than telling us tonight.
What will my injuries mean next year and ten years from now?
Only a doctor can tell you what your injuries mean, but truck crash injuries often last. Fractures need surgery and rehab. Brain injuries can change memory, mood and the ability to work, and they may not be obvious in the first days. Spinal injuries can mean permanent loss of movement. Our pages on traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury go deeper.
The legal point is simple and a little cruel. A case generally settles or goes to verdict once, and a release or a verdict is final. The future care you will need, the years of lost income, the change in what you can do with your kids all have to be priced before that happens. That takes more than adding up the bills so far.
In a serious case we bring in a life care planner who maps out what your care will likely cost over a lifetime, an economist who puts numbers on lost earnings, and doctors who can explain the injury to a jury. Dean hires experts from around the country when the case calls for it, and pays for clients to travel to see them. A person who is eighteen with a spinal injury and a person who is sixty with a broken leg do not have the same case.
If you cannot work, tell us. Tim and the team can help with the practical mess a crash makes, such as getting the car fixed or finding a rental, while we handle the case.
What is a truck accident case worth?
Nobody honest can give you a number on the first call. Anyone who does is guessing or selling.
What we can tell you is what drives the number. The seriousness and permanence of the injuries. Medical bills so far and the cost of future care. Lost income and lost earning power. Pain, disability and the things you can no longer do. How clearly the evidence shows fault. How much insurance is actually available and from how many sources. Whether the company's conduct was bad enough to support punitive damages. And how prepared the other side believes we are to try the case.
That last factor is real. Insurers keep track of which firms settle fast and which ones file suit and try cases. A first offer is a number built to close the file, and it assumes you will accept it because you need the money. Dean once tried a rear-end car case in which the insurer's final offer at mediation was exactly half of the medical bills, because it argued her bone condition made her half responsible for her own injuries. A small impact had broken bones that were already fragile. The jury awarded more than twenty times what the insurer had offered. The law generally makes a wrongdoer take the injured person as he finds her. That is why we do not recommend taking the first number.
None of that guarantees any result. You can see examples of past work on our results page, and results depend on the facts of each case.
What do the first week, the first month and the first year look like?
Here is the plain timeline, so nothing surprises you.
The first week
You are in the hospital or recovering at home. Your job is treatment and sleep. If you call us, we begin right away. We open the case, send preservation letters, and contact the insurers so they stop contacting you. We pull the police report from the Nevada Highway Patrol or the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, depending on where the crash happened. We work out where the truck is, who the carrier is, and who else may be involved, and we document the scene if evidence is still there.
The first month
Treatment becomes a routine of specialists and therapy. We gather medical records and bills, wage records from your employer, and photographs of your injuries. We request the trucking company's records, line up experts such as an accident reconstructionist and a trucking safety expert, and make sure the truck's data is handled properly. You keep treating, keep a short diary of pain and limits, and keep us informed.
The first year
Most people are still healing. The case is not ready to value until your doctors can say how far you are likely to recover, so we usually do not push a demand until then. If the insurers do not offer enough, we file suit in Clark County District Court, or in federal court in Las Vegas if the carrier moves it there, which out-of-state carriers sometimes try. A lawsuit means formal discovery, with the driver and company witnesses questioned under oath, inspections of the truck, medical examinations, and usually a mediation with a retired judge. Dean tells clients that the large majority of cases settle, and that settlement should come from a position of strength. Some do not settle, and we prepare every one as if it will be tried.
Truck cases often take longer than car cases. A year or two is common, and complicated ones run longer, because there are more parties and more evidence. We will not promise you a date. We will tell you where things stand.
What Nevada deadlines and rules can hurt my claim?
Several, and most are easy to miss.
Nevada generally gives you two years from the date of the crash to file a lawsuit for personal injury. For a wrongful death claim it is generally two years as well. There are exceptions, and a missed deadline usually ends the case, so do not guess about yours.
Claims against a state or local government have extra rules. If a road, a government vehicle or a public agency is involved, Nevada law calls for a written claim filed with the agency, limits how much can be recovered from a government entity, and does not allow punitive damages. The lawsuit still has its own deadline. If a city, county, school district or other public agency may be involved, tell us right away, because we look for any government connection early.
Punitive damages are possible when a defendant acted with conscious disregard for the safety of others, such as a company that knowingly kept an unfit driver on the road. They are limited by statute, they require a higher level of proof, and they are harder to reach against a company based on what an employee did. We evaluate that early, because it shapes what records we ask for.
Then there is a deadline you will not find in any statute. Some of the records that prove your case, such as the driver's logs, only have to be kept for six months, and a driver's vehicle inspection report only has to be kept for three. Waiting does not just risk the filing deadline. It risks the evidence.
What does it cost to hire a truck accident lawyer?
You do not pay us a fee until we recover money for you. Our fee is a percentage of the recovery, and it is written down in an agreement you review before you sign anything.
Truck cases are expensive to prepare, because reconstructionists, safety experts, doctors and life care planners cost real money. We advance those costs as the case goes. If a case does not work out, the money the firm put into it is the firm's loss and not yours. Ask us any question about fees on the first call. We would rather you hear it straight.
What happens when I call D.R. Patti & Associates?
A person answers. Tim, who has managed law offices for years and handles intake himself, takes the call. He starts by asking how you are doing and how this is affecting your home, your kids, your work. Then he asks what happened. He does not read from a seven-point checklist, and he does not ask how much money you want or if you are in a hurry, because we do not rush cases. You can read more about what happens when you call.
If you are in the hospital and cannot talk, a family member can call for you. If the call turns out to be a matter that does not need a lawyer, such as a collision with no injury, Tim will say so and give you a few pointers on dealing with the adjuster and the property damage. We do not sign up people who do not need us.
When a case does need us, a lawyer reviews it, the preservation letters go out, and you hear from us on what comes next. You will know who is handling your case and how to reach them.
What do we do differently from other Las Vegas truck accident firms?
We try cases, we spend what the case needs, and we know how the other side thinks.
Dean has been trying cases in Las Vegas for decades, and insurance companies know which firms file suit and which ones do not. When a company knows we will go to trial, its view of what a case is worth tends to change, and it changes sooner. Marc Naron and Troy Clark on our team are former insurance defense lawyers, so they know how adjusters and defense counsel build a file and where the weak points are. You can meet them on our attorneys page.
We also hire experts nationally when the case calls for it, and not just whoever is closest. A young man badly hurt at work was told by four different lawyers that there was nothing to be done. He came to Dean just before the statute of limitations ran. Dean took the case, put his own money into reconstruction and experts, and it ended with a settlement meant to care for him for life. We explain more of how we work on our why we fight page.
And we tell the truth. If you do not have a case, we will say so on the phone. If an offer is good, we will tell you to take it. If it is not, we will tell you that too, and the decision is always yours.
What if someone died in the truck crash?
Then we are sorry, and you do not have to think about any of this tonight. When you are ready, a wrongful death claim can be brought for the family, and the same evidence rules apply, with the same urgency. Our page on fatal truck accidents explains who can bring the claim and what it can cover.
If you do one thing tonight
Here is a short list for tonight, written for someone who is exhausted.
- Do not give any recorded statement, and do not sign anything from an insurer.
- Keep every bill, receipt and piece of paper, and keep a short note on how you feel each day.
- Tell your doctors everything, and keep going to appointments.
- Call us before the trucking company's records are gone.
Call (702) 500-7070 for a free case review. If you are not ready to talk, a family member can call for you. Either way, nothing about this has to be figured out alone.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have a case if the truck driver says the crash was my fault?
Possibly, yes. Drivers almost always tell their side first, and that account is often wrong or incomplete. We look at the truck's electronic data, any camera footage, the police report, physical evidence and witnesses before anyone decides who caused what. Even when a jury finds you partly at fault, Nevada law generally lets you recover as long as you are not more than 50 percent responsible. Call us before you accept anyone's version of events, including your own doubts.
What is the average settlement for a Las Vegas truck accident?
There is no reliable average, because truck cases range from modest to enormous depending on the injuries, the evidence and the insurance available. Websites that quote averages are usually guessing. A better question is what factors move a case up or down, such as permanent injury, future care, lost income, clear fault and several sources of insurance. We can talk through those factors on your first call without promising a figure.
How long do I have to file a truck accident lawsuit in Nevada?
Generally two years from the date of the crash for a personal injury claim, and generally two years for a wrongful death claim as well. Claims involving a government agency come with extra claim requirements and damage limits, and other exceptions exist. The practical deadline is sooner, because some trucking records and electronic data may be discarded within months. If you are close to two years, call right away.
Should I talk to the trucking company's insurance adjuster?
Not before you speak with a lawyer. The adjuster works for the company and is trained to gather statements that limit what the insurer pays. You can generally decline a recorded statement and tell them you will call back. Be polite, give your name and say a lawyer will be in touch. Your own insurer is different, because your policy may require you to cooperate, so call us before that conversation too.
What if I was partly at fault for the crash?
You can still recover in many cases. Nevada follows a modified comparative negligence rule under which you generally recover if your share of fault is 50 percent or less, and your award is reduced by that share. Trucking companies often claim the other driver was in a blind spot or changed lanes suddenly. We test those claims against the truck's data and video. Tell us everything, even the parts you worry about.
Should I sue the truck driver or the trucking company?
Often both, and sometimes others. The driver is generally responsible for his own negligence, and the company may be responsible for what the driver does on the job and for its own failures in hiring, training, supervision and maintenance. The company usually has far more insurance than the driver. We also look at brokers, loaders, repair shops and parts makers, because leaving a responsible party out can reduce your recovery.
What is a black box and why does it matter in my case?
Most heavy trucks have an engine control module that can record speed, braking, throttle and engine data, and in some trucks a snapshot of the seconds before a hard stop. It can show how fast the truck was going and whether the driver braked, which is hard for a driver to argue with. It can also be overwritten or lost, so we send a preservation letter and push for a proper download.
What is a spoliation letter and when do you send it?
It is a written notice telling the trucking company, the driver and their insurers to keep all evidence connected to the crash, such as the truck, its data, logs, camera footage, maintenance records and the driver's file. We send it within days of being hired, because evidence can be overwritten or discarded on routine schedules. If a party destroys evidence after getting the letter, a court may sanction it.
What if the driver was an independent contractor or owner-operator?
It does not necessarily protect the trucking company. Many owner-operators haul under a carrier's name and operating authority, and federal leasing rules generally put responsibility on that carrier. Companies still argue that the driver was on his own, so we look closely at the lease, the dispatch records, who controlled the work and whose name was on the truck. We also look at other responsible parties.
Can a freight broker be sued after a truck accident?
Sometimes. A broker that hired a carrier with a poor safety record or no valid authority may face a claim for negligent selection. Whether a particular broker can be held responsible depends on the facts, and we do not promise that a broker can be reached.
What if the trucking company is based in another state?
Plenty of carriers on our roads are from California, Utah, Arizona and farther away. You can generally still bring a claim here if the crash happened in Nevada. The carrier may try to move the case from state court to federal court in Las Vegas, and its insurer and lawyers may be elsewhere. It makes quick action and local trial experience more important, not less.
What if the trucking company says I was in the driver's blind spot?
Professional drivers are trained to know their blind spots and to check mirrors, signal and leave room. A blind spot does not automatically put the fault on you. Fault depends on who moved, when and how, and the answer is often in the truck's data and camera footage. Even if you were partly in a no-zone, you may still recover under Nevada's comparative fault rule if you are not more than 50 percent responsible.
Will my neck and back pain go away after a truck crash?
Sometimes, but not always, and nobody can promise either way. Soft-tissue pain may fade with treatment, and some injuries turn out to be herniated discs or nerve damage that need more care. Get examined, tell your doctors about every symptom, follow the treatment plan and do not skip appointments. Gaps in care and missing complaints are what insurers use to argue the pain was minor.
Can I get paid for future medical care?
Yes, in many cases. A claim can include the reasonable cost of care you are likely to need later, such as surgeries, therapy, medication and home modifications. Doctors and sometimes a life care planner help establish what is needed and what it will cost. This matters because a settlement or verdict generally closes the claim for good, so future needs have to be accounted for before you resolve it.
What if I cannot work while I heal?
Lost income is a recoverable part of a claim, along with any lasting loss of earning ability. Keep pay stubs, tax records and notes from your doctor about work restrictions. Tell your employer what you can and cannot do. Short term, a lawyer cannot make money appear, but we can help with practical problems like medical billing, and we will talk with you about options for managing in the meantime.
How do I pay medical bills while my case is pending?
People use health insurance, medical payments coverage on their own auto policy, or providers who agree to wait for the outcome of the case. Do not ignore bills or let accounts go to collections without telling us. We help sort out who pays what and negotiate bills and liens near the end of the case. Ask us on the first call, because the answer depends on your coverage.
Will I have to go to court?
Probably not, but possibly. Most injury cases settle, often at mediation with a retired judge, and many never reach trial. Some trucking companies refuse to be fair until a lawsuit is filed and a trial date is near. If yours does, we prepare as though it will be tried, and Dean does not shy from trial. You will not go into a courtroom unprepared.
How long will my truck accident case take?
Often longer than a car case, commonly a year or two and sometimes more, because there are more parties, more records and more experts. We generally cannot responsibly value a case until your doctors know how far you are likely to recover. Rushing to settle too early is how people leave money behind. We will keep you informed on where things stand.
How much does it cost to hire you?
You pay no attorney fee until we recover money for you. Our fee is a percentage of any recovery, set out in a written agreement before you sign. We advance the costs of preparing the case, including experts, and if the case does not succeed those advanced costs are the firm's loss. We can explain the details on a free call before you decide anything.
Can punitive damages apply in a truck accident case?
Sometimes. Punitive damages are meant to punish conduct such as conscious disregard for safety, for example a carrier that knowingly kept an unsafe driver on the road or told its drivers to falsify logs. Nevada limits them by statute, requires a high standard of proof, and makes them harder to recover against a company for an employee's acts. We look for the evidence early, because it shapes what we ask for.
What if a family member died in a truck accident?
A wrongful death claim can be brought by the heirs and the estate, and it generally has a two-year deadline. The claim can cover funeral costs, loss of support and loss of companionship. Do not let anyone from the trucking company talk you into signing anything in the first weeks. Call us when you are ready.
What if it was a delivery van or box truck and not an 18-wheeler?
You may still have a strong claim. Delivery companies and commercial fleets owe duties to the public, and their drivers, vehicles and records can be examined much like those of a semi. The insurance and the federal rules that apply can differ with the size of the vehicle. Our delivery truck accidents page covers those cases in more depth.
Do I need a lawyer if my injuries seem minor?
Not always. If you were not hurt and only need your car fixed, you may not need a lawyer, and we will tell you that. But injuries from a truck impact can appear days later, and a quick release from the trucking company's insurer can end your claim. If you have any pain at all, get checked and call us before you sign anything.
What if I already gave a recorded statement or signed something?
Do not panic, and do not give any more statements. A recorded statement can often be explained, and many releases can be addressed depending on what they say. Tell us exactly what you said and signed, and bring copies if you have them. The earlier we know, the more we can do. Do not sign anything further before we have looked at it.
How do I know a lawyer will really take my case to trial?
Ask directly, and ask how many cases the lawyers have tried to a jury. A firm that settles everything may not be prepared for it, and insurers know the difference. At our firm, members of the trial team have tried many cases, and Dean will take a case to trial when a fair offer is not made. Look at the lawyers' history and ask to meet them.
Last updated November 5, 2026. This page gives general information about Nevada personal injury law. It is not legal advice about your situation, and reading it does not make us your lawyers.