A passenger car weighs about 4,000 pounds. A fully loaded tractor-trailer can weigh 80,000. When those two meet on a Houston freeway, the people in the smaller vehicle pay for the difference in broken bones, brain injuries, and worse.
A truck crash brings in a motor carrier, its insurer, and federal safety rules; and the carrier’s investigators can reach the scene within hours, working to protect the company, not you. That is why these cases turn on early evidence, and why handling one like an ordinary fender-bender costs you.
Surgery, a trauma stay, lost work, a death, or a carrier already calling you. The more serious the harm, the harder the company fights, and the wider the gap between its first offer and the real number.
If nobody was hurt and the damage is minor, you might handle it yourself. We will tell you that on the free call instead of signing you up for a case you do not need.
Get safe, get treated, and protect the proof; with a commercial truck, the most important evidence can be erased within days.
Not sure what to do next? Call (713) 804-4774Adrenaline hides concussions and internal bleeding. An ER visit, Memorial Hermann or Ben Taub for anything serious, ties your injuries to the crash from day one.
Shoot the tractor, the trailer, and the placards, and capture the company name, the DOT number on the door, and the plate. Get the driver’s details and any witness’s name.
HPD or DPS files it, and the CR-3 through TxDOT is the official record of what happened. Order it and read it for errors before they harden into the story.
The carrier’s insurer calls fast and sounds friendly. You are not required to give a statement; wait until a lawyer is in your corner.
The engine control module and the driver’s logs can be overwritten. A lawyer can send a preservation letter that day, before the proof disappears.
With a big rig, the clock is the enemy. The logs, the camera footage, the truck’s own computer; all of it can be gone before you have caught your breath. Call early so we can lock it down. Then focus on getting better while we build the rest.
Laura Rivas · Senior Associate Attorney · 18-wheeler & catastrophic injury
Two rules shape almost every Texas claim. First, the deadline: you generally have two years from the crash to file suit (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003). Miss it and the claim is usually gone for good.
Second, fault. Your recovery is reduced by your share of the blame, and the moment that share passes 50%, you recover nothing (§ 33.001). Carriers know this, so they push blame onto you. Drag the slider to see how it works.
At 20% at fault, you keep $800,000 of the example.
A simplified illustration only. More than 50% at fault bars recovery (§ 33.001). Your real number depends on liability, the coverage we can reach, and the full value of your injuries, which your attorney reviews with you.
A car wreck usually has one defendant. A truck wreck can have several, and each one carries its own insurance and its own records. We trace the whole chain, then demand the proof from every link.
The carrier that put the truck on the road.
What we subpoena
Fatigue, speed, or a phone behind the wheel.
What we subpoena
Overloaded or badly secured cargo.
What we subpoena
Bad brakes, bald tires, skipped service.
What we subpoena
A tire, coupling, or brake that failed.
What we subpoena
Who hired an unsafe carrier to haul the load.
What we subpoena
The independent contractor dodge: carriers often claim the driver was “just a contractor” to wash their hands of the crash. That label rarely ends the case. Under federal law a motor carrier can stay responsible for a driver operating under its authority, and we look at control, dispatch, and the lease rather than the wording on a form.
Every interstate trucking company answers to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. When a carrier breaks one of these rules, that violation is more than a fine; it is evidence of negligence we can put in front of a jury. Here is what we look for, and what we demand to prove it.
Limits on how long a driver can be behind the wheel before rest. Fatigue is one of the leading causes of truck crashes.
ELD data against the paper logs, plus dispatch records that show the real schedule.
The carrier must screen, license, and medically clear every driver. Gaps point to negligent hiring.
The full driver qualification file: application, driving record, medical card, and test results.
Trucks must be inspected, repaired, and kept road-ready. Bad brakes and worn tires turn up again and again.
Maintenance logs, driver inspection reports, and the annual inspection records.
Freight must be loaded and tied down so it cannot shift, spill, or unbalance the trailer.
Loading records, weight tickets, and the cargo manifest for the haul.
A carrier that skipped a brake inspection or pushed a tired driver past the federal limit has handed you proof. The hard part is forcing the records into the open before they are “lost.” For more than a decade I worked the other side of that fight; now I make the company show its file.
Matthew Graham · Managing Litigation Attorney · Former insurance defense director
Truck crashes do not cause ordinary injuries. The weight and force involved leave the kind of harm that reshapes a life, so a full claim has to account for the care you will need for years, not just this month’s bills.
A blow or violent jolt can cause lasting trouble with memory, focus, mood, and the ability to work. Symptoms sometimes surface days later, which is why early care matters.
Damage to the spinal cord can mean partial or complete paralysis and a lifetime of adapted care, equipment, and lost independence.
Crush forces and entrapment can cost an arm or a leg, bringing prosthetics, rehabilitation, and a long adjustment to everyday life.
Internal bleeding and organ injury are common in high-force collisions, and they can be life-threatening without fast diagnosis.
Broken bones from a truck impact often need surgery, hardware, and months of therapy, and some never fully heal.
Fuel fires and hazmat loads can cause serious burns that require skin grafts, repeated surgery, and lasting scarring.
This is general information about injuries common in truck crashes, not medical advice; see a doctor for your own care. When a crash is fatal, Texas law lets the family bring a wrongful death claim.
Truck wrecks tend to cause the kind of harm that does not heal on a 30-day schedule. A full claim covers what the crash has already cost you and what it will keep costing for years. Each piece has to be documented; here is what that looks like.
Emergency treatment, surgery, hospital stays, and the rehab ahead.
Documented with bills and a physician’s care plan.The paychecks you missed and the future income a lasting injury takes.
Documented with pay records and an economist’s report.For catastrophic injuries: the long-term cost of equipment, therapy, and in-home help.
Documented with a certified life-care planner.The physical pain and the daily toll the crash takes on your life.
Documented with records, journals, and testimony.Scarring, amputation, and the loss of what your body used to do.
Documented with an impairment rating.Funeral costs, lost support, and the companionship a family is owed after a death.
Brought as a wrongful death and survival claim.The total turns on your injuries, the fault split, and how much coverage we can reach across every responsible party, including your own UM/UIM policy. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Houston moves more freight than almost any city in the country, and that traffic concentrates on a handful of corridors. Knowing how trucks behave on each one shapes the camera footage we chase and the experts we bring in.
The main truck route across the metro. The I-10 and Loop 610 interchange is one of the busiest truck exchange points in Texas, where speed gaps between merging rigs and commuters set up rear-end and lane-change wrecks.
The spine that carries port freight north and south. Heavy truck volume meets dense commuter traffic, and I-45 has long ranked among the deadliest highways in the country.
Short ramps and constant merging force loaded trucks to brake and weave around the inner loop. Interchanges with I-10, I-45, and US-59 are recurring crash clusters.
Years of widening have mixed construction zones, shifting lanes, and freight headed for the Beltway. Work-zone truck crashes are a particular danger here.
The artery to the ship channel and its refineries, thick with tankers and hazardous loads. A hazmat crash here adds federal duties and, sometimes, exposure and chemical-injury claims on top of the collision.
Drayage trucks shuttle containers from Barbours Cut and Bayport along the Beltway at all hours. Several companies can share blame on one of these loads: the carrier, the terminal, and the shipper.
Local matters. Two trauma centers, Memorial Hermann and Ben Taub, anchor the region’s response to the worst of these crashes. Where your wreck happened guides everything from which agency’s footage we request to which corridor experts we call.
Corridor patterns reflect TxDOT and Port Houston freight data; per-corridor crash counts are confirmed against TxDOT CRIS during case review.You do not pay as we go, and you are not left guessing. Here is the path from your first call to a resolution.
Start with a free review: (713) 804-4774We listen, answer your questions, and tell you honestly whether you have a claim. No fee to talk, and no fee unless we win.
We send a spoliation letter so the carrier cannot wipe the truck’s data, then move to secure the ELD, the ECM download, dashcam, and the maintenance file.
You focus on recovery while we gather records and line up the experts who can put a number on your injuries.
We package the liability proof, the federal violations, and your full damages into a demand the carrier and its insurer have to answer.
We file suit and depose the driver, the safety director, and the company’s witnesses, pulling the records they hoped to keep quiet.
Most cases settle once the proof is undeniable. If the offer is not fair, we are ready to put it to a jury.
The same moves come up in case after case. Knowing them ahead of time is half the battle.
An adjuster reaches out within days asking for a “quick recorded statement.” It is built to lock you into words that shrink your claim. You do not have to give one.
The company tries to cut the driver loose so its deeper insurance is off the hook. We test that against the control and the contract, not the label.
Expect to hear you were speeding or in the blind spot. Under Texas comparative fault, every point of blame they push onto you cuts your recovery, so we push back with the data.
A check arrives before you know the full extent of your injuries. Cash it and the claim is usually closed. We wait until the real cost is clear.
These are recoveries the firm has secured in 18-wheeler cases. Every truck claim is different, and these outcomes do not promise anything about yours; they show the kind of result this work can reach when the proof is built right.
Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future case. Every matter is judged on its own facts. Results reflect the gross recovery before fees, costs, and expenses.
When a truck takes someone you love, no number makes it right. What we can do is force the company to answer for it and make sure your family is not left carrying the cost of someone else’s negligence. I started this firm to stand between people and the machinery that grinds them down, and that is still the whole job: your recovery, your stability, your future.
Josh Alexander · Founder & Managing Attorney · United States Marine Corps veteran
Three attorneys with complementary strengths: a founder who fights, a litigator who knows the defense playbook from the inside, and an associate who keeps clients informed in their own language.
Meet the full team →Leads the firm’s most serious 18-wheeler and catastrophic injury cases, and sets the strategy for taking carriers to trial.
Runs the litigation side and the discovery fights that pry loose a carrier’s records, drawing on years spent defending these same companies.
Handles 18-wheeler and serious injury claims and keeps clients informed at every step, in English or Spanish.
Straight answers to what people ask us most. Still unsure? A real attorney will talk it through, free.
The call is free, it is confidential, and there is no fee unless we win. The sooner we start, the more of the truck’s evidence we can save.
No fee unless we win. Hablamos español; llame para una consulta gratis.
