Commercial Truck Crashes Are Different More Evidence, More Defendants, and More at Stake

A crash involving a commercial truck is not a bigger version of a car accident. It is a different kind of case. The injuries are typically more severe. The defendants, driver, motor carrier, sometimes a broker or manufacturer, have more sophisticated legal teams. The evidence is more complex and vanishes faster. And the federal regulations that govern commercial trucking create an entirely separate layer of rules that most Michigan auto accident attorneys simply don’t know. Scott Reizen does. He has spent over two decades handling these cases, with an insider’s understanding of how trucking insurers and their defense teams operate.

What Michigan and Federal Law Say About Trucking Accident Claims

Commercial truck crashes involve two distinct legal frameworks: Michigan tort law and federal regulations governing the trucking industry.

Under Michigan law, the same No-Fault Act that applies to car accidents applies here. The injured person’s own PIP coverage handles medical and wage loss regardless of fault. For pain, suffering, and noneconomic damages, the serious impairment threshold under MCL 500.3135 must be met, and the at-fault driver must be 50% or more responsible under MCL 600.2959. The statute of limitations is three years under MCL 600.5805.

What distinguishes trucking cases is the federal layer. Vehicles over 10,001 pounds operating in interstate commerce fall under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulations, 49 CFR Parts 350,399. Those regulations govern how long a truck driver can be behind the wheel, what records must be kept, and what qualifications a driver must hold.

FMCSA Hours of Service rules (49 CFR Part 395) limit commercial truck drivers to 11 hours of actual driving within a 14-hour work window, require a 30-minute break after 8 hours on duty, and cap total weekly driving at 60-70 hours. When a driver violates these rules, and when a carrier knowingly permits those violations, the result can be a fatigued driver at the wheel of an 80,000-pound vehicle.

Federal regulations also require trucking companies to maintain driver qualification files, drug and alcohol testing records, vehicle maintenance logs, and Electronic Logging Device (ELD) records. These are the documents that tell the story of a crash, and carriers are required to retain them for one to five years depending on the category.

How Trucking Accident Cases Work in Michigan

The first 48-72 hours after a serious truck crash are critical. Trucking companies and their insurers have experienced response teams sometimes called “go teams” that dispatch to crash scenes to preserve evidence favorable to the carrier and document the scene before it changes. The injured person and their attorney need to move at the same pace.

A spoliation letter, a written demand that the carrier preserve all potentially relevant evidence,” must go out immediately. This includes ELD records, dispatch logs, driver logs, cell phone records, drug and alcohol test results, pre-trip inspection reports, maintenance records, and the truck’s Electronic Control Module (ECM) data, sometimes called the “black box.” ECM data captures speed, braking, and other critical operational data at the moment of impact. Without a prompt preservation demand, that data can be overwritten or lost within days.

The defendants in a trucking case can include the driver personally, the motor carrier, a staffing company that supplied the driver, a shipper that overloaded the vehicle, a maintenance company that serviced the truck, or a manufacturer if a component failure contributed to the crash. Identifying all of them, and preserving claims against each, requires moving quickly.

Trucking insurers are not passive. They carry large policy limits and have litigation departments experienced in managing exactly these claims. Low early offers are common. So is aggressive discovery designed to find fault with the injured person.

What The Reizen Law Group Does Differently

Scott’s time on the defense side of commercial vehicle claims taught him how the response process works when a carrier and their insurer go into “protect the asset” mode. He knows that go teams are real, that preservation battles are won and lost in the first 72 hours, and that the records which matter most are also the records most likely to disappear.

Scott moves quickly after a trucking crash. Spoliation letters go out the day he takes the case. He works with accident reconstruction experts who understand federal trucking regulations and can translate the ELD data, ECM records, and driver logs into a clear, compelling account of what happened and why.

He also knows how to pursue claims against the carrier, not just the driver. Driver negligence alone is often not the full picture. Carriers that pressure drivers to violate hours-of-service rules, fail to conduct proper hiring screening, or ignore maintenance obligations bear independent responsibility. Those institutional failures can significantly change the value of a case.

Former Insurance Defense. Now Fighting for the Injured.

Common Trucking Accident Scenarios

  • Fatigue-related crashes: Hours-of-service violations; ELD data shows the full picture
  • Overloaded or improperly loaded trucks: Shifting cargo, brake failure, rollover risk
  • Inadequate truck maintenance: Brake defects, tire blowouts, light failures
  • Distracted or impaired drivers: Federal drug/alcohol testing requirements exist for a reason
  • Improper lane changes and blind spot crashes: Commercial trucks have substantial blind zones
  • Jackknife and rollover accidents: High-speed or sudden maneuver crashes with catastrophic results
  • Underride accidents: When a passenger vehicle slides under a truck’s trailer often fatal

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do I need to act so quickly after a truck accident?

Federal regulations require carriers to retain ELD records, driver logs, and other evidence, but retention periods have limits, and data can be overwritten or “lost” if not immediately preserved. A spoliation letter creates a legal obligation to preserve that evidence. Carriers and their insurers move fast after a crash; you should too.

Who can be held responsible in a trucking accident?

Liability can extend beyond the driver to the motor carrier (usually under respondeat superior for employee drivers, or negligent hiring/supervision for contractors), the cargo shipper if improper loading contributed, a maintenance company if equipment failure played a role, and in rare cases the truck manufacturer if a defect was involved. Identifying all responsible parties early is essential.

What federal regulations apply to truck drivers?

FMCSA Hours of Service rules (49 CFR Part 395) govern driving time, required breaks, and weekly limits. Separate regulations cover driver qualifications (49 CFR Part 391), controlled substances testing (49 CFR Part 382), vehicle maintenance (49 CFR Part 396), and many others. Violations of these regulations can establish negligence per se.

The truck driver works for a large national carrier. Does that make my case harder?

Larger carriers have more sophisticated defense teams and larger budgets for litigation. That’s a real consideration. But large carriers also have more assets, larger policy limits, and, critically, more institutional processes that can go wrong. Scott has handled these cases and knows that size alone doesn’t make a carrier’s case stronger.

What is ECM data and why does it matter?

A truck’s Electronic Control Module is essentially a data recorder that captures vehicle speed, throttle position, brake application, and other operational parameters in the seconds before a crash. It can directly contradict a driver’s account of what happened. That’s why it has to be preserved immediately.

My PIP will cover my medical bills. Do I still need to pursue a trucking company?

Your PIP covers medical and wage loss up to your policy limit. But trucking accident injuries are often catastrophic, the kind that exhaust even a $500,000 PIP policy. A third-party claim against the carrier is the path to full compensation for everything beyond what PIP covers, including noneconomic damages, excess medical, and long-term care.

Talk to Scott

Trucking accidents demand immediate action and a thorough understanding of both Michigan law and federal trucking regulations. Scott Reizen has spent over two decades handling commercial vehicle claims, with an insider’s knowledge of how carriers and their insurers respond and what it takes to hold them accountable. Thousands of cases resolved. No fee unless we win. Call (248) 554-3440 today.

Trucking Accidents

Commercial Truck Crashes Are Different More Evidence, More Defendants, and More at Stake

A crash involving a commercial truck is not a bigger version of a car accident. It is a different kind of case. The injuries are typically more severe. The defendants, driver, motor carrier, sometimes a broker or manufacturer, have more sophisticated legal teams. The evidence is more complex and vanishes faster. And the federal regulations that govern commercial trucking create an entirely separate layer of rules that most Michigan auto accident attorneys simply don’t know. Scott Reizen does. He has spent over two decades handling these cases, with an insider’s understanding of how trucking insurers and their defense teams operate.

What Michigan and Federal Law Say About Trucking Accident Claims

Commercial truck crashes involve two distinct legal frameworks: Michigan tort law and federal regulations governing the trucking industry.

Under Michigan law, the same No-Fault Act that applies to car accidents applies here. The injured person’s own PIP coverage handles medical and wage loss regardless of fault. For pain, suffering, and noneconomic damages, the serious impairment threshold under MCL 500.3135 must be met, and the at-fault driver must be 50% or more responsible under MCL 600.2959. The statute of limitations is three years under MCL 600.5805.

What distinguishes trucking cases is the federal layer. Vehicles over 10,001 pounds operating in interstate commerce fall under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulations, 49 CFR Parts 350,399. Those regulations govern how long a truck driver can be behind the wheel, what records must be kept, and what qualifications a driver must hold.

FMCSA Hours of Service rules (49 CFR Part 395) limit commercial truck drivers to 11 hours of actual driving within a 14-hour work window, require a 30-minute break after 8 hours on duty, and cap total weekly driving at 60-70 hours. When a driver violates these rules, and when a carrier knowingly permits those violations, the result can be a fatigued driver at the wheel of an 80,000-pound vehicle.

Federal regulations also require trucking companies to maintain driver qualification files, drug and alcohol testing records, vehicle maintenance logs, and Electronic Logging Device (ELD) records. These are the documents that tell the story of a crash, and carriers are required to retain them for one to five years depending on the category.

How Trucking Accident Cases Work in Michigan

The first 48-72 hours after a serious truck crash are critical. Trucking companies and their insurers have experienced response teams sometimes called “go teams” that dispatch to crash scenes to preserve evidence favorable to the carrier and document the scene before it changes. The injured person and their attorney need to move at the same pace.

A spoliation letter, a written demand that the carrier preserve all potentially relevant evidence,” must go out immediately. This includes ELD records, dispatch logs, driver logs, cell phone records, drug and alcohol test results, pre-trip inspection reports, maintenance records, and the truck’s Electronic Control Module (ECM) data, sometimes called the “black box.” ECM data captures speed, braking, and other critical operational data at the moment of impact. Without a prompt preservation demand, that data can be overwritten or lost within days.

The defendants in a trucking case can include the driver personally, the motor carrier, a staffing company that supplied the driver, a shipper that overloaded the vehicle, a maintenance company that serviced the truck, or a manufacturer if a component failure contributed to the crash. Identifying all of them, and preserving claims against each, requires moving quickly.

Trucking insurers are not passive. They carry large policy limits and have litigation departments experienced in managing exactly these claims. Low early offers are common. So is aggressive discovery designed to find fault with the injured person.

What The Reizen Law Group Does Differently

Scott’s time on the defense side of commercial vehicle claims taught him how the response process works when a carrier and their insurer go into “protect the asset” mode. He knows that go teams are real, that preservation battles are won and lost in the first 72 hours, and that the records which matter most are also the records most likely to disappear.

Scott moves quickly after a trucking crash. Spoliation letters go out the day he takes the case. He works with accident reconstruction experts who understand federal trucking regulations and can translate the ELD data, ECM records, and driver logs into a clear, compelling account of what happened and why.

He also knows how to pursue claims against the carrier, not just the driver. Driver negligence alone is often not the full picture. Carriers that pressure drivers to violate hours-of-service rules, fail to conduct proper hiring screening, or ignore maintenance obligations bear independent responsibility. Those institutional failures can significantly change the value of a case.

Former Insurance Defense. Now Fighting for the Injured.

Common Trucking Accident Scenarios

  • Fatigue-related crashes: Hours-of-service violations; ELD data shows the full picture
  • Overloaded or improperly loaded trucks: Shifting cargo, brake failure, rollover risk
  • Inadequate truck maintenance: Brake defects, tire blowouts, light failures
  • Distracted or impaired drivers: Federal drug/alcohol testing requirements exist for a reason
  • Improper lane changes and blind spot crashes: Commercial trucks have substantial blind zones
  • Jackknife and rollover accidents: High-speed or sudden maneuver crashes with catastrophic results
  • Underride accidents: When a passenger vehicle slides under a truck’s trailer often fatal

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do I need to act so quickly after a truck accident?

Federal regulations require carriers to retain ELD records, driver logs, and other evidence, but retention periods have limits, and data can be overwritten or “lost” if not immediately preserved. A spoliation letter creates a legal obligation to preserve that evidence. Carriers and their insurers move fast after a crash; you should too.

Who can be held responsible in a trucking accident?

Liability can extend beyond the driver to the motor carrier (usually under respondeat superior for employee drivers, or negligent hiring/supervision for contractors), the cargo shipper if improper loading contributed, a maintenance company if equipment failure played a role, and in rare cases the truck manufacturer if a defect was involved. Identifying all responsible parties early is essential.

What federal regulations apply to truck drivers?

FMCSA Hours of Service rules (49 CFR Part 395) govern driving time, required breaks, and weekly limits. Separate regulations cover driver qualifications (49 CFR Part 391), controlled substances testing (49 CFR Part 382), vehicle maintenance (49 CFR Part 396), and many others. Violations of these regulations can establish negligence per se.

The truck driver works for a large national carrier. Does that make my case harder?

Larger carriers have more sophisticated defense teams and larger budgets for litigation. That’s a real consideration. But large carriers also have more assets, larger policy limits, and, critically, more institutional processes that can go wrong. Scott has handled these cases and knows that size alone doesn’t make a carrier’s case stronger.

What is ECM data and why does it matter?

A truck’s Electronic Control Module is essentially a data recorder that captures vehicle speed, throttle position, brake application, and other operational parameters in the seconds before a crash. It can directly contradict a driver’s account of what happened. That’s why it has to be preserved immediately.

My PIP will cover my medical bills. Do I still need to pursue a trucking company?

Your PIP covers medical and wage loss up to your policy limit. But trucking accident injuries are often catastrophic, the kind that exhaust even a $500,000 PIP policy. A third-party claim against the carrier is the path to full compensation for everything beyond what PIP covers, including noneconomic damages, excess medical, and long-term care.

Talk to Scott

Trucking accidents demand immediate action and a thorough understanding of both Michigan law and federal trucking regulations. Scott Reizen has spent over two decades handling commercial vehicle claims, with an insider’s knowledge of how carriers and their insurers respond and what it takes to hold them accountable. Thousands of cases resolved. No fee unless we win. Call (248) 554-3440 today.