A semi-truck rear-ends your vehicle on I-35E. You’re injured, your car is wrecked, and the trucking company already has people working to protect its side. You need someone who can stand up to the insurer, its investigators, and lawyers. That’s where a Texas truck accident lawyer can help.
Trucking cases don’t move like regular car wrecks. Federal rules, multiple insurance policies, electronic logging device data, and corporate defense teams can turn a rear-end crash into a serious fight before the injured person even knows what happened.
DFW Injury Lawyers is built for this kind of fight. We’ll take the calls, lock down evidence, and push insurers if they try to undervalue your claim. Call (888) 231-1341 or connect with our team online for free before you sign anything or give a statement to the insurer.
Why Choose DFW Injury Lawyers for Your Texas Truck Crash
Our trial attorneys build every truck file as if it’s headed to a courtroom. Carriers and their insurers track which firms actually try cases, and that affects how an adjuster handles the case.
Clients Come First
Our team prioritizes you. We’ll help you get medical care and a treatment plan. When you work with DFW Injury Lawyers, you get experienced attorneys who actually care about your health and recovery.
Communication You Can Actually Reach
You call, we answer. Our clients work with the same attorney from intake to resolution — no rotating firms or months of silence after the contract gets signed.
DFW Roots, Statewide Reach
From our Dallas HQ, DFW Injury Lawyers handles truck accident cases across Texas. We know the roads where these wrecks happen, from I-30 and the LBJ corridor to major freight routes across the state.
Call (888) 231-1341 or send us a message through the online form to get started for free.
What Does a Texas Truck Accident Lawyer Do?
A Texas truck accident lawyer locks down the trucking company’s records, identifies every party that may share fault, and handles the insurers so you don’t have to.
That means sending preservation demands for ELD and black box data, reading every layer of commercial coverage, and building the medical and financial proof behind your claim.
When a carrier won’t pay what your case is worth, your lawyer can file suit and take it to a Texas jury.
5 Steps To Take After a Texas Truck Wreck
After a Texas truck wreck, get medical treatment, avoid speaking with the insurer, and contact an attorney. Trucking companies move quickly to protect themselves after a serious crash. A Texas truck accident lawyer helps you protect the evidence, avoid costly mistakes, and start building your claim immediately.
After a Texas truck wreck:
- Get Medical Treatment Right Away: Delaying treatment gives the insurance company room to argue that your injuries are not serious or came from something else. DFW Injury Lawyers helps clients get a medical visit and a documented treatment plan within 24 hours.
- Don’t Speak With the Insurer: Adjusters start building defenses early, and recorded statements often get used against injured people later. Let your lawyer handle those conversations for you.
- Keep Evidence From the Crash: Photos of the vehicles, road conditions, injuries, and debris can become important evidence later. Keep your medical paperwork, repair estimates, and any communication related to the wreck.
- Stay Off Social Media: Insurance companies look for photos, comments, and posts they can twist to minimize injuries or challenge your credibility.
- Contact an Attorney: Commercial truck accident cases can involve black box data, electronic logging device records, dashcam footage, maintenance files, and dispatch records, but it’s very hard to get that evidence without a lawyer.
DFW Injury Lawyers can send preservation letters to secure this crucial evidence and put pressure on the trucking company before critical information disappears.
Texas Truck Accident Statistics
Commercial trucks play a major role on Texas roads, and the crash numbers show why these cases deserve fast, serious attention. In 2024, TxDOT reported 39,393 crashes involving commercial motor vehicles, which caused 608 deaths and 1,601 suspected serious injuries.
Texas keeps the country moving. Commercial trucks haul freight through Dallas-Fort Worth, move oilfield equipment across West Texas, carry cargo through Houston ports, and deliver goods to growing cities and small towns across the state.
That constant truck traffic means serious wrecks happen everywhere—not just on I-35 or I-45, but also on rural highways, county roads, construction zones, and smaller roads running through places like Midland, Tyler, Waco, McAllen, and Amarillo. Rural crashes accounted for 50.12% of all Texas traffic deaths in 2024.
Types of Commercial Truck Accidents in Texas
The type of truck involved in the crash can shape the entire case. Different vehicles create different safety issues, insurance questions, maintenance obligations, and evidence problems. A crash involving an oilfield truck outside Odessa may look very different from a delivery truck collision in Arlington or a tractor-trailer wreck near downtown Dallas.
That’s why DFW Injury Lawyers investigates the truck, the company behind it, and the records tied to the vehicle as early as possible.
Types of commercial truck accidents include:
- 18-Wheelers: These large trucks often cause catastrophic injuries because of their size, weight, and required stopping distance.
- Delivery Trucks: These vehicles may involve company drivers, tight delivery schedules, and commercial insurance policies.
- Oil and Gas Trucks: When a crash happens, these trucks can raise serious questions about cargo, maintenance, driver training, and company safety practices.
- Box Trucks: These trucks often operate in city traffic and are used by businesses, contractors, or third-party delivery companies.
- Dump Trucks: These vehicles can cause serious crashes when drivers, contractors, or companies fail to manage blind spots, loads, or work-zone safety.
- Tow Trucks: Crashes may involve roadside hazards, commercial coverage, and questions about driver conduct.
- Garbage Trucks: Frequent stops in residential areas can make garbage trucks unpredictable. Liability can be complicated, as it may involve private waste management companies or municipal governments.
- Refrigerated Trucks: These trucks may require additional investigation into cargo weight, maintenance, and company operations.
Who Can Be Held Responsible in a Texas Commercial Truck Accident?
Depending on what caused the crash, the driver may not be the only responsible party. The motor carrier, cargo loader, maintenance contractor, or truck or parts manufacturer may also share fault.
Your Texas truck accident lawyer looks at who employed the driver, who owned the trailer, who serviced the brakes, and whether a third-party shipper overloaded the rig.
Common defendants in our cases include:
- The Motor Carrier: The trucking company itself is usually the deepest pocket and carries the largest commercial liability policy.
- The Driver: Individual fault still matters, especially when fatigue, distraction, or substance use shows up in the logs.
- The Maintenance Contractor: A failed brake job or skipped inspection can shift fault to a maintenance contractor whose work contributed to the crash.
- The Cargo Shipper: Improperly loaded or unsecured freight can contribute to rollovers and jackknifes.
- The Truck or Parts Manufacturer: Tire blowouts, steering failures, and defective trailer connections open product liability claims separate from driver fault.
Sorting through that chain takes investigation, not guesswork. Our team works with crash reconstructionists who can read skid patterns, the Electronic Logging Device (ELD) data, and body damage to put fault where it actually belongs.
What Federal Trucking Rules Apply to a Texas Truck Accident Claim?
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) sets the safety standards that interstate trucking companies and their drivers must follow. Texas adopts most of these same rules for trucks that never leave the state, with a few exceptions.
When a carrier or driver breaks one of them, that violation can become strong evidence that they failed to meet the standard of care.
Federal trucking regulations can shape a personal injury claim because they create a written record of what the company was supposed to do. Your Texas truck accident lawyer compares that record against what actually happened on the road.
The rules that come up most often in truck cases include:
- Hours of Service: Interstate property-carrying drivers can drive up to 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty and must stop driving 14 hours after coming on duty. Logs that break these limits can point straight to fatigue.
- Electronic Logging Devices: Most interstate drivers must record their hours on an ELD. That data can show whether a driver skipped breaks or edited their logs.
- Driver Qualification Files: Carriers must keep records on each driver’s license, driving history, and medical certification. Gaps in the file can support a negligent hiring claim.
- Inspection and Maintenance: Carriers must inspect, repair, and maintain their trucks and keep records of that work. Missing brake or tire records can shift fault onto the company.
How Insurance Works After a Crash With an 18-Wheeler
Insurance in a trucking case rarely behaves like the coverage on a regular fender-bender. Federal rules generally require for-hire interstate motor carriers transporting nonhazardous property in vehicles weighing 10,001 pounds or more to maintain at least $750,000 in liability coverage. Certain hazardous-material carriers must carry more.
That higher number sounds like good news. In practice, it draws sharper defense lawyers and harder-line adjusters who treat every dollar as theirs to keep.
Carriers also use self-insured retentions and may carry excess policies and umbrella coverage. A Texas truck accident lawyer can read every layer to find the full pool of available money, not just the first policy the adjuster admits to.
The friendly adjuster who calls in week one is building a defense file. Anything you say about pain, prior injuries, or how the wreck happened can be used to shrink your claim, which is why our clients never speak directly with the carrier’s insurer.
Underinsured Motorist Coverage
Even with substantial commercial coverage, serious injuries can exceed the available policy limits. Your own Underinsured Motorist (UIM) coverage may provide additional recovery, up to your policy limits and reduced by amounts recovered or recoverable from the underinsured vehicle’s insurer.
What Compensation Can You Pursue After a Texas Truck Accident?
A Texas truck accident claim can include compensation for both the financial losses and personal impact the crash caused in your life. The value of your case often depends on the severity of the injuries and how much medical treatment you’ll need.
Truck wreck injuries skew toward catastrophic. Spinal damage, traumatic brain injuries, crush wounds, and amputations all carry future care costs that go beyond the first hospital bill.
Calculating those future numbers usually takes medical experts, vocational analysts, and life-care planners. DFW Injury Lawyers has a network of advanced professionals who can weigh in and help build your claim.
Categories of recovery in a Texas truck case typically include:
- Past and Future Medical Expenses: Your claim can include ER visits, future surgery, rehab, and projected treatment tied to the crash.
- Lost Wages and Loss of Earning Capacity: You can pursue compensation for the paychecks you have already missed, plus the income you may never earn again if injuries prevent a return to your previous work.
- Pain and Suffering: Physical pain, mental anguish, and reduced quality of life are non-economic damages that your claim may include.
- Property Damage: Your Texas truck accident claim may seek compensation for the costs to repair or replace your vehicle and personal items inside it.
Pursuing the full picture takes documentation that most people don’t think to gather. Your Texas truck crash attorney’s job is to make sure nothing recoverable gets left on the table.
How DFW Injury Lawyers Builds a Trucking Case in Texas
DFW Injury Lawyers starts building your truck accident case the minute you hire our team. Our attorneys get to work collecting evidence, coordinating medical care, and dealing with the insurer, so the trucking company doesn’t get a head start on your claim.
| What We Do | Why It Matters for Your Case |
| Preserve key evidence | We send a spoliation letter quickly to demand that the carrier preserve ELD data, dashcam footage, black box data, maintenance records, and driver files. |
| Investigate the crash | Our team photographs the scene, reviews the police report, speaks with witnesses, and looks for proof before memories fade or vehicles disappear. |
| Coordinate medical care | Within 24 hours, we’ll help you get a medical visit and treatment plan so your injuries are documented early. |
| Build the demand package | We organize medical records, wage loss proof, expert reports, and liability evidence into a clear claim for full compensation. |
| Pressure the insurer | If the carrier refuses to negotiate fairly, your attorney prepares to file suit in the right Texas court and use the discovery phase to collect even more evidence. |
Continuity matters. Your case stays in-house; your lawyers always know the facts, the pressure points, and the people involved. You won’t be passed from one outside handler to another while the trucking company works its defense.
Where Do Truck Accidents Happen in Texas?
Truck accidents in Texas happen across the major freight routes connecting the state’s biggest cities, ports, industrial areas, and oil-producing regions. I-35, I-10, and I-20 all carry heavy commercial traffic, but the risks change depending on where you are.
Truck accidents frequently happen on:
- I-35 Corridor: This route carries trucks from the border through San Antonio, Austin, and Waco before splitting toward Dallas and Fort Worth. Congestion, construction, and frequent merging can all contribute to serious truck crashes.
- I-10: Trucks move across long stretches of West Texas before reaching San Antonio, Houston, and Beaumont. Fatigue becomes a concern on the more isolated stretches, while traffic gets heavier around major cities and freight hubs.
- I-20: This corridor connects the Permian Basin with Abilene, Fort Worth, Arlington, Dallas, and East Texas. Oilfield traffic mixes with long-haul trucking throughout the route, especially around West Texas and the DFW metroplex.
Where the crash happens also matters to your claim because it can affect which law enforcement agency responds, where evidence is located, and which county may handle the case.
FAQ for Texas Truck Accident Lawyer
How Soon Should I Call a Texas Truck Accident Lawyer After a Crash?
Call an attorney at DFW Injury Lawyers as soon as you can. Trucking companies dispatch investigators almost immediately, and waiting even a week can mean lost dashcam footage and overwritten ELD data that may not be recoverable.
What if I Can’t Afford a Texas Truck Crash Attorney?
DFW Injury Lawyers handles truck accident cases on a contingency fee, which means our fee comes only from the recovery. If we don’t win your case, you owe no attorney's fees.
What Is the Filing Deadline for a Truck Accident Claim in Texas?
In Texas, you typically have two years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit. Some claims involving government vehicles or wrongful death have shorter notice periods, so an early case review protects your filing rights.
Can I Still Recover Compensation If I Was Partly at Fault for an Accident With a Commercial Truck?
You can recover compensation for a truck accident as long as your share of fault stays under 51%. Your recovery may be reduced by your percentage of fault, which is why fighting an inflated fault assignment matters.
What Makes a Truck Wreck Different From a Car Accident Case?
Trucking cases involve federal regulations, multiple defendants, layered insurance, and corporate legal teams that show up within hours of the crash. The evidence is more technical, the stakes are higher, and the defense is more aggressive—all reasons to put experienced counsel on the file early.
Get the Muscle on Your Team Today
The trucking company’s insurance carrier already has lawyers, investigators, and adjusters working the file. You should have the same. DFW Injury Lawyers will take the calls, lock down the evidence, and handle the trucking company while you focus on healing.
Call us at (888) 231-1341 or complete our online contact form to start your free case review.