Things Insurance Companies Do After Truck Wrecks and Commercial Motor Collisions

A wreck involving a tractor-trailer, 18-wheeler, delivery truck, or other work vehicle is very different from a typical car accident. Commercial trucking and employment insurance policies are often much larger than ordinary automobile policies, which is why these cases are heavily defended. It is imperative to hire an attorneys experienced after these types of accidents as soon as possible.

The first thing anyone involved in a truck wreck should do is call 911 to report the accident. An investigating officer will come to the accident scene, arrange emergency medical care and transportation if needed, and may talk to the drivers, passengers, and available eyewitnesses.  The officer will prepare a written report and will sometimes, but not always, take some photographs. You cannot rely on the investigating officer to conduct a thorough investigation to protect your interests when trucking companies, employers and/or insurance companies are involved.

Trucking companies, employers and their insurance carriers often begin investigating accidents immediately – sometimes within 1-2 hours – to protect themselves and minimize their financial exposure against the innocent victims hurt or killed by their negligence.

I know this because I used to defend trucking companies and motor carriers. Today, I have the honor to represent the people hurt and the families of those killed by negligent truck drivers and trucking companies.  Understanding what happens behind the scenes can help injured victims and families protect themselves and their claims.

An immediate investigation is launched to control the narrative in favor of the trucking company.

Unlike a typical car accident, trucking collisions often trigger a rapid response team. Truck drivers are taught to immediately call their employer or insurance company after they call 911 when there is a wreck. Truck drivers are taught to never admit fault for causing an accident.

Within just a couple of hours, the insurance company may send an investigator, defense attorney, safety consultant, and/or accident reconstructionist to the crash scene. These people may interview witnesses, take photographs or video of the vehicles, roadway, debris and people involved. They may download electronic data from the truck. They may visit neighboring businesses like gas stations, stores, and restaurants to see if they had any cameras that recorded the collision.

Trucking companies, employers, and their insurance companies have an incentive to preserve evidence favorable to them. They may choose to take photographs or video of the vehicles and roadway from the views and angles that show the least amount of damage or minimize the truck driver’s fault. 

Critical evidence can disappear quickly after a crash unless steps are taken on your behalf to preserve evidence. Electronic data can be erased or recorded over including data about the truck’s speed, braking, and movement immediately before and during impact. Tractors, trailers, delivery trucks and other work vehicles are often repaired quickly and returned to service fast.

Memories can also fade quickly. Insurance adjusters, investigators, and defense attorneys may interview drivers, passengers, and eyewitnesses within hours or days of an accident and focus their questions on facts that help the trucking company or employer. Witnesses questioned months or years later by your attorney may forget facts that can help your case if they are questioned earlier.

Trucking companies, employers, and insurance companies don’t have the incentive to ask questions or elicit information that will help your case and place more blame on the truck driver or employee.  Their strategies can be guided by goals to blame the injured driver for causing the wreck, minimize the injuries sustained, and dispute the necessity of medical treatment.

Insurance companies may contact an injured driver or passenger early on to try and obtain a recorded statement before the injured person has hired an attorney and before they understand the severity of their injuries.

Part of the rapid response may include the insurance company’s immediate investigation about all injured drivers or passengers. This may include looking at their social media accounts and investigating their prior medical history, accidents, claims, and employment.  Investigators are often hired to follow injured drivers and passenger and take photographs or record video as they are walking, driving, shopping, and working to refute injury claims.

All of these reasons are why anyone involved in a wreck involving a tractor-trailer, 18-wheeler, delivery truck, or other work vehicle should hire an experienced attorney as soon as possible. As attorneys familiar with trucking litigation, we can protect your interests. We will send letters requesting the preservation of key evidence, secure electronic data, interview witnesses, contact nearby businesses to locate any records of the accident, etc.