When a semi or other large truck collides with a passenger car, the people in the car rarely stand a chance. If your family has lost someone this way, you may be facing not only grief but a company, an insurer and a team of investigators who began working on their side of the case within hours. We are sorry for your loss, and we want you to understand what is happening and what can be done.

Dayton sits where I-70 and I-75 cross, and heavy truck traffic moves through Montgomery, Greene, Miami and Warren Counties every hour of the day. Truck crash cases share much with other car crash cases, but they also involve federal safety rules, company records and larger insurance policies that change how the case must be investigated.

How fatal truck crashes happen

A loaded tractor-trailer is many times heavier than a passenger car and needs far more distance to stop. Fatal truck crashes often involve:

  • Fatigue. Drivers under pressure to deliver on time may drive longer than the law allows.
  • Following too closely or driving too fast for traffic, weather or a work zone.
  • Brake and equipment failures caused by poor inspection or maintenance.
  • Unsafe lane changes and wide turns, where a car is hidden in the truck's blind spots.
  • Improperly loaded or secured cargo, which can cause a rollover or spill.
  • Impairment or distraction, including use of a phone or dispatch device.

The federal safety rules

Trucking companies and drivers operating in interstate commerce must follow the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (49 C.F.R. 390.3(a)). Those rules generally reach trucks with a gross weight rating of 10,001 pounds or more, as well as some passenger vehicles and hazardous materials carriers (49 C.F.R. 390.5). Several of these rules come up again and again in fatal crash cases.

Hours of service. A driver of a property-carrying truck may not start driving without first taking 10 consecutive hours off duty, may drive no more than 11 hours within a 14-hour window, and must take at least a 30-minute break after 8 hours of driving. A driver also may not drive after being on duty 60 hours in 7 consecutive days, or 70 hours in 8 consecutive days if the company operates every day of the week (49 C.F.R. 395.3).

Driver qualification. A carrier must keep a qualification file on each driver, including the employment application, driving records, road test and medical certification (49 C.F.R. 391.51).

Inspection and maintenance. Every carrier must systematically inspect, repair and maintain the vehicles it controls and keep records of that work (49 C.F.R. 396.3).

Post-crash drug and alcohol testing. After a crash involving a death, the employer must test the surviving truck driver for alcohol and controlled substances as soon as practicable (49 C.F.R. 382.303(a) and (b)).

When the investigation shows a company broke these rules, that evidence can be powerful proof of what went wrong and why.

Evidence disappears on a schedule

Federal rules tell trucking companies how long they must keep records. Many of those periods are short, and nothing in them requires a company to keep records longer just because a family has not yet called a lawyer.

  • Driver logs. Carriers must keep records of duty status and supporting documents for at least 6 months (49 C.F.R. 395.8(k)(1)), and a back-up copy of electronic logging device records for 6 months (49 C.F.R. 395.22(i)(1)).
  • Testing. If an alcohol test is not done within 8 hours of the crash, or a drug test within 32 hours, the employer stops trying and records why (49 C.F.R. 382.303(d)). Whether those tests happened is an early question.
  • Accident register. Carriers must keep a register of reportable accidents for 3 years (49 C.F.R. 390.15(b)).
  • Maintenance records are kept for 1 year where the vehicle is housed or maintained and for 6 months after the vehicle leaves the carrier's control (49 C.F.R. 396.3(c)).

Other critical evidence is not governed by any retention rule at all: the truck's engine control module and other electronic data, forward-facing and driver-facing camera footage, GPS and dispatch messages, the trailer and its cargo, and the bill of lading. The truck may be repaired and back on the road quickly.

That is why the first step in a truck case is usually a written demand that the carrier, its insurer and any other company involved preserve every category of evidence. Our chapter on the first weeks after a sudden death explains other records your family can gather in the meantime.

Who may be responsible

A truck crash often involves several businesses, and each may share responsibility:

  • The driver.
  • The motor carrier that employed or contracted with the driver, both for the driver's conduct and for its own decisions about hiring, training, supervision, scheduling and maintenance.
  • The owner of the tractor or trailer, if different from the carrier.
  • The shipper or loading company, if improper loading contributed.
  • A maintenance or repair company that worked on brakes, tires or lights.
  • A manufacturer, if a defective part caused or worsened the crash.

Sorting out these relationships takes leases, contracts and company records, which is another reason early preservation matters. If the person who died was partly at fault, Ohio's comparative fault rule reduces the recovery by that percentage and bars it only if that share of fault was greater than everyone else's combined (R.C. 2315.33).

Which insurance may apply

The insurance picture in a truck case is usually very different from a car case. Ohio's minimum for an ordinary auto liability policy is $25,000 for the death of one person (R.C. 4509.51(B)). By contrast, federal rules require for-hire carriers hauling ordinary freight in interstate commerce, in vehicles of 10,001 pounds or more, to carry at least $750,000 in liability coverage. Carriers of oil and certain hazardous materials must carry $1,000,000, and some hazardous loads require $5,000,000 (49 C.F.R. 387.9).

These are minimums. Many carriers carry more, including excess or umbrella policies, and the shipper, trailer owner or other companies may have their own coverage. Your family's own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage may also matter. Our chapter on insurance coverage explains how these layers work.

What your family can recover

Ohio law allows compensation for loss of support, loss of services, loss of society (companionship, care, guidance and more), loss of prospective inheritance, and mental anguish (R.C. 2125.02(D)), plus reasonable funeral and burial expenses (R.C. 2125.02(C)(1)). The surviving spouse, children and parents are presumed to have suffered damages (R.C. 2125.02(A)).

Ohio's general caps on noneconomic damages do not apply to wrongful death actions (R.C. 2315.18(H)(3)). Our page on wrongful death compensation explains each category.

The two-year deadline

An Ohio wrongful death action generally must be filed within two years after the date of death (R.C. 2125.02(F)(1)). In a truck case, waiting most of that time is risky for a different reason: much of the evidence is controlled by the trucking company and may be lawfully discarded long before the deadline. Read more about Ohio's two-year rule and its exceptions.

Common questions

The trucking company's insurer called us and offered to help. Should we talk to them?

You can politely decline to discuss the claim. The insurer's job is to protect the company. Do not give a recorded statement or sign anything, including medical authorizations, before you understand your rights.

The driver was an independent contractor. Does that let the company off the hook?

Not necessarily. Responsibility depends on the contracts, the leases and how the work was actually controlled, and the carrier may be responsible for its own decisions regardless of how the driver was classified. These documents need to be obtained early.

What if the truck was operating only within Ohio?

The federal rules discussed here apply to trucks operating in interstate commerce. Whether a particular truck, company and trip were covered, and what other rules applied, is a question the investigation should answer early rather than assume.

How long will a truck case take?

Truck cases usually take longer than ordinary car cases because there are more companies, more records and more insurers involved. Early preservation and investigation usually shorten the path, not lengthen it.

This article is general information about Ohio law, not legal advice about your situation. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Deadlines and rules change; talk to a lawyer about your family's situation.