The FMCS Regulations have regulations which limit the number of hours that the driver can operate his truck, require his employer to perform a background check prior to hiring the driver, require his employer to maintain certain specific employment-related documents in regard to each driver, require that certain documents are kept for a required period of time including a log book maintained by the driver, require that pre-trip, post-trip and cargo inspections are performed, and other specific regulations that can assist in determining if the driver or his employer were negligent in causing your injury and accident.

If you hire an attorney or law firm to help you after you have been injured by an 18‑wheeler, it is important that your attorney or law firm is very familiar with the Motor Carrier Safety Regulations which will apply to your claim.  If your lawyer does not fully understand these regulations, he may not be able to successfully obtain a settlement or win your claim in court.

The driver must perform pre-trip inspections, post-trip inspections and even cargo inspections.  All of these inspections are required under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations.  Importantly, these inspections include visibly inspecting the braking system, tires, steering and other critical mechanical aspects of the driver’s truck.  In regard to the cargo, the driver must make sure that the cargo is safe and secure and that the truck is not overloaded.

If you have been injured due to a truck accident, your lawyer must obtain copies of all inspection reports from immediately prior to your accident.  Very often truck accidents are caused by improper brakes as well as improperly secured loads or overweight trucks.  These inspection reports may help your attorney or lawyer successfully prove that the truck driver was negligent in causing your injury and accident.

If you have been injured in a truck accident, your attorney or lawyer must determine the weight of the truck at the time of your accident.  If the truck weighed more than 80,000 pounds, the driver and trucking company may be at fault if a proper exemption was not obtained in regard to the weight limit.  Be sure to discuss this with your attorney.

However, many lawyers do not take full advantage of the nature of the log book maintained by the truck driver.  According to federal regulations, when the driver completes his log book, he is certifying under oath that the contents and information contained in his log book are accurate, true and correct.  This is the same oath that the driver takes when he later provides his deposition in regard to the accident which caused your injuries.  An excellent question for your lawyer to ask the truck driver when he is deposed is if he is taking the same oath during his deposition to tell the truth as he took when he signed his log book immediately prior to your accident.  If your lawyer can then obtain inconsistent information or statements made by the driver in his log book prior to your accident, your lawyer can argue to the jury that if the truck driver was willing to lie in his log book which he created under oath, then the driver is certainly willing to lie during his deposition or even in court in regard to the cause of your accident.  A good truck accident lawyer knows that he must keep the driver and trucking company on trial and make them the focus of your case.

It is important for your lawyer to obtain not only the documents which were generated before the accident, but also any internal company documents relating to its investigation of the driver that may have caused your injury and accident.  An excellent truck injury lawyer knows to request this information and even take depositions of the individuals who may have participated in the post-accident investigation.

Fortunately, the regulations that govern truck drivers and their employers rarely allow this type of independent contractor defense to be successful.  For any driver in interstate commerce (traveling between two or more states), their employers must follow all federal regulations under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations even if the employer successfully proves that the driver was an independent contractor.  More importantly, the employer will be vicariously liable for the negligence of the driver even if the driver was technically an independent contractor and not a W-2 employee.  This is important because most truck drivers are issued 1099 statements at the end of each year rather than W-2 employee wage statements.  If you have been injured by a truck driver in Louisiana, your lawyer must be prepared to address an independent contractor defense which may be raised in regard to your injury claim.  A good truck accident lawyer is aware that most independent contractor defenses are not successful in regard to interstate commerce truck accidents.

If you have been injured in a truck accident by a negligent truck driver, your attorney should obtain a copy of the driver’s annual certificate of violations.  This should be requested from the truck driver as well as his employer.  This certificate could help your injury lawyer successfully prove safety violations by the truck driver that caused your accident.

If you have been injured due to the negligence of a truck driver, it is very important that your lawyer or his law firm obtain a copy of the truck driver’s log book. There are many specific regulations limiting the number of hours that a truck driver can drive including the number of consistent hours as well as cumulative hours over the period of a week. The success of your injury claim may depend upon obtaining the log book and proving that the driver violated a federal regulation concerning the amount of time he is allowed to drive.

However, few people know that in order to successfully collect under your own UM due to a phantom vehicle, you must prove either actual property damage to your vehicle or you must have an “independent and disinterested witness” substantiate your claim that the accident was caused by a phantom vehicle. Louisiana Revised Statute 22:1295 specifically states that if there is no physical contact with the injured party (you) or your vehicle, then you bear the burden of proving through an independent and disinterested witness that the injury and accident was the result of the phantom vehicle.

It is very important to let your attorney know the names of any witnesses to your accident if you were not able to identify the owner of the vehicle which may have caused your accident. If you did not sustain any type of property damage, your attorney can only win your claim against a phantom vehicle through your UM coverage if you have a independent and disinterested witness confirm that your accident was caused by the phantom vehicle.