Truck Accident Lawyer in Portsmouth, VA

A fully loaded tractor-trailer can weigh 20 to 30 times more than the average passenger car. When a truck accident happens, the size and weight difference alone often means the people in the smaller vehicle suffer the most serious injuries, regardless of who caused the crash. Levin & Levin, P.C. represents people injured in truck accidents, truck wrecks, tractor-trailer accidents, and tractor-trailer wrecks throughout Portsmouth and the Hampton Roads area.

Truck accident cases are rarely as simple as a typical car crash claim. They involve federal safety regulations, multiple potentially liable parties, and trucking companies with experienced legal teams and insurance adjusters who respond within hours of a serious wreck. Our attorneys understand what it takes to investigate these cases properly and hold the right parties accountable.

Commercial trucks and their drivers operate under a separate layer of federal regulation, enforced by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, in addition to Virginia traffic law. These rules govern how many hours a driver can be on the road before resting, how vehicles must be inspected and maintained, and how cargo must be loaded and secured. When a trucking company or driver ignores these requirements, it can be powerful evidence of negligence in your case.

Because trucking companies know how much liability exposure a serious crash creates, many send investigators or insurance representatives to the scene almost immediately, sometimes before the wreckage has even been cleared. Evidence like driver logs, black box data, and dashcam footage can also be lost or overwritten within days if no one moves quickly to preserve it. Getting an attorney involved early protects your ability to build a strong case.

Truck accidents happen for many of the same reasons as other crashes, but the trucking industry’s own pressures add causes that are specific to commercial vehicles:

• Driver fatigue from long hours on the road, sometimes in violation of federal hours-of-service limits
• Improperly loaded or secured cargo that shifts during transit
• Poor vehicle maintenance, including brake and tire failures
• Distracted driving, including cell phone use in the cab
• Speeding to meet delivery schedules
• Driver inexperience or inadequate training
• Wide turns and blind spots that make it difficult for truck drivers to see nearby vehicles
• Impaired driving, including alcohol, drugs, or certain prescription medications

Truck accident cases often involve more than one potentially responsible party. Depending on how the crash happened, liability may fall on the truck driver, the trucking or motor carrier company that employed them, the company that owns or maintains the truck, the shipper responsible for loading the cargo, or even a parts manufacturer if a mechanical failure contributed to the crash. Identifying every liable party matters because it can affect how much insurance coverage is available to compensate you.

Tractor-trailer wrecks frequently involve much higher insurance policy limits than a standard auto policy, which is part of why trucking companies and their insurers fight so hard to minimize what they pay out. An attorney who understands how to investigate a commercial trucking case can identify every source of compensation available to you.

Because of the size and weight involved, truck accidents frequently cause more severe injuries than typical car accidents. The injuries we see most often in these cases include:

• Catastrophic injuries, including permanent disability, from the sheer force involved in a truck collision
• Spinal injuries and, in the most severe crashes, paralysis
• Brain injuries, ranging from concussion to severe traumatic brain injury
• Broken bones, often multiple fractures requiring surgical repair
• Back injuries and vertebral fractures from the force of impact
• Neck injuries, including severe whiplash and cervical damage

Underride and override collisions, jackknife crashes, and rollovers each carry their own particular injury patterns, and our attorneys work with medical providers and, where necessary, accident reconstruction experts to fully document how your injuries occurred and what they mean for your future.

Truck accident claims in Virginia are still governed by the state’s pure contributory negligence rule, meaning that if you’re found even slightly at fault for the crash, it can bar your right to recover anything at all. Trucking companies and their insurers are aware of this rule and often build their defense around shifting blame onto the driver of the smaller vehicle. Building a clear, well-documented case from the outset is critical to protecting your claim against these tactics.

Because commercial trucking is regulated at the federal level, a truck accident claim often requires familiarity with rules that don’t come up in an ordinary Virginia car accident case. Hours-of-service logs, electronic logging device data, and federal inspection and maintenance records all follow their own reporting requirements, and a violation of one of these federal rules can be compelling evidence that the driver or carrier fell short of the standard of care required of them.

At the same time, the underlying personal injury claim itself is still governed by Virginia law, including the contributory negligence rule discussed above. That combination, federal safety standards layered on top of Virginia tort law, is part of what makes these cases more complex than they might first appear, and it’s exactly the kind of complexity an experienced attorney is prepared to navigate.

Seek medical attention right away, and if you’re able, photograph the scene, including the truck’s company markings, license plate, and any visible cargo or mechanical issues. Get contact information for witnesses, and try to note the truck’s DOT number if it’s visible. Because so much evidence in these cases can disappear quickly, contact an attorney as soon as possible so a formal request to preserve evidence, including driver logs and black box data, can go out promptly.

Our attorneys bring more than 60 years of combined courtroom experience to truck accident cases, and we understand that these claims move on a different timeline than an ordinary car accident. We act quickly to preserve evidence and identify every liable party, and we’re prepared to go up against trucking companies and their legal teams in negotiation or in court.

Levin & Levin, P.C. has represented clients throughout Portsmouth, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Suffolk, and the wider Hampton Roads region, an area crossed daily by significant commercial truck traffic along I-64, I-264, I-664, and the region’s port and shipping corridors. If you or someone you love was hurt in a truck accident, tractor-trailer accident, or truck wreck, contact our office today for a free case evaluation.