If you were hit by a semi, box truck, dump truck, or any commercial vehicle in Florida, do not treat it like a bigger car accident, because the other side never does. A truck case runs on rules a car case does not: federal safety regulations, a truck full of electronic data that is overwritten within days, and a chain of companies behind the driver, each with its own insurance. After a serious wreck the trucking company often has an investigator at the scene within hours, protecting the company, not you. What you do in the days that follow, and who you point the claim at, can matter more than the crash itself.
I am Prosper Shaked, the attorney behind Prosper Injury Attorneys. My office is in North Miami Beach, I handle truck and commercial-vehicle cases throughout Florida, and I know the moves the trucking companies and their insurers make because I see them on every case. A truck claim is won by finding every company that is on the hook and locking down the evidence before it disappears. The sooner I am involved, the more of it I can save.
When you call my office at (305) 694-2676, you talk to a real attorney, not a screener, and most of the time that attorney is me, on that first call or later the same day. I will walk through what happened, what your injuries are, what kind of truck and company were involved, and what insurance is likely in play. Usually I can tell you on that one call whether you have a claim worth pursuing.
The consultation is free, and I do not charge a fee unless I recover money for you. Truck cases turn on evidence that does not wait, the dashcam video saved to the company’s cloud, the truck’s black box, and the driver’s logs, so the sooner I know about your case, the sooner I can send the letters that put the companies on notice to preserve it.
Why Hire a Miami Truck Accident Lawyer
The trucking company is not waiting to see what you do. On a serious wreck it often sends a rapid-response team the same day, sometimes within hours, to photograph the vehicles, talk to witnesses, and start building its defense before you have left the hospital. Answering that in the first two weeks takes work an ordinary car claim never needs, and it is where these cases are won or lost.
Here is what my office actually does when I take a truck case. These days most commercial trucks run a dashcam, and the footage often sits on a company cloud system that overwrites it once a short retention window expires, so the first thing out the door is a preservation demand for that video before it is gone. At the same time I run the truck’s DOT number to identify every entity standing behind it, because a truck case almost never involves just the driver. There is the driver, the owner of the truck, and the company that contracted the load, and often more layers behind those. I send each of them a single combined letter that puts them on notice of the claim, demands they preserve evidence, and requests the coverage information, including the policy limits, that Florida law requires an insurer to disclose under oath within 30 days of a written request (Fla. Stat. § 627.4137). Then I set up the claim against all of them, not just the easiest one to find. When the other side disputes fault, I move immediately to preserve and demand the truck’s electronic data, which can capture things like its speed, braking, and throttle in the seconds before impact, before the company’s version of events hardens. Once you hire my office, the companies and their insurers deal with me, not with you.
Who Can Be Liable in a Florida Truck Crash
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The single biggest difference between a truck case and a car case is who you can hold responsible. In a car crash there is usually one at-fault driver with one policy. In a truck crash the liability runs in layers, and each layer can carry its own insurance.
A truck crash usually has more than one company behind it, and each layer can carry its own insurance. Finding all of them is how a truck case is won.
The driver’s own negligence is where it starts, but it rarely ends there. Under the legal rule that an employer answers for its employee, the trucking company that put the driver on the road is responsible for what that driver does on the job. Florida also holds the owner of a vehicle responsible for the people they allow to operate it, so the company that owns the truck can be on the hook even if it did not employ the driver. Behind them there is often the company that contracted the load, a separate motor carrier, or a maintenance contractor whose bad repair caused the failure. Each of those is a potential defendant, and, just as important, each is a potential source of insurance. Finding the layer most people never see is the difference between a claim capped at one small policy and a full recovery. Trucking companies often try to dodge responsibility by calling the driver an independent contractor rather than an employee, but that label is not the last word, because federal leasing rules and Florida’s focus on who actually controlled the work can defeat it anyway. We wrote more about how Florida holds vehicle owners responsible if you want the detail.
The Federal Rules That Decide Truck Cases
Trucking is a federally regulated industry, and those regulations are often where a truck case is proven. Commercial drivers and the companies that run them must follow the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, and in Florida a violation of those rules is powerful evidence of negligence. It is not an automatic win, Florida still requires proof that the violation helped cause the crash, but it hands a jury a clear standard the company was supposed to meet and did not.
- **Hours of service.** A trucker may drive no more than 11 hours, and only within a 14-hour on-duty window, after taking 10 consecutive hours off duty (49 C.F.R. § 395.3). These limits exist because a tired trucker is a dangerous one, and the electronic logging device on the truck is meant to record the driver’s hours, which show whether those limits were obeyed.
- **Driver qualification.** Federal rules require the company to keep a qualification file proving the driver was licensed, medically fit, and safe to hire (49 C.F.R. Part 391). When a company puts an unqualified or dangerous driver behind the wheel, that is a claim against the company itself.
- **Inspection and maintenance.** Trucks must be systematically inspected, repaired, and maintained (49 C.F.R. Part 396). Bald tires, bad brakes, and skipped service turn into liability when they cause a wreck.
There is one more federal rule that works in your favor. Interstate freight carriers are generally required to carry a federal minimum of $750,000 in liability coverage, and far more for tankers and hazardous loads (49 C.F.R. § 387.9). Unlike a Florida driver, who is not required to carry any bodily injury coverage at all, a commercial truck usually has real insurance behind it. How much depends on the truck, the company, and the load, which is exactly what tracing the DOT number sorts out, and reaching that coverage is often what decides the recovery.
Truck Accident Deadlines and Numbers to Know
These are the numbers that decide truck cases in Florida.
| Number | What it means |
|---|---|
| 2 years | In Florida, you generally have two years from a truck crash to file a negligence lawsuit (Fla. Stat. § 95.11); miss that deadline and the claim is gone, so the investigation has to start long before then |
| Over 50% | In Florida, a person found more than 50 percent at fault for a crash recovers nothing, and below that line the recovery is reduced by their share of the fault (Fla. Stat. § 768.81) |
| $750,000 | Interstate freight carriers must generally carry at least $750,000 in federal liability coverage, rising to $1 million or $5 million for hazardous loads (49 C.F.R. § 387.9), far more than the $0 in injury coverage Florida requires of a car driver |
| 11 hours | Under federal law a commercial truck driver may legally drive no more than 11 hours in a shift (49 C.F.R. § 395.3), and the truck’s electronic logs show whether the driver drove past it |
| 30 days | A Florida liability insurer must disclose its policy limits within 30 days of your lawyer’s written request (Fla. Stat. § 627.4137), one of the first letters we send |
How Fault Works in a Truck Case
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Florida uses modified comparative negligence. Your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault, and if you are found more than 50 percent at fault, you recover nothing at all (Fla. Stat. § 768.81). That 2023 change makes the fight over fault percentages the difference between a full recovery and no recovery, and the trucking company’s investigators are on the scene early precisely to shift as much of that percentage onto you as they can.
The way to answer it is with evidence, not argument. The truck’s own data, the dashcam video, the electronic logs, the maintenance records, and the qualification file usually tell a truer story than the driver’s statement or the company’s reconstruction. Getting to that evidence before it is altered or lost is the most important work done in the first weeks of a case, and it is why the preservation letters cannot wait.
Common Truck Crashes We Handle
In Florida, most truck accidents come down to a few recurring causes: a fatigued or rushed driver, a company that cut a corner on loading or maintenance, and the blind spots that hide a car until it is too late. That is what I see in the cases that come through my office:
- Fatigued driving and hours-of-service violations, where a driver stayed behind the wheel past the federal limit.
- Distracted and speeding drivers hauling loads that cannot stop in time.
- Improperly loaded or overweight trailers that shift, jackknife, or roll.
- Mechanical failures from bad brakes, worn tires, and skipped maintenance.
- Unsafe lane changes and blind-spot crashes, where a car vanishes into the truck’s no-zones, its huge blind spots.
- Rear-end and underride crashes at highway speed, where a car can be forced under the trailer, among the most catastrophic wrecks we see.
We also handle claims involving Amazon and delivery-truck crashes and garbage and waste-management trucks, which bring their own companies and insurance layers. In my experience around Miami, these wrecks tend to happen where the heavy traffic is, the Port of Miami drayage routes, I-95, the Palmetto, and the Turnpike, and on the construction routes where dump trucks run. Wherever it happened in Florida, the pattern of the crash matters far less than who was responsible for it.
What Is a Truck Accident Case Worth?
There is no honest way to put a dollar figure on a truck case without knowing the facts: how serious and permanent the injuries are, how clear the fault is, and how many layers of coverage can be reached. A catastrophic injury caused by a driver with a single minimum policy is a very different case from the same injury caused by a large carrier with a federal policy and corporate defendants behind it, which is exactly why finding every liable company matters so much. What I can tell you is that the cases that resolve well are the ones where the evidence and the coverage were locked down early. If you want to understand how these cases are valued, we have written about the average truck accident settlement in Florida, but be wary of anyone who quotes you a number before they know your facts.
A truck claim can include your medical bills, the cost of future care, your lost income and lost earning capacity, and compensation for pain, suffering, scarring, and permanent injury, which are often significant given how violent truck wrecks are. We have recovered millions of dollars for injured clients. In the worst cases, where a truck crash takes a life, the family may bring a wrongful death claim. The way to protect the value of your own claim is to get the investigation started before anything is lost.
What to Do After a Truck Accident
If you are reading this soon after a crash, here is what protects your case:
- Get what identifies the truck, not just the driver. If you safely can, record the company name on the door, the U.S. DOT number, and the license plate, and make sure a police crash report is created with the report number and the officer’s name. That information is what lets a lawyer trace the companies behind the truck and send preservation letters before their evidence is gone.
- Photograph everything you can: both vehicles, your injuries, the road, and the scene, and note any nearby businesses or other trucks whose cameras may have caught it. On a serious wreck, the company’s investigators are likely documenting it too.
- Get the names and contact information of every witness before they leave.
- Get medical treatment and do not let your care lapse. Commercial insurers comb through treatment records for any gap they can use to argue your injuries came from something other than the crash.
- Do not give the trucking company’s adjuster a recorded statement, and do not sign anything they send you, until you have a lawyer. What the adjuster wants on that call is to get you to accept even a small share of the blame, because being pushed over 50 percent at fault wipes out the entire claim. If you already gave a statement or signed something, call anyway, because a lawyer can still step in and limit the damage.
- Do not let your own vehicle be repaired or scrapped before it is documented. It is evidence.
- Call before the trucking company’s team gets ahead of you: (305) 694-2676. A short call will tell you where you stand and what needs to be preserved right now. Note your deadline: you generally have two years to sue.
Common Mistakes That Cost Truck Crash Victims
In Florida, the mistakes that quietly sink a truck accident claim almost all come down to the same thing: moving too slowly while the company’s evidence disappears. The cases that turn out worse than they should have usually share a few of these:
- Treating it like a car accident and dealing only with the one driver, while the companies and their bigger policies are never pursued.
- Waiting. The dashcam video is automatically overwritten once its cloud retention window expires, the electronic logs get purged, and the two-year deadline is closer than it feels.
- Giving the adjuster a recorded statement or signing a release before talking to a lawyer.
- Letting the vehicle be repaired or hauled off before the damage is documented.
- Assuming a police report that blames the driver is enough. The company will fight the fault percentage hard, and only the truck’s own data answers it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is liable for a truck accident, the driver or the company?
Often both, and sometimes more. The driver is responsible for their own negligence, and the trucking company is responsible for a driver acting on the job. On top of that, Florida holds the owner of the truck responsible for the people it allows to drive it, and the company that contracted the load, a separate carrier, or a maintenance contractor can each be liable too. Each layer can carry its own insurance, so identifying all of them is one of the first things we do.
How is a truck accident case different from a car accident?
Three ways. The rules are federal, so the driver and company must follow the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, and in Florida a violation of those rules is strong evidence of negligence for a jury to weigh. The evidence is electronic and disappears fast, the dashcam video on a cloud retention loop, the truck’s electronic control module, and the electronic logs of the driver’s hours. And the liability runs in layers, so the motor carrier, the truck’s owner, and the company that arranged the load can each be responsible, and a commercial truck usually carries far more insurance than a car, starting at the $750,000 federal minimum.
What is the truck’s “black box” and why does it matter?
Most commercial trucks record data through an electronic control module, often called the black box, that captures things like speed, braking, and throttle in the moments before a crash. Combined with the dashcam video and the electronic logging device that tracks the driver’s hours, it can tell a truer story than anyone’s testimony. The problem is that this data can be overwritten or lost, so preserving it early matters. Florida courts take that seriously; when a company loses or destroys the truck’s electronic data, a court can allow the jury to presume the company was negligent.
How much insurance do trucking companies carry?
Usually far more than a car driver. Interstate freight carriers are generally required by federal law to carry at least $750,000 in liability coverage, and $1 million to $5 million for hazardous loads. That is a stark contrast to Florida, which does not require drivers to carry any bodily injury coverage at all. Your lawyer can require the insurer to disclose the policy limits within 30 days of a written request, and reaching every available policy is often what determines the recovery.
How long do I have to file a truck accident lawsuit in Florida?
Under Florida law, you generally have two years from the date of the crash to file a claim based on negligence, a deadline set by a 2023 change to the statute. But the deadline is the least of your timing problems, because the electronic evidence a truck case depends on can be gone in weeks. The strongest thing you can do is call early, so the preservation letters go out while there is still something left to preserve.
What if the truck was an Amazon or delivery vehicle?
Delivery cases add a layer, because the driver may work for a contractor rather than the brand whose name is on the van, and more than one company’s insurance can be in play. Sorting out who actually employed the driver and who owned the vehicle is exactly the kind of layered liability question these cases turn on. We handle Amazon and delivery-truck claims and garbage-truck claims specifically.
The crash was partly my fault. Do I still have a case?
Possibly. Florida uses modified comparative negligence, so your recovery is reduced by your share of the fault, and you are barred only if you are found more than 50 percent at fault. The trucking company will try to push as much fault onto you as it can, which is why building the liability case with the truck’s own data, rather than arguing about it, matters so much.
What does it cost to hire a truck accident lawyer?
Nothing up front. We work on a contingency fee, which means the fee is a percentage of what we recover, and if there is no recovery there is no fee. On a truck case that also means we advance the real costs of the fight, downloading the truck’s data, hiring accident reconstructionists, and auditing the driver’s logs, so you are not paying out of pocket to take on a company that already has a corporate defense team working against you. The consultation is free, and when you call you speak with an attorney who can give you a straight answer about your case.
Call a Miami Truck Accident Lawyer
If you were hurt in a truck crash, waiting is what most often costs people their case, because the trucking company’s team is already working and the electronic evidence is already being overwritten. Call me at (305) 694-2676. You will talk to an attorney, usually me, on that first call or later the same day, and you will get a straight answer about whether you have a case and what needs to be preserved right now. My office, Prosper Injury Attorneys, is in North Miami Beach, and I handle truck and commercial-vehicle cases throughout Florida. We have recovered millions of dollars for injured clients. The consultation is free, and I do not charge a fee unless I recover money for you.