Category: Commercial Vehicle Accidents

In Texas, thousands of workers are injured on the job each year. Many of those injuries occur due to on-the-job car accidents. If you were working and were hit by a car on the job, that type of workplace accident can be complicated to sort out. Being injured in a car accident while at work brings up a variety of legal issues that are usually not relevant in most motor vehicle crash claims. As with any injury, the facts of each case matter and require a thorough review by an experienced personal injury lawyer in order to ensure everything is addressed timely and appropriately.

Since you were injured on the job, you also need to notify your employer of the injury. In addition, there are many questions that need to be answered to determine how your auto accident injury claims will proceed, including:

• Who hit you and is that person employed by your employer?
• Does your employer have workers’ compensation coverage?
• Who was found to be at fault for the crash in a police report or other official investigative document?
• Were you at fault in any way for the incident?

How Workers Get Hit by a Car While Working

While it might sound uncommon, it’s actually not, because there are a wide variety of ways in which a worker can be hit by a motor vehicle on the job, including:

• A coworker causes the accident by being distracted or otherwise negligent
• An employer tells a trucker to work beyond the hours mandated by law and the trucker hits a roadway worker or dockworker
• A third party falls asleep at the wheel and hits you
• Workplace vehicles like forklifts malfunction or are not properly maintained and hit you
• You’re working road construction and a vehicle veers into you
• You get injured while driving your own vehicle or a company vehicle for work

While the causes are seemingly endless, so are the potential injuries and the costs associated with recovering from them. Workplace motor vehicle accidents can lead to injured victims needing hospitalization, surgery, doctors’ visits, rehabilitation, physical therapy, prescription and over-the-counter medications, assistive devices, mental health treatment, and more. The injured party should keep track of all expenses associated with the incident, including keeping copies of receipts and medical bills.

Texas Workers’ Compensation and Nonsubscribers

Texas employers either subscribe to the state’s workers’ compensation insurance program or are classified as nonsubscribers. If you’re hit by a car while working and your employer subscribes to workers’ comp, your employer will use that workers’ comp insurance to pay you benefits for medical bills, lost wages, and more, regardless of how the accident happened. Since workers are automatically insured under this system, they lose the legal right to sue their employer for their injuries. This bar to recovery is absolute in most cases, but you may not realize that a responsible third party was involved, which would leave you with both the comp recovery and the ability to file a civil lawsuit for personal injury against a non-employer.

A nonsubscriber is an employer that does not subscribe to the Texas workers’ compensation system. An injured worker’s rights are not limited when it comes to filing a lawsuit against an employer after being injured when the employer is a nonsubscriber. But even though your employer may not subscribe to workers’ comp, if you’re hurt by a third party, your employer may not be held responsible for it, at least solely – you would need to sue that third party as well. If you’re injured by a coworker or through your employer’s negligence and they don’t have workers’ comp, you can sue them and make them pay for your damages.

Settling Injury Claims Without a Lawyer Will Leave You Shortchanged

Since being hit by a car while working can potentially involve multiple parties and multiple forms of insurance, things can get really complicated really quickly. Accident victims who think they can represent themselves in an injury claim generally do not understand the full potential value of their claims. When a driver is at fault for a collision, there could be other negligent parties as well, including employers and other responsible third parties with larger insurance policies that could potentially pay you more money. Only an experienced trial lawyer will be able to track down all relevant insurance policies and ensure all appropriate responsible parties are located and sued.

These and other material facts of a car accident claim greatly impact the financial outcome in terms of the damages paid, so do not delay in contacting the Ezequiel Reyna Jr. Law Office today for more information on how we can help you recover from your injuries. Mr. Reyna and his team are proud to have served clients in Weslaco, Texas, and the surrounding communities for over 40 years and the firm provides free consultations to those in need of help.

Our firm handles commercial vehicle accidents – also known as cases involving a company car. Any type of accident involving any type of vehicle – from a car to an 18-wheeler – where one vehicle is owned by a business is more complex than when a collision occurs between two passenger vehicles. A company vehicle is owned by a business and operated by employees or other agents of the company, often to transport passengers or to haul goods. Company vehicles are covered by commercial insurance policies rather than personal ones, and they are subject to specific roadway laws and legal requirements. An accident with a company car is thus different from a regular car accident, and needs to be handled differently.

If you are driving and get hit by a company car, what should you do? Many of the immediate actions to take in the aftermath of a company car accident are similar to those in passenger car crashes – such as seeking medical attention, contacting law enforcement, and noting identifying information of other drivers and witnesses. Things become more complicated, however, when the injured party needs to be compensated by the driver who caused the accident. While it’s always important to gather information if you are able at the scene of an accident, when hit by a company car, you’ll need to find out whether or not the person that hit you was on the job. If possible, find out their employer and who owns the vehicle.

Commercial Insurance For Company Vehicles

Generally speaking, companies are responsible for their employees’ actions while the employees are working or “on the clock.” This means that if the commercial vehicle driver was working at the time of the crash and is found to be at fault, the company that owns the vehicle and/or the company that employs the driver will be held at least partially responsible for the resulting damages.

Commercial insurance companies have vast resources available to protect their interests; and they use them to avoid paying out damages after a company vehicle they insure crashes. If a company car has hit you or someone you love, you must retain a knowledgeable commercial accident lawyer experienced in successfully resolving these matters and securing compensation for all damages.

Causes of Company Car Accidents

To hold an employer liable for the actions of an employee, the employee must be acting within the scope of his or her employment. This means, they must be on the road specifically for a work-related objective, even if driving a personal vehicle. Any number of factors can cause or contribute to a crash with a commercial vehicle. Some common examples of company car accident causes include:

• Drunk driving
• Distracted driving
• Speeding
• Negligent hiring practices
• A poorly maintained vehicle
• An improperly trained driver
• Unsafe road or weather conditions
• Failure to verify proper licensing/certification

Texas Company Car Accident Lawyers

If you or someone you care about was injured in a roadway crash with a company car, the lawyers at the Ezequiel Reyna Law Office can help. We have over 40 years of experience successfully handling all types of motor vehicle accidents – whether motorcycle, car, or big rig – and we want to put our experience to work for you. Contact us today for a free consultation to learn more about how we can help.

The transportation industry is a massive force that quite literally drives commerce in our country. According to Bureau of Transportation Statistics for June 2018, the transportation industry was powered mostly by large semi-trucks, which were responsible for the transportation of $66.6 billion of freight in June 2018, an increase of 5.3% over the previous year, showing no signs of slowing down any time soon.  Considering 62.7% of the country’s freight depends on semi-truck transportation in order to survive, the volume of large trucks seen on roads and highways across the country can be put into perspective. Texas is unique in that it is one of the largest states in the country and is home to five major metropolitan cities. Texas’ major cities are crucial to the supply and demand of goods not only for our state but for the entire country as well. Because of this, a large amount of cargo is transported along Texas roads and highways at any given moment. For Texans, this means learning to share the road with semi-trucks – and their potential for accidents – is a part of daily life.

How Likely Is an Accident?

The likelihood of being involved in a semi-truck accident depends on a variety of factors, and there is no way to predict or guarantee the occurrence of such an event. Drivers can only be prepared and educated on safe driving practices – as well as driving conditions that could increase the potential for an accident such as time of day and weather. The fact is that while driving is routine for many, operating a vehicle should still be taken seriously, regardless of a driver’s age or experience. Understanding the causes of semi-truck accidents gives drivers and passengers greater insight to semi-truck vulnerabilities and how to avoid them.

Causes of Semi-Truck Accidents

Although semi-trucks are large, high-powered vehicles, they remain sensitive to their environment. As the demand for goods increases, so does the need for semi-trucks to transport them. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), large truck-related accidents led to 4,102 deaths in 2017 – a 52% increase since 2009. These accidents occurred for various reasons, but the following were reported as most common factors.

Defective tires were cited as a cause of 30% of semi-truck accidents. Although semi-trucks have far more wheels than most vehicles, a defect in a single tire is enough to cause a catastrophic truck crash. When a truck has a blowout or tire mishap, its cabin and cargo load will be disrupted, potentially causing a chain reaction of events that can lead to a semi-truck accident.

Driver fatigue is a major cause of accidents in the transportation industry. Truck drivers are often required to make long hauls on short deadlines, often leaving them without the adequate amount of sleep necessary to safely focus and maneuver a vehicle of that size. Fatigued drivers can function as poorly as impaired drivers when it comes to controlling a vehicle and reaction timing.

Driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol causes unnecessary and preventable semi-truck accidents annually. Unfortunately, many truck drivers attempt to combat driver fatigue with illegal substances, which is illegal and highly dangerous.

Regular maintenance and inspection help prevent semi-truck accidents. These big rigs should be subject to regular and routine inspection and maintenance, before and after trips. This ensures a truck is properly functioning and equipped to handle the distance and load it will haul. Although this is a simple step, many transportation companies fail to undertake it, as it requires additional time and cost if repairs are needed. This means hundreds or thousands of unfit trucks hauling cargo are sent out on roads every day.

Rio Grande Valley Semi-Truck Accident Attorneys

The Rio Grande Valley sees its fair share of semi-trucks hauling goods across the Texas, but this should not mean that South Texas drivers have to live in fear of semi-truck accidents. The transportation industry must ensure all vehicles and drivers are fit to safely travel the roads with others, regardless of the cost of driver training and vehicle maintenance. If you or a loved one has been seriously injured or killed in a semi truck accident, you may be entitled to compensation. Contact the Rio Grande Valley semi-truck accident attorneys of Ezequiel Reyna Law Office today to discuss your case. There is limited time to act following an accident in Texas, so don’t delay.