Tom McCutcheon – Attorney at Law
Joel and I have been representing people or their families killed or injured by 18 wheelers for years. Most truck drivers are professional drivers who take their job seriously. These drivers know the tremendous potential for injury in driving an 80,000 lb vehicle at highway speeds. These vehicles are often driven on retreads and trucks don’t make money if they are not moving. Drivers are often asked to drive more than allowed and are required to move cargo as quickly as possible.
With a regular car wreck, you typically have two drivers neither of which is a professional. More importantly, in a regular car wreck case there is not a team of damage control experts on their way to the scene of the crash to do what they can do to limit the liability of one side and not the other. We know of cases where the truck driver has to meet with trucking company lawyers after a fatality before he gets to go home.
In many cases that we see, the truck driver does not meet the qualifications that are required under federal law to be permitted to operate a commercial vehicle.
In these cases, a trucking company entrusted a tractor-trailer and cargo to a person who should not have been behind the wheel as a matter of law. There are specific documents required at the time a professional driver is hired that must be in the driver’s file. If those documents do not exist or cannot be found, then the driver is not qualified. Usually we get trucking cases fairly soon after the accident but not as soon as an automobile accident simply because the injuries are often catastrophic and catastrophic injuries require family members to take care of the person hurt.
It is absolutely vital for an attorney to quickly send a letter requiring the trucking company to retain all documents relating to the driver and the accident. Often a download of the “black box” on the truck can prove speeding or late breaking. If this letter is not sent and enough time passes by the trucking company doesn’t have to retain some of these documents or they may get “lost”. Whether you hire McCutcheon & Hamner or another personal injury attorney that has experience in truck wreck cases insist that someone send a comprehensive and well written retention letter to the trucking company involved in the accident.
Buckle up and drive safely.
