Commercial truck owners are responsible for keeping track of a vehicle’s condition and inspections, and these records can help victims seeking compensation after accidents in Texas.
A truck’s maintenance record, or lack thereof, could influence an accident case and a victim’s financial recovery. Maintenance records might show that a vehicle owner, likely a trucking company, failed to perform annual inspections or kept vehicles in rotation that were unsafe for road use. Because maintenance records can help prove negligence, the trucking company may refuse to provide these documents unless forced by a judge, and our lawyers can subpoena maintenance records and black box data if necessary. Suppose maintenance records indicate that a trucking company showed a reckless indifference for the safety of others because it routinely ignored glaring issues or missed inspections. In that case, our lawyers may seek punitive damages in court in addition to compensation for your economic and non-economic losses.
Call The Queenan Law Firm’s Dallas, TX truck accident lawyers for a free case assessment at (817) 476-1797.
How Can a Truck’s Maintenance Records Affect Your Accident Compensation Case?
Trucking companies must maintain records regarding a truck’s upkeep and history, and our lawyers can obtain these records after an accident to help us determine liability and cause.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) sets the rules for truck maintenance records, starting with the informational record on the vehicle, such as its make, model, year, VIN, and owner. Trucking companies must also keep records of maintenance schedules, showing the last time the vehicle was serviced or inspected and its next inspection date.
Maintenance records should also include information from each inspection, past repairs or issues, and recent daily vehicle inspection reports.
Maintenance records should detail a vehicle’s history and show whether or not it is safe for road use. When truck accidents happen because of vehicle defects, our lawyers may review maintenance records to determine if the owner, most likely the truck driver’s employer, performed the necessary inspections. Not having thorough maintenance records could negatively affect trucking companies, showing that they failed to uphold their duty of care and ensure trucks were in good working condition.
In addition to maintenance records, a commercial truck’s black box data may benefit your claim, showing the vehicle’s speed, brake use, and movement over time. Because of this, our lawyers will also seek to obtain this information from the vehicle owner, most likely a trucking company.
How to Get a Truck’s Maintenance Record to Use in Your Texas Compensation Claim
Especially if a trucking company knows its maintenance records for the vehicle are incomplete or would show its negligence, it will not just hand over the documents you want. Instead, our lawyers may have to force the trucking company’s hand by subpoenaing the vehicle’s maintenance record in court.
Judges typically grant these subpoena requests because a truck’s maintenance records may be relevant to a case, particularly if there is evidence of a vehicle defect causing the accident. Acting fast in these situations is important to ensure we can quickly obtain maintenance records, which may help strengthen an accident reconstruction expert’s future testimony. We can also request black box data during this time, and crash reconstruction experts can review this information when piecing together what happened before, during, and after the accident.
Remember, maintenance records contain more information than just a vehicle’s inspection history. Our Texas truck accident lawyers can learn more about the vehicle’s size, cargo weight limits, and general condition by subpoenaing relevant documents. In addition to maintenance records, our lawyers may request confirmation of the truck driver’s employment status or further investigate the trucking company’s hiring practices. Trucking companies that hire drivers without the appropriate experience or commercial driver’s license may be liable for accidents, including if they knew of a driver’s history of reckless driving and kept them on staff.
Can You Use a Truck’s Maintenance Record to Get More Compensation After an Accident in Texas?
If, after reviewing a truck’s maintenance record, our lawyers see evidence of gross negligence on the trucking company’s behalf, we may seek punitive damages in your claim in addition to compensation for your economic and non-economic losses.
Missing mandatory inspections, ignoring vehicle issues, or keeping poor records could constitute gross negligence. Trucks are massive vehicles capable of causing fatal or life-altering injuries to victims. Trucking companies have an obligation to ensure their vehicles are safe for road use and to follow FMCSA rules for keeping maintenance records and getting regular inspections, as well as other federal regulations, like limits on consecutive driving hours for truckers.
Blatantly ignoring these rules could lead to very dangerous defects within vehicles. Drivers might lose steering control, engines might overheat, and brakes might fail, putting commercial truck drivers and others on the road at risk of serious injury. Using maintenance records, our lawyers can show that the trucking company routinely failed to uphold its duty of care and showed a reckless indifference for the safety of others, making you entitled to punitive damages.
Because maintenance records can help prove liability for certain truck accidents, they can help victims get compensation for all damages, including economic and non-economic damages. While maintenance records are very useful, they are not the only evidence our lawyers must use to meet the standard of proof for injury lawsuits in Texas. Preserving all relevant evidence is important, so our lawyers will also make sure to interview eyewitnesses, review incident reports, obtain surveillance footage from nearby security cameras, and pool together all medical records from throughout your treatment. We will also track your damages, noting how the accident has affected you emotionally, financially, and physically.
Call Our Lawyers in Texas for Help with Your Truck Accident Case
Call The Queenan Law Firm at (817) 476-1797 for help with your case from our Grapevine, TX truck accident lawyers.