While you are still in the emergency department after a crash with a tractor-trailer, the trucking company may already have people working the scene: an adjuster, an investigator, sometimes a reconstruction expert and a defense lawyer. Their job is to shape the record before anyone speaks for you. This post sorts the work that follows into who does what: the steps only you can take, what your doctor has to document, what a lawyer does with the carrier’s records, and what the carrier itself is required to do under federal rules. If you were hurt, a Richmond 18-wheeler accident lawyer at Tronfeld West & Durrett can take the carrier’s side of that list off your hands.
What the Trucking Company Does First
It helps to know what you are up against. Many motor carriers and their insurers keep a rapid-response arrangement for serious crashes, so that within hours someone is photographing the trailer, downloading data, and taking the driver’s account. None of that is improper. The problem is that the evidence they collect belongs to them, and you have no one doing the same work.
Federal rules also put the carrier on a clock. Under 49 CFR § 382.303, a carrier must test its surviving driver for alcohol and drugs after any crash involving a death, and after an injury or tow-away crash when the driver is cited. The alcohol test is supposed to happen within two hours, attempts stop at eight hours, and drug testing stops at 32 hours. When a test is missed, the carrier must write down why. Those records, or their absence, can matter later.
The stakes are why carriers move this fast. According to NHTSA’s 2024 large truck data, 5,340 people were killed nationwide in crashes involving large trucks, 70 percent of them in other vehicles, and 122 of those deaths were in Virginia. The way commercial truck accidents differ from car accidents starts right here, with a defendant that is organized before the injured person has a diagnosis.
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What Only You Can Do
Some steps cannot be delegated. If you are able, or if a family member can act for you, these matter most:
- Get checked, even if you feel steady. Adrenaline hides injuries. An ambulance ride or an emergency department visit on the day of the crash is the first entry in the medical record that proves your case.
- Record what the truck says about itself. The carrier’s name and USDOT number on the cab door, the trailer number, and the license plates on both units. The company driving the truck and the company that owns the trailer are often different.
- Hold on to names. Witnesses, the responding officer, and the agency they work for. You will need the crash report from the Virginia police agency that handled the scene, and the officer’s name makes it easier to find.
- Say little to the trucking company’s insurer. You can confirm your name and that you were in the crash. A recorded statement to the insurance company given while you are medicated or in pain can be used to narrow your claim later.
- Keep your vehicle and your records. Do not let the car go to salvage until it has been inspected, and keep every bill, prescription, and note from your employer about missed work.
Once you have done these, the rest of the work belongs to people whose job it is, and Tronfeld West & Durrett can start that work while you focus on getting better.
What Your Doctor Needs From You
The medical record is the backbone of a truck claim, and doctors can only chart what they are told. Tell every provider about every symptom, including the ones that seem minor: headaches, ringing in the ears, numbness in a hand, trouble sleeping, forgetfulness. A symptom first mentioned six weeks after the crash is one the insurer will say came from somewhere else.
Follow the treatment plan, keep your appointments, and if you cannot afford a recommended test or therapy, say so rather than skipping it. Gaps in care are one of the most common arguments against injured people. The forces in a collision with a loaded tractor-trailer often cause injuries that do not show on a first X-ray, including traumatic brain injuries that surface as memory or mood changes and spinal cord injuries that progress over days. Your doctor’s notes are what connect those injuries to the truck. When our attorneys review a case, the medical file is usually the first thing we read and the last thing we stop updating.
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What Your Lawyer Does With the Carrier’s Records
The proof in a truck case sits in the carrier’s files, and much of it can be lawfully discarded on a schedule. A preservation letter, sent quickly, puts the carrier on notice to keep it. These are the records we go after first:
- Hours-of-service logs. Drivers record duty status on electronic logging devices, and 49 CFR § 395.8 requires carriers to keep those records and supporting documents for only six months. Fatigue cases are often built or lost on them.
- The driver qualification file. Under 49 CFR § 391.51, the carrier must keep the driver’s application, driving record, road test, and medical certification. Gaps here support a negligent hiring or retention claim.
- Inspection and maintenance records. 49 CFR § 396.3 requires systematic inspection and repair, with records kept for one year and for six months after the vehicle leaves the carrier’s control.
- Telematics and cameras. Engine data, GPS, and forward or cab-facing video often show speed, braking, and following distance in the seconds before impact.
- Dispatch and load records. Delivery deadlines, dispatcher messages, and bills of lading can show pressure to keep driving or an overweight or poorly secured load.
When those records show a rule was broken, FMCSA violations can strengthen a truck accident claim by showing the carrier knew the danger. Our trucking team sends preservation demands in the first days of a case for exactly this reason.
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Who Can Be Held Responsible, and Who Pays
A semi-truck crash can involve more defendants and more insurance than a car crash, and sorting them out early changes what a case is worth.
The Driver, the Carrier, and the Companies Behind Them
The driver is responsible for their own conduct. The motor carrier is usually responsible for its employee drivers and can also be liable for hiring, training, supervising, and scheduling decisions. Depending on the facts, the trailer owner, the shipper or loader, a maintenance vendor, a parts manufacturer, and the freight broker who chose the carrier may share responsibility. In May 2026 the U.S. Supreme Court held that freight brokers can be held liable under state negligent hiring law when they select an unsafe carrier, which opens another source of recovery in some Virginia cases.
The Insurance Behind a Commercial Truck
Federal rules at 49 CFR § 387.9 set minimum liability coverage for interstate for-hire carriers hauling general freight at $750,000, with higher minimums for certain hazardous materials. Many carriers carry more, sometimes in layers with separate insurers.
Virginia’s Contributory Negligence Rule
Virginia bars an injured person from recovering if they were even slightly at fault. Trucking defendants know this and use it, arguing you changed lanes too late or should have seen the truck sooner. Being partially at fault in Virginia can end a claim, which is why video, data, and witnesses matter so much, and why Tronfeld West & Durrett builds the fault case before the defense builds theirs.
David Durrett on the First Day of a Truck Case
David Durrett, who grew up in Henrico County and chairs the firm’s Trucking Litigation section, describes that first day differently than most people expect:
“By the time a family calls us, the trucking company has usually had a head start. My first job is to take away that head start: preservation letters go out to every company that touched the truck or the load, and we take a hard look at whether the carrier’s own records match what its driver is saying. The injured person should be concentrating on getting well. The paperwork war is ours to fight.”
Two of the firm’s results show what that work can lead to. A tractor-trailer pulling out of a trucking terminal ran over a young woman on a bicycle. The defendants admitted negligence but argued she was contributorily negligent for riding in front of the truck. A security camera had recorded the whole collision. The case resolved for an $11.5 million settlement. In another case, a passenger was left quadriplegic when a tractor-trailer overturned, and the truck’s own liability coverage had lapsed. The firm sued the shipper and the broker that arranged the load, and the case settled at mediation for $4.25 million, paid by the broker on behalf of all defendants.
Contact a Virginia Truck Accident Lawyer at Tronfeld West & Durrett
A trucking company has people whose only job is to protect it after a crash. You should have the same. Our attorneys will review what happened, get preservation demands out to every company involved, and tell you plainly what your claim is worth.
Tronfeld West & Durrett has served injured Virginians since 1972 from offices in Richmond, North Chesterfield, Petersburg, and Mechanicsville, and we are not your typical law firm: a local attorney will know your name and your case. There is no fee unless we win. Contact us for a free consultation.
FAQs About Semi-Truck Accident Cases
Can I sue for being hit by a semi-truck?
Yes. If a truck driver or trucking company was negligent and you were hurt, you can bring a claim against the driver, the carrier, and any other company whose negligence contributed. Most claims are resolved with the insurers without a trial, but filing suit is sometimes what it takes to get the carrier’s records and a fair offer.
What is the average settlement for a semi-truck accident?
There is no official average, and any figure you find online mixes minor crashes with catastrophic ones. Value depends on your injuries, lost income, future care, the evidence of fault, and the coverage available. The firm’s results for injured clients show the range across different kinds of cases.
How long does a semi-truck settlement take?
A claim with clear fault and injuries that have healed can resolve in months. Claims with serious injuries, several defendants, or layered insurance commonly stretch past a year, and filing suit adds more time. Settling before your doctors know your long-term outlook usually means settling for too little.
How long does an insurance company have to settle a claim in Virginia?
Virginia does not set a fixed deadline for an at-fault driver’s insurer to settle an injury claim. Va. Code § 38.2-510 does prohibit insurers from making a general practice of unreasonable delay, such as failing to act promptly on claims or to settle in good faith once liability is reasonably clear. Your own deadline to sue is the one that matters most.
What is the deadline to sue a trucking company in Virginia?
The filing window for an injury claim is generally two years, counted from the crash, under Va. Code § 8.01-243. Truck evidence disappears much sooner than that, so waiting until the deadline approaches usually costs more than time.
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