Liability in a Texas Truck Underride Accident
When a violent crash with an 18-wheeler happens, the impact itself is only the beginning. Very quickly, you are dealing with shock, serious injuries, worried family members, and questions that do not have easy answers. At the same time, the trucking company and its insurance carrier may already be working behind the scenes to protect themselves. They are often focused on limiting what they pay, not on what you and your family are going through. That imbalance can feel deeply unfair.
Why the Insurance Company Isn’t on Your Side
I am Brad Parker. At Parker Law Firm Injury Lawyers, my team and I see what happens after serious truck wrecks here in Texas, including underride crashes. We know that while you are trying to get medical care and keep your life together, the other side may be gathering evidence, interviewing their driver, and building arguments to blame you. Our job is to step into that gap. We fight tirelessly for you, and we work to make sure your story and the truth about what happened are not buried under insurance company spin.
What Exactly Is a Truck Underride Crash?
A truck underride accident occurs when a smaller vehicle slides under the back or side of a large truck or trailer. Because tractor-trailers sit higher than regular cars, the parts of your vehicle designed to absorb impact often don’t engage. Instead, the trailer’s edge can strike around the windshield or roof, crushing the top of the car and invading the passenger compartment. Rear underride usually happens when a car hits the back of a trailer, while side underride often occurs when a truck crosses a road, turns, or blocks a lane. Injuries in these crashes are typically severe, including traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, amputations, or death. Survivors often endure long hospital stays, multiple surgeries, and a lifetime of follow-up care.
Challenging the Assumption of Fault
These crashes also create unique questions about who is at fault. In a typical rear-end collision between two passenger cars, people often assume the driver in the back is at fault. In an underride case, that simple assumption can be very misleading. Many underride crashes involve problems with the truck itself, such as broken or dirty lights, missing or damaged reflective tape, or an absent or defective underride guard. At night or in bad weather, a poorly marked trailer can almost disappear visually, especially on a dark Texas highway. There are federal rules that require rear underride guards, but there are gaps and exceptions, and side guards are not always required. A trucking company might technically meet the bare minimum standard yet still create a very dangerous situation. When we investigate these collisions, we look closely at why the underride occurred and whether reasonable safety steps were ignored.
Understanding Negligence in Plain English
Understanding liability in a Texas truck underride accident starts with plain talk about negligence. Every driver must exercise reasonable care, but professional truck drivers, and the companies that hire them, bear even greater responsibility because their vehicles can cause catastrophic harm. Negligence occurs when someone fails to use reasonable care, and that failure causes injury. An underride crash might involve a driver speeding, fatigued, leaving hazard lights off, or pulling out without enough time for oncoming traffic to react. It might also involve a company that ignored worn underride guards, neglected a known lighting problem, or rushed a driver back on the road without proper inspection. We work to connect the dots between these actions or inactions, and the resulting injuries.
Holding the Trucking Company Responsible
Trucking companies can be held responsible in two main ways. Vicarious liability means an employer is accountable for its employee’s careless acts while on the job. If a driver was working at the time of the wreck, the company can often be held liable. Direct liability arises from the company’s own actions, such as negligent hiring, inadequate training, failing to monitor driving hours, ignoring maintenance issues, or encouraging drivers to break safety rules to meet deadlines. For example, if a company knowingly allows a driver to exceed legal hours to move more loads, that decision can directly cause a fatigue-related underride crash. In practice, we examine both the driver’s behavior and the company’s choices.
When Road Conditions and Property Design Play a Role
Underride crashes can sometimes involve issues similar to those in property cases, such as slip-and-fall injuries. In Texas, the law governing how landowners must address dangerous conditions is called premises liability. You can learn more on our Premises Liability in Texas page. The same principles can apply when a trucking company designs or controls areas where trucks enter or exit busy roads. If a terminal or loading dock forces trucks to block lanes dangerously, or a construction company sets up a confusing work zone that hides a trailer in the dark, those conditions can factor into liability. Roadway layout, poor lighting, and inadequate signage can make premises liability concepts relevant in truck crash claims.
Identifying Other At-Fault Parties
Responsibility for a truck underride accident often extends beyond the driver. Trucking companies are frequently the main defendant because they control hiring, training, scheduling, maintenance, and safety policies. Modern trucking, however, involves many players. A shipper or loading company that stacks cargo improperly can make a trailer sway or jackknife, leaving its side exposed in a travel lane. A third-party maintenance shop that neglects brake lights, worn reflective tape, or a damaged underride guard can make a truck nearly invisible. Route planners who send long trailers through tight urban intersections create high-risk turns with little room for oncoming traffic. In some cases, public entities or contractors responsible for road design and construction may also share liability, especially if blind curves, missing signs, or lighting hazards were known but left uncorrected.
The Four Key Questions of a Liability Case
Proving negligence in a truck underride case often comes down to four questions. Did the driver or company have a duty to act safely? or did they breach that duty? Did that breach cause the underride and the resulting injuries? And what are the full damages, both now and in the future? For underride crashes, a central issue is often whether the collision would have been survivable if the truck had proper guards, lighting, and markings, or if the driver had acted differently. Insurance companies will frequently argue that the car driver was speeding, following too closely, or not paying attention. Our task is to collect and present evidence that shows how the truck’s condition, position, or movement created a trap that even a careful driver could not avoid.
Gathering Technical Evidence for Your Claim
The evidence needed to prove underride injuries and liability can be very technical. We typically look for police reports, photographs, and videos of the scene and vehicles, and any available dashcam footage. Modern trucks usually have an electronic control module, often called a “black box,” that records information such as speed, braking, and throttle use just before a crash. Driver logbooks and electronic logging devices can show if the driver was over hours and possibly fatigued. Maintenance records can reveal whether the underride guard, lamps, and reflective tape were inspected and repaired as needed. In serious cases, we often work with accident reconstruction experts who use physics and engineering to recreate what happened and to show how much time and distance a car driver really had. We may also bring in experts on federal trucking rules to explain whether the company followed or violated safety regulations.
Watching the Clock: Strict Texas Deadlines
Deadlines are a critical part of any Texas injury claim. In many Texas personal injury cases, including serious truck accidents, the law often gives injured people a limited amount of time to file a lawsuit. This is sometimes described as a two-year statute of limitations, but there are situations where different rules or exceptions may apply. You can read more about how the statute of limitations for personal injury in Texas works on our dedicated page at https://parkerlawfirm.com/texas-statute-of-limitations-personal-injury. The important point is that deadlines can be short and can depend on the facts of your case, especially if a government entity is involved, so it is best to talk with a Texas injury lawyer as soon as you can. Waiting too long can make it harder to gather evidence, locate witnesses, and protect your rights.
Assessing the Full Scope of Your Damages
Damages in truck underride cases often reflect the catastrophic injuries involved. Medical expenses can include emergency care, surgeries, hospitalization, rehabilitation, medications, and medical equipment. Many clients also face future costs for ongoing treatment, home health care, or long-term support. Lost income is another major concern. If injuries prevent you from working, you may recover lost wages. If you cannot return to your previous job or can work only in a reduced capacity, we may seek compensation for lost future earning potential. Non-economic damages cover mental anguish, pain and suffering, disfigurement, and loss of enjoyment of life, harms that affect daily life, relationships, and independence. In tragic cases, surviving family members may pursue wrongful death claims and compensation for the loss of support, companionship, and income.
First Steps to Take After a Crash
In the days and weeks after a serious underride crash, the steps you take can affect both your health and any legal claim. Getting prompt medical care is critical, not only for your safety and well-being, but also to document your injuries and connect them clearly to the wreck. If you are able, or if a family member can help, photographs of the scene, the truck, and your vehicle can be very important, especially if they show the condition of lights, reflectors, and underride guards. Because the truck and its records are in the hands of the trucking company, it is usually important for a lawyer to get involved quickly to send preservation letters and take steps to prevent evidence from being altered or lost. At Parker Law Firm, we handle these tasks for our clients so they can focus on medical care and family.
Pushing Back on Common Insurance Defenses
Trucking companies and their insurers often raise familiar defenses in underride cases.The company may claim you were mostly or entirely at fault, citing Texas’s comparative negligence rules, which can reduce or bar recovery if you bear significant responsibility. Its lawyers might argue the driver was an independent contractor, so the company isn’t liable. Some may insist that a truck “controls” an intersection once it enters, forcing others to yield, despite Texas traffic laws saying otherwise. Evidence that the truck met federal minimum standards for guards and lighting could be presented to suggest no wrongdoing. In practice, our job is to confront these defenses with facts, expert testimony, and the actual law. Compliance with the bare minimum safety standard does not automatically make a company’s choices reasonable, especially when safer options are available, and the risks of underride are well known.
You Don’t Have to Do This Alone
If you are reading this because you or someone you love has been involved in a truck underride accident in Texas, you probably feel overwhelmed, angry, and unsure of what to do next. That is completely understandable. You do not have to figure this out alone. Our firm handles truck accident claims in Texas, and you can learn more about that part of our practice at https://parkerlawfirm.com/texas-truck-accidents. We treat you like family, we explain your options in plain English, and we stand between you and the insurance company so you are not bullied into a quick, unfair settlement. There is no fee unless we win, which means you do not pay us attorney’s fees up front.
I am Brad Parker, the attorney you want but hope you never need. If you have questions about truck underride liability in Texas or want to understand your rights after a serious crash, reach out and talk with a licensed Texas injury lawyer about your specific situation. One small conversation will help you understand your options and take some of that weight off your shoulders. This information is for general purposes only and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Talk with a licensed Texas attorney about your situation so you can make an informed decision for yourself and your family.
