California Truck Accident Laws

The impact is only the first thing you remember. Then come the quiet, the smell of diesel, and the slow understanding that a commercial truck has just rewritten the next few years of your life: the surgeries, the missed work, the calls you never asked for.

Haffner Law’s California truck accident lawyers represent people hurt in crashes with tractor-trailers, delivery trucks, and other commercial vehicles. These claims are not ordinary collision cases. A trucking company, its liability insurer, and sometimes several other businesses are involved, and federal safety rules help decide whether the driver and the carrier did their jobs.

The records that answer those questions are controlled by the other side, and some of them are kept for a limited time. That is why early action matters. The carrier’s legal team may be at the crash scene within hours. Our investigators move just as fast, because the evidence that decides these cases can disappear in days.

Call (213) 514-5681 for a free case evaluation. We will review how your crash happened, tell you exactly where you stand, and you pay nothing unless we win.

Was a Commercial Truck Involved in Your Crash?

If a commercial truck was involved in your crash anywhere in California, or your family lost someone in one, you are in the right place. That includes tractor-trailers (often called 18-wheelers or semi trucks), box and delivery trucks, flatbeds, tankers, dump trucks, and other vehicles hauling goods for business.

Bus crashes, rideshare crashes, and car-only crashes raise different questions. If no commercial truck was involved, Haffner Law also handles car, motorcycle, and other vehicle accident claims. If a truck was involved, four questions matter first: who is responsible, what to preserve, what your case may be worth, and which deadlines apply.

Why Truck Accident Cases Are Different

A truck crash is more than a collision. It is also a regulatory event: the company that put the truck on the road answers to federal safety rules, and the records it keeps under those rules can show what really happened.

Federal Safety Rules for Carriers and Drivers

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, enforced by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), govern who may drive, for how long, and how the truck must be kept. For a driver hauling property, the hours-of-service rules generally allow no more than 11 hours of driving after 10 consecutive hours off duty. They bar driving once 14 hours have passed since the driver came on duty, and they require a 30-minute break once 8 hours of driving have passed. Drivers also may not drive after 60 hours on duty in 7 days or 70 hours on duty in 8 days, depending on whether the carrier operates every day, and exceptions exist.^[1]

Carriers must also systematically inspect, repair, and maintain the vehicles they control.^[2]

California Rules That Apply on Top

California adds its own rules. Many drivers who operate only within the state follow state hours-of-service limits instead of the federal ones: no more than 12 hours of driving after 10 consecutive hours off duty, and no driving after the 16th hour on duty.^[3] Drivers in interstate commerce, and drivers hauling hazardous substances or hazardous waste, follow the federal limits. Because exceptions apply to both sets of rules, we check which set governed your driver that day.

What a Rule Violation Does and Does Not Prove

A logbook entry, an inspection report, or a maintenance gap can help explain how a crash happened. A violation is powerful evidence, but it has to be tied to how you were hurt. That connection is our job: we take the carrier’s own records and use them to prove what the violation cost you.

Who Can Bring a Truck Accident Claim

If a commercial truck injured you, you have a case worth investigating, and so may the family of someone who died in the crash.

Drivers and Passengers

If you were driving or riding in a car, van, or pickup that a truck struck, you may bring a claim for your injuries, medical costs, lost income, and other losses.

Families After a Fatal Crash

Losing someone you love in a truck crash is a loss no legal process repairs. The law still sets its own rules for who may bring a claim.

California limits who may file a wrongful death claim. Generally, the surviving spouse or domestic partner, the children, and the descendants of any child who has died may file. If your loved one left no children, grandchildren, or other descendants, others who would inherit may file. Certain people who depended on your loved one, such as stepchildren and parents, may also file.^[4] An attorney can tell you where your family fits.

Pedestrians and Cyclists

You do not have to be in a vehicle to have a claim. People on foot or on bicycles who are struck by a truck, including a truck turning across their path, may bring claims against the responsible parties.

Occupants of Commercial Vehicles

If you were working when a truck hit you, tell us at the start. Workers’ compensation may cover part of your losses. California law also preserves an injured employee’s right to seek damages from someone other than the employer, such as another driver or another company.^[5] How those two tracks fit together is something to sort out early.

Who Can Be Held Responsible in a Truck Crash

In a truck case, the driver is rarely the whole story. Behind the wheel is a company, and often several others. Trucking companies keep safety records for a reason, and we pull them. We investigate the carrier, the broker, the shipper, and every other company in the chain, and we build the evidence that holds the right parties accountable.

The Trucking Company and the Driver

A trucking company is generally responsible for harm caused by its employees’ wrongful conduct while they are acting within the scope of their employment. A driver remains responsible for his or her own conduct whether or not the company is also liable.^[6] Beyond what the driver did, the company’s own decisions about hiring, training, scheduling, and maintenance can matter to a case.

Independent Contractors and Leased Trucks

Some carriers label their drivers independent contractors or lease trucks from owner-operators. Federal leasing rules require a for-hire carrier’s lease to give the carrier exclusive possession, control, and use of the leased equipment and to make the carrier responsible for operating it during the lease.^[7] The same rule says this control requirement does not by itself decide whether the driver is an employee or an independent contractor, so a contractor label does not settle the question in either direction. We look at who actually controlled the truck, the route, and the driver’s work.

Freight Brokers and Shippers

Freight brokers arrange the haul without moving the freight themselves. In May 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court held unanimously, in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, that a negligent-hiring claim against a broker falls within a federal safety exception and is not blocked by federal law.^[8] Negligent hiring means the broker carelessly chose an unsafe carrier. The Court tied that exception to claims involving motor vehicle safety, so each broker claim still turns on its facts. The case involved a shipment across state lines, and the Court did not decide how the rule applies to brokers arranging shipments that stay within one state.

Shippers and loading companies can matter too when cargo was overloaded, unbalanced, or poorly secured.

Repair Shops, Parts Makers, and Equipment Companies

When a brake, tire, coupling, or other component fails, the company that serviced it or the company that made it may share responsibility. Those questions can overlap with product liability claims.

How Several Defendants Affect Your Claim

When fault is divided among several people or companies, California’s Proposition 51 limits each defendant’s liability for non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering, to its own percentage of fault.^[9] That is one more reason to identify every responsible party early.

What to Do First and What to Preserve

Your health and safety come first.

First Steps After a Truck Crash

• Get medical care and call 911. Some injuries, including head and spinal injuries, can take time to show up.
• If you can do so safely, photograph the scene, the vehicles, the cargo, and any debris.
• Write down the carrier’s name, the USDOT number on the cab, and the license plates.
• Get names and phone numbers for witnesses.
• Be careful about giving a recorded statement to the trucking company’s insurer before you have spoken with a lawyer.
• Keep your medical records, bills, and every piece of paperwork you receive.

What to Preserve

Keep your own evidence from disappearing: photos and video, your phone, any dashcam footage, your damaged vehicle until it has been documented, and the police or CHP report number. If your vehicle is declared a total loss, ask before it is sold or scrapped.

What We Collect From the Trucking Side

Truck cases turn on records the carrier controls. Depending on the crash, they can include electronic logging device data and driver logs, engine control module (black box) data, dashcam and telematics data, maintenance and inspection records, the driver’s hiring and qualification file, dispatch and delivery records, loading and weight documents, and post-accident test results.

Time matters. Most carriers must use electronic logging devices to record hours of service, and a carrier must keep records of duty status and supporting documents for at least six months.^[10] Other electronic data, including engine and camera data, can be overwritten or lost unless someone asks that it be preserved.

After certain serious crashes, federal rules also call for drug and alcohol testing of the driver. Alcohol tests are due as soon as practicable, with documentation required if one is not done within two hours and attempts stopping at eight hours, and drug tests carry a 32-hour limit.^[11]

A written preservation request tells the carrier and its insurer which records and data must be kept. Sending one is among the first steps in our process.

Insurance and Coverage in Commercial Truck Cases

Federal rules require for-hire carriers hauling property across state lines, and carriers hauling hazardous materials, to carry minimum liability insurance, and they make a carrier’s proof of that coverage public information, to be produced on reasonable request. For-hire carriers hauling nonhazardous freight in interstate commerce in vehicles rated at 10,001 pounds or more must carry at least $750,000. The minimum is $1,000,000 for oil and certain hazardous materials, and $5,000,000 for the most dangerous materials in bulk or specified quantities. The federal minimums apply differently to private carriers that haul their own goods.^[12]

California separately requires most motor carriers of property to maintain liability coverage of at least $750,000 combined single limit per accident. Carriers running only lighter vehicles, with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 pounds or less, and not hauling hazardous materials have a lower minimum of $300,000. Higher minimums apply to certain hazardous cargo.^[13]

These numbers are floors, not predictions. The coverage actually in force on the day of your crash depends on the carrier, and more than one policy can be involved when brokers, shippers, or repair companies share responsibility. That is why we confirm available coverage early. Prompt action matters for a plain reason: records can be overwritten, and filing deadlines keep running.

Damages and What Drives the Value of a Truck Case

A truck case is valued on what your injuries will cost you over time, not on the first bill.

• Economic damages: past and future medical care, rehabilitation, lost income, lost earning capacity, and property damage, including your vehicle.
• Non-economic damages: pain and suffering, emotional distress, and the loss of enjoyment of life.
• Punitive damages: rare. California requires clear and convincing evidence of oppression, fraud, or malice. When a company is blamed for an employee’s conduct, an officer, director, or managing agent must have known in advance that the employee was unfit and hired or kept the employee anyway in conscious disregard of others’ safety, authorized or approved the conduct, or personally acted with oppression, fraud, or malice.^[14]

What moves the number: how severe and permanent the injuries are, what future care will cost, how much work you will miss, how strong the liability evidence is, how much insurance is available, and how fault is divided. No honest lawyer can put a number on your case before reviewing the evidence. Once we see your records, we can tell you which of these factors is driving your claim.

Deadlines for Truck Accident Claims in California

California trucking accident claims run on strict clocks, and a missed deadline can end the case.

• Injury and wrongful death: generally two years from the date of the injury or death.^[15]
• Vehicle and other property damage: generally three years.^[16]
• Claims against a California public entity: for injury, death, or damage to personal property such as your vehicle, a written claim generally must be presented within six months.^[17] If the entity rejects it, suit generally must be filed within six months after the written rejection notice is delivered or mailed; without proper written notice, within two years of when the claim accrued.^[18] A late-claim application must be presented within a reasonable time, not to exceed one year after the claim accrued, and relief is not automatic.^[19]
• Claims against the federal government, such as a postal truck: a written administrative claim generally must be presented to the agency within two years, and suit generally must follow within six months after the agency mails its notice of final denial.^[20]

Missing a deadline can end a claim no matter how strong the evidence is.

Different deadlines can apply to different defendants in the same crash, and some situations change a deadline, so we check for them. Evidence is often even more time-sensitive than the filing deadline.

How Haffner Law Evaluates, Investigates, and Advances a Truck Case

When you call, a California truck accident attorney at Haffner Law starts with what happened and what evidence is at risk. Here is how a case moves from there.

1. Free Case Evaluation

We listen to what happened, review your injuries and records, and tell you honestly what we see, including whether a truck case is the right path.

2. Preservation and Investigation

We send written preservation requests, request the carrier’s records, and, where the facts call for it, work with specialists who can reconstruct the crash.

3. Responsible Parties and Coverage

We identify who may be responsible and what insurance may be available, from the carrier to brokers, shippers, and repair companies.

4. Documenting Your Injuries and Losses

We gather your medical records and bills. Where injuries are permanent, we involve the medical and financial specialists needed to value future care and lost earning capacity.

5. Demand, Negotiation, and Litigation

Once your condition is clear enough to value, we present the claim and negotiate. If the carrier or its insurer will not make a fair offer, we are prepared to file suit and take the case to trial.

Not sure what your crash is worth, or who is responsible?

☎ Call (213) 514-5681 for a free case evaluation.

We will review your case and give you an honest assessment, not a promise.

Common Truck Crash Types and What They Can Reveal

Whether it was an 18-wheeler accident or a box truck crash, the details matter. These are common patterns and the evidence each one tends to point to.

• Jackknife and rollover crashes: speed, braking, load balance, and equipment condition usually come into question.
• Rear-end collisions: following distance, brake condition, and driver attention or fatigue are the usual starting points.
• Wide-turn and right-turn crashes: mirrors, route planning, and driver training matter most when a pedestrian, cyclist, or smaller vehicle is struck as the truck swings.
• Underride crashes: a vehicle slides beneath a trailer, so trailer condition and visibility can matter.
• Lane-change and blind-spot crashes: mirror setup, camera systems, and lane position come into play.
• Tire blowouts and brake failures: maintenance and inspection records tell much of the story.
• Cargo spills and shifts: loading, weight, and securement are the questions.
• Fatigue-related crashes: hours-of-service logs and dispatch schedules show whether the driver stayed within the limits.
• Fatal crashes: every one of these can apply, and your family also has rights in a wrongful death claim.

Common Defenses and How They Are Addressed

Expect the other side to try some version of these. We have answered them all before, and we are ready for them in your case.

• You were partly at fault. California follows pure comparative negligence: your damages are reduced by your percentage of fault, not eliminated. If a jury found you 20 percent responsible for $100,000 in damages, you would still recover $80,000.^[21] One exception: if you owned an uninsured vehicle involved in the crash, drove without the insurance California requires, or were convicted of driving under the influence for the crash, California law generally bars pain and suffering damages.^[22]
• Someone else is to blame. A company may point at another driver, a broker, or a repair shop. That is why we identify every responsible party instead of stopping at the first one.
• The driver was an independent contractor. A contractor label does not end the inquiry. Leasing rules and the carrier’s actual control matter.
• A broker is shielded by federal law. After the Supreme Court’s May 2026 decision, a negligent-hiring claim against a broker over a shipment across state lines is not automatically blocked, though each claim is reviewed on its facts.
• Your injuries came from something else. Carriers and insurers sometimes point to earlier conditions or gaps in treatment. A clear medical timeline and honest records are the answer.
• The data was lost in the ordinary course. Early preservation requests narrow that argument.
• You waited too long. Deadlines are real, which is why an early call matters.