Injured in a Texas Truck Crash? We’re Here to Help.
At a Glance: Houston Truck Accident Laws
- Filing Deadline: 2 years (Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code § 16.003).
- Common Houston Truck Crash Sites: I-10, I-45, Highway 225, and the 610 Loop.
- Common Violations: Hours-of-Service, overloaded cargo, skipped maintenance.
- Case Value Factors: Medical bills, lost earning capacity, and punitive damages.
If you or someone you love was hurt in a crash with an 18-wheeler, big rig, or commercial truck, you are not alone—and you are not out of options. Houston is one of the busiest trucking hubs in the country, specifically along the Energy Corridor and Port of Houston, where highways see thousands of serious crashes every year.
Victims are often left dealing with catastrophic injuries, such as brain injuries, mounting hospital bills, and insurance companies that do not play fair.
Why Houston Trusts Arnold & Itkin
At a Glance: Arnold & Itkin's Track Record
- Total Recovered: Over $20 billion for injury victims nationwide.
- Fee Structure: 100% contingency. You pay $0 unless we win.
- Elite Status: Members of the Inner Circle of Advocates (Top 100 plaintiff lawyers).
- Top Recognition: Ranked by Forbes and Super Lawyers for personal injury.
When everything is on the line after a serious crash in Harris County or anywhere in Texas, families turn to Arnold & Itkin. We don’t just claim to get results; we list them.
Our victories routinely force trucking companies to change their safety policies.
Record-Breaking Texas Trucking Victories
- $90 million settlement for a Texas truck driver burned in an explosion.
- $35.5 million settlement for a family injured in a truck accident.
- $12.4 million jury verdict for a worker hit by a UPS truck.
Recognized by the Nation's Top Legal Entities
Our founding attorneys are validated by the most esteemed and rigorous organizations in law, including the National Association of Distinguished Counsel (Top 1%) and Best Lawyers®. To see how we have helped clients nationwide, watch our video testimonials or read our verified reviews on Google.
Call (888) 493-1629 for a free consultation. Our Texas truck accident attorneys are ready to help.
Abogados de accidentes de camiones en Houston
Immediate Action: How We Protect Our Clients' Cases
The first 48 hours after a truck accident are critical.
While you are recovering, the trucking company has likely already deployed a "Rapid Response Team" to the scene to minimize their liability. We level the playing field.
Preserving the "Black Box" (ECM)
Whether the crash happened on the I-10 corridor, Highway 225, or the 610 Loop, our team moves fast to secure the black box, or Electronic Control Module (ECM).
- What It Reveals: Speed at impact, braking history, and hours of service.
- Attorney Action: Our Houston truck accident attorneys often send an immediate Spoliation Letter to prevent the company from legally destroying this data.
Investigating the Scene
We don't rely on police reports alone. We deploy accident reconstruction experts to:
- Measure skid marks and yaw marks.
- Analyze debris fields to determine and prove point of impact.
- Pull maintenance logs to prove the truck was unsafe before it hit the road.
Call now to start the investigation: (888) 493-1629.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I do immediately after a truck accident in Houston?
The "First 48 Hours" Checklist:
- Call 911: Seek emergency help and ensure a police report is filed.
- Document the Scene: If you can, take photos of the scene of the accident, including skid marks, debris fields, and the truck’s DOT number.
- Silence Is Safety: Do not speak to the trucking company’s insurance adjuster. They are trained to record statements that minimize your payout.
- Call a Lawyer Immediately: We jump into action immediately to protect you.
How much is a truck accident claim worth in Texas?
We have recovered billions for our clients because we calculate the lifetime cost of your injury, not just today's bills. Your claim value is a sum of three factors:
- Economic Damages: Medical bills, lost wages, and loss of earning capacity.
- Non-Economic Damages: Physical pain, mental anguish, and impairment.
- Punitive Damages: If the company or driver were grossly negligent (e.g., intoxicated), Texas law may allow for additional punitive damages.
How long do I have to file a truck accident lawsuit in Texas?
- The "Two-Year" Rule: Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code § 16.003 sets the general deadline at 2 years from the date of a Houston truck accident.
WARNING: You should not wait two full years. Evidence disappears fast. Trucking companies are often legally allowed to purge driver logs and black box data after six months unless an attorney files a "Spoliation Letter" to stop them.
Who can be held responsible in a truck accident?
In a truck accident, liability often extends beyond the driver.
A Texas truck accident lawyer can investigate the entire supply chain:
- Trucking Company: For negligent hiring or forcing drivers to break safety rules.
- Cargo Loader: For improperly securing or overloading the trailer.
- Maintenance Provider: For failing to inspect and repair brakes or tires.
- Manufacturer: For truck accidents caused by defective brakes, tires, or more.
Note: Under Texas Proportionate Responsibility (Civil Practice & Remedies Code § 33.001), you can still recover damages as long as you were 50% or less at fault.
What rules do truck drivers have to follow in Texas?
Drivers must adhere to strict Texas and federal regulations to prevent fatigue.
- 11-Hour Driving Limit: After 10 consecutive off-duty hours, property-carrying commercial drivers may drive a maximum of 11 hours.
- 14-Hour Limit: Property-carrying drivers cannot drive after being on duty for 14 hours, even if they took breaks. This limit is 15 hours for passenger-carrying drivers.
- 30-Minute Driving Break: Property- and passenger-carrying commercial drivers must take a break of at least 30 minutes after driving for 8 consecutive hours.
Note: Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) holders must also maintain a valid medical certificate and pass mandatory drug screenings.
Why Houston Truck Accidents Keep Happening
At a Glance: Harris County Truck Crash Factors
- High-Risk Zones: I-10 (The Katy Freeway), I-45 North, and Highway 225.
- Common Texas Truck Accident Causes: Oilfield traffic congestion, FMCSA Hours-of-Service violations (such as fatigue), and unsecured cargo.
- Delivery Fleets: Rising crash rates among UPS, Amazon, and FedEx networks.
Per recent FMCSA crash data, large truck accidents continue to rise nationwide, with Texas consistently leading the nation in fatal semi-truck collisions.
Harris County is the epicenter of this crisis.
The city's dense network of highways—combined with heavy 18-wheeler, oilfield truck, and delivery vehicle traffic—creates a "perfect storm" for catastrophic wrecks.
Below are the specific factors that make Houston roads so dangerous.
Traffic Congestion & High-Risk Freight Corridors
Houston’s highways are essential arteries for the U.S. supply chain, but they also sometimes act as deadly traps for passenger vehicles. The constant stop-and-go traffic forces heavy trucks to brake suddenly, leading to devastating rear-end collisions.
High-Risk Interchanges
- The I-10 & I-45 Interchange: Notorious for sudden lane changes and speeding.
- Beltway 8: High volume of commercial freight moving at highway speeds.
- Highway 225: The "Refinery Highway," crowded with tankers and heavy machinery.
Oilfield & Hazardous Material Transport Risks
As the energy capital of the U.S., Houston sees a steady flow of oilfield trucks and tankers transporting hazardous material. When these vehicles are involved in accidents, they are anything but typical. They are environmental and medical emergencies.
Common Oilfield Risks
- Rollovers: May occur on sharp turns or exit ramps when tankers are carrying liquid.
- Chemical Spills: If oil or chemicals are released during or after a truck accident, they require specialized hazmat cleanup and may endanger everyone in the area.
- Shift Fatigue: Oilfield drivers often work long, unregulated hours in the Permian Basin before driving back to Houston, leading to drowsy driving crashes.
Drowsy & Overworked Drivers
Fatigue is a leading cause of truck accidents.
While federal laws (FMCSA) limit how long a trucker can drive, many companies pressure drivers to break these rules to meet "Just-in-Time" delivery windows.
The Reality of Driver Fatigue
- Some drivers stay awake for 24+ hours, which has been shown to impair reaction time equivalent to a 0.10% blood alcohol content (above the legal limit to drive).
- Companies often pay "per mile," incentivizing drivers to skip mandatory rest.
- If a logbook shows a driver was over hours, we can use that to prove negligence.
Lax Maintenance & Brake Failure
A semi-truck is a 80,000-pound machine that requires vigilant maintenance. When companies cut corners to save money, innocent people pay the price.
Common Mechanical Failures
- Brake Fade: Worn brake pads cannot stop a heavy truck in Houston traffic.
- Tire Blowouts: Retreaded tires may explode in the Texas heat.
- Steering Failure: This can lead to loss of control at high speeds.
Reckless Delivery Drivers (UPS, Amazon, FedEx)
The "Amazon Effect" has flooded Houston neighborhoods with vehicles. These drivers face intense pressure to meet quotas, which may lead to speeding and illegal parking.
Recent Crash Statistics (2022–2024 National Data)
- UPS: 2,635 crashes (957 resulting in injury or death).
- FedEx: 373 crashes (148 resulting in harm).
- Amazon: 298 crashes (124 injuries or fatalities).
A Note on Liability: Unlike traditional trucking, Amazon often uses third-party contractors (Delivery Service Providers, or DSPs) to shield themselves from lawsuits.
Overloaded Trucks & Weigh Station Avoidance
Overloaded trucks are a physics problem and a significant hazard. When a truck exceeds its weight limit, it becomes harder to stop and easier to roll over.
The Danger of Overloading
- Stopping Distance: An overloaded truck requires significantly more road to stop.
- Weigh Station Avoidance: Truck drivers may be encouraged to use backroads to bypass weigh stations, bringing dangerous loads onto local streets.
Maximizing Your Compensation: What We Recover
At Arnold & Itkin, we have won record-setting verdicts because we look beyond today's bills. We hire financial and medical experts to calculate the lifetime cost of your injury. We know Houston’s roads are dangerous, and injuries often permanent.
That is why we fight to secure three specific categories of damages for our clients.
1. Economic Damages (Your Financial Losses)
These are the calculable, out-of-pocket costs you have incurred and will incur.
- Past & Future Medical Care: We recover costs not just for the emergency room, but for future surgeries, physical therapy, and 24/7 nursing care if required.
- Loss of Earning Capacity: If you cannot return to your old job, we calculate the difference in income you would have earned over your entire career.
- Disability Accommodations: The cost to modify your home (wheelchair ramps, bathroom retrofits) and vehicle to accommodate permanent disabilities.
- Property Damage: Full replacement value for your totaled vehicle and any personal property that may have been destroyed in the crash.
2. Non-Economic Damages (Your Quality of Life)
Texas law allows victims to recover compensation for the human toll of the accident. These damages are vital for acknowledging what was taken from you.
- Physical Pain & Suffering: This may include compensation for the physical agony endured during the crash and throughout the entire recovery process.
- Mental Anguish & PTSD: Truck accidents often leave victims with severe mental trauma, anxiety, and depression that requires psychological treatment.
- Physical Impairment & Disfigurement: Specific compensation can be pursued for injuries that cause scarring, burns, or the loss of use of a limb.
- Loss of Consortium: Compensation for spouses and families who have lost the companionship and support of their loved one (often in wrongful death cases).
3. Punitive Damages (Punishing Gross Negligence)
This is where Arnold & Itkin stands apart. In cases where a trucking company acted with "gross negligence" or "malice," we fight for punitive damages.
These are designed not just to pay you, but to punish the wrongdoer.
Examples include:
- The company knew the driver was disqualified but hired them anyway.
- The company forced the driver to falsify logbooks to drive illegal hours.
- The driver was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Houston truck accident victims need more than low-ball settlement offers that barely cover their medical bills. They need verdicts that secure their futures. We fight for everything our clients deserve.
Life-Changing Injuries in Houston Truck Accidents
A crash involving an 80,000-pound commercial truck is not a "fender bender." It is a catastrophic event. When a semi-truck collides with a 3,000-pound passenger car, the physics often result in permanent disability for the car's occupants.
Victims often require emergency transport to Level I Trauma Centers like Memorial Hermann Health System or Ben Taub Hospital, followed by years of rehabilitation. We understand the biology of these injuries and the lifetime cost of care.
Common Catastrophic Truck Accident Injuries We Represent
- Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI): Truck accidents often cause "coup-contrecoup" injuries, where the brain strikes the inside of the skull during violent stops. This can lead to cognitive decline, memory loss, and personality changes.
- Spinal Cord Injuries & Paralysis: Rollover accidents and high-speed impacts can crush vertebrae, resulting in paraplegia or quadriplegia. The lifetime cost of care for a spinal cord injury often exceeds millions of dollars.
- Severe Burn Injuries: Common in tanker explosions or hazardous material spills on roads that see oilfield traffic, like Highway 225. We represent victims suffering from third-degree burns requiring skin grafts and reconstructive surgeries.
- Amputation & Crush Injuries: When a vehicle is crushed or underrides a trailer, limbs may be severed or damaged beyond repair. We fight for the cost of advanced prosthetics and future replacements for truck accident survivors.
The "Life Care Plan" Difference
Medical bills pile up fast, but the initial hospital bill is just the tip of the iceberg.
As seasoned Houston truck accident lawyers, we look at more than your current bills. We work with medical planners to create a comprehensive "Life Care Plan" that calculates:
- Future surgeries (e.g., hardware replacements).
- In-home nursing care costs adjusted for inflation.
- Lost wages and loss of future earning potential.
We fight to make sure you get the compensation you need to rebuild your life, not just for today, but for decades to come.
Proving Negligence in a Texas Trucking Accident Claim
Trucking companies and insurers will do anything to avoid liability. They often deploy "Rapid Response Teams" to the crash scene within hours to control the narrative.
To win, we must move faster. We must prove the trucking company failed in their “Duty of Care”—meaning they knowingly took risks that endangered the public.
We do this by securing the evidence they try to hide.
The "Spoliation Letter": Stopping the Destruction of Evidence
The moment someone hires us, our attorneys often send a Spoliation Letter to the trucking company. This is a legal demand that forces them to preserve all electronic and physical evidence. If they destroy it after receiving this letter, the court can sanction them and assume the evidence showed guilt.
The Evidence We Seize to Build Your Truck Accident Case
We do not just ask for "records." We demand specific data sets that prove liability.
1. The "Black Box" (Electronic Control Module)
Every modern truck has an ECM. We download this data to prove the truck's speed, braking patterns, and RPMs at the exact moment of impact.
This often disproves the driver's story that they "tried to stop."
2. Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs) & HOS Logs
We cross-reference the driver's digital logs with GPS data and fuel receipts. This allows us to catch "Hours-of-Service" violations, helping us prove whether the driver was fatigued and legally should not have been on the road.
3. Driver Qualification Files (DQF)
We audit the driver's employment history to see if the company was negligent in hiring them. We look for past DUIs, failed drug tests, or a history of reckless driving.
4. Maintenance & Inspection Reports
We review the fleet's maintenance history to uncover any "skipped" safety checks. If we find the brakes were worn out or the tires were bald, the negligence typically shifts from the truck driver to the trucking company itself.
5. Dashcam & Surveillance Footage
We pull footage not just from the truck, but from nearby businesses and traffic cameras. This provides objective, irrefutable proof of reckless lane changes, running red lights, or other driving behavior that caused or contributed to the crash.
Scientific Proof: Accident Reconstruction
Eye-witness testimony is powerful, but science is undeniable. We retain industry-leading accident reconstruction experts to analyze the physics of the crash.
What they analyze:
- Tire Marks: To calculate the exact speed and steering angle before impact.
- Debris Fields: To pinpoint the exact "Point of Impact" on the roadway.
- Crush Profiles: To determine the force of the collision.
By combining digital evidence with scientific reconstruction, we build a case that is ready for trial.
Call Our Houston Big Rig Accident Lawyers Immediately
After a trucking accident, the trucking company’s insurance team moves fast—and not to help you. Their priority is minimizing payouts to protect their stock price. If you do not have legal representation from the start, you are at a severe disadvantage.
The Insurance Tactic: "Delay, Deny, Defend"
Within hours of a crash, the trucking company deploys a rapid response team.
Their goals are clear:
- Collect evidence that benefits them while ignoring evidence that hurts them.
- Pressure victims into giving recorded statements before they have a lawyer.
- Destroy key records as soon as the legal "retention period" expires.
Our Counter-Attack: The Immediate Investigation
At Arnold & Itkin, we do not wait. When you hire us, we immediately launch a forensic investigation to secure the truth before it is lost.
What we work to secure in the first 48 hours:
- Crash Scene Documentation: We work with experts to photograph skid marks, debris fields, and road conditions before weather or traffic erases the proof.
- Witness Preservation: We interview bystanders immediately, securing their statements and collecting information before their memories fade.
- The "Black Box" Freeze: We send a legal restraining order (Spoliation Letter) to the trucking company, forbidding them from resetting the truck's ECM.
- Violations Audit: We seize maintenance records and driver qualification files to see if the company knowingly put an unsafe truck or driver on the road.
The Risks of Waiting: Why Time Is Critical
If you delay hiring a truck injury lawyer, you risk more than just a delay in payment.
You risk the success of your entire case.
- Risk 1: Lost Evidence
Trucking data is digital. It can be overwritten or "lost" if not legally preserved. - Risk 2: The "Lowball" Trap
Insurers often offer a quick, small check to desperate victims. If you sign it, you may relinquish your right to sue for future medical bills forever. - Risk 3: Missed Deadlines
Texas has strict statutes of limitations. If you miss a filing deadline, you may be barred from recovery, no matter how severe your injuries are.
Fighting for the Best Results. No Matter What.
Truck accident cases are not just about recovering compensation. They are about holding trucking companies accountable for negligence that puts lives at risk.
We don’t back down. We are known for:
- Winning record-setting verdicts that force companies to change their policies.
- Taking on the biggest trucking conglomerates—and winning.
- Pushing for maximum compensation, never settling for the "easy" offer.
When a catastrophic truck accident changes your life, you need a law firm that is ready to fight. We have won billions of dollars for truck accident victims and their families in Houston, across Texas, and nationwide—and we are ready to fight for you.
Get a Free, Confidential Consultation: (888) 493-1629
You have nothing to lose by asking for help. We work on a contingency fee basis. This means you pay $0 in upfront costs. We only get paid if we win your case.
Call (888) 493-1629 now to speak with our Texas truck accident attorneys. Let us handle the legal battle so you can focus on healing.
