Following a tractor-trailer or semi-truck accident, your personal injury attorney would fight to recover compensatory damages for:
- medical bills,
- property damage,
- lost wages,
- lost earning capacity and/or
- pain and suffering
Should the case reach trial, your personal injury lawyer can ask the court to award punitive damages as well.7
If your lawsuit is against a big company such as Wal-Mart Transportation, UPS or FedEx – which carry high insurance limits – it may be easier to get a settlement than if your lawsuit is against a small company or individual merely renting the truck and carrying Nevada’s minimum liability insurance coverage requirements (25/50/20).
What if more than two vehicles were involved in the truck crash? (Joint & Several Liability)
If you were injured in an accident that involved a truck plus another motor vehicle(s), you do not have to sue all the at-fault parties.
Under Nevada’s joint and several liability laws, you can sue only the trucking company for the entirety of your damages.8 It does not matter if the trucker was less at fault than the other involved motorists.
Then once you are paid, the trucking company can sue the other at-fault drivers to try to get back some of the money they paid you.
Joint and several liability laws are very pro-victim because they allow you to sue one at-fault party with the deepest pockets for all of your damages. Then after you are paid, the party you sued can try to get reimbursed from the other at-fault drivers without having to involve you in their litigation.
How common are trucking accidents?
In 2020 alone, there were 29 fatal accidents involving large trucks in Nevada.9
Large trucks are a common sight on Nevada’s interstate highways, which link Nevada’s 16 counties to such trading metropolises as
- Salt Lake City
- Phoenix
- Tuscon
- San Francisco
- San Jose
- Los Angeles
- San Diego
- Long Beach
- Bakersfield
Nevada’s highways host every type of truck, including:
- Amazon trucks
- Mail carrier trucks (such as FedEx and UPS)
- Utility trucks (such as Nevada Energy and municipal water)
- Tow trucks
- Gravel trucks
- Flatbed trucks
- Grocery refrigerated trucks
Commercial truck drivers in Nevada must abide by the federal Department of Transportation and the Nevada Department of Transportation (DOT)‘s trucking regulations. For instance, the maximum truck weight on highways in the U.S. is 129,000 pounds.10
See our Las Vegas truck accident lawyers’ related article: typical settlements for truck accident injury cases. If you or a loved one sustained a minor or serious injury in a car accident, contact our Nevada trucking accident attorneys.
See our related article, Is there a statute of limitations for truck accidents in Nevada?
Legal References
- See Andrews v. Harley Davidson, Inc., (1990) 106 Nev. 533, 537, 796 P.2d 1092, 1095.
- NRS 41.130; NRS 41.745; Wood v. Safeway, Inc., (2005) 121 Nev. 724, 120 P.3d 1026.
- See Turner v. Mandalay Sports Entm’t, LLC, (2008) 124 Nev. 213, 180 P.3d 1172.
- See Atkinson v. MGM Grand Hotel, Inc., (2004) 98 P.3d 678, 680.
- See Valentine v. Pioneer Chlor Alkali, (1993) 109 Nev. 1107, 864 P.2d 295, 297.
- NRS 41.085.
- NRS 42.005; see also Fla. Jury Awards $412M In Zoom Trial Over Highway Crash, Law360 (October 8, 2020).
- NRS 41.141.
- Large Truck and Bus Crash Facts 2020, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).
- 23 CFR 658 (federal law).