The Liability Web: More Insurers Are Involved in Commercial Truck Crashes Than Most Car Accidents
More large commercial trucks (think big rigs, tractor trailers, reefers, 18-wheelers, semis, etc.) rumble the roadways of Indiana and Illinois than most other parts of the country because our region serves as a national transportation hub. The increased truck traffic makes our risk of a serious semi-truck accident much higher, and there are other factors as well, like our notorious congestion problems and bottlenecks. Read, Semi Trucks and Big Rigs: High Indiana and Illinois Commercial Truck Traffic Creates Dangerous Conditions.
After a large truck crash, determining the legal liability for what happened is more complicated than other types of motor vehicle accidents. Even if it involves just one 18-wheeler in a single-vehicle incident, resolving fault can be an intricate matter. There can be lots of factors at play here.
For instance, imagine an interstate in Chicagoland, or a rural route in Indiana, where a fully-loaded tractor trailer is traveling at the speed limit. The rig is in the far-right lane. It is daytime. The truck driver spots debris in the road ahead, and swerves to avoid hitting it. Suddenly, without warning, the trailer’s wheels lift from the pavement and it is impossible for the trucker to stop it. The force of gravity and the weight of the load are in control now. The rig tips onto the shoulder, and screeches to a stop. In a classic rollover situation, that driver suffers catastrophic injuries and life-altering, permanent bodily harm.
Afterwards, there will be several different investigations into this accident. Police on the scene and agency regulators will be making their reports. There will also be conclusions drawn by accident experts working on behalf of the trucker – and a series of experts working for all the various insurance carriers who have policies covering any individual or business that may be responsible under the law for what happened here. And there can be a lot of them.
Who’s to blame? Was the cargo improperly loaded? Where the brakes bad? What was that debris, and who’s to blame for it being in the roadway? Did a part on the truck fail because of defective design? Did the trucker have training in how to deal with this kind of emergency?
Parties With Possible Liability After a Truck Crash in Illinois or Indiana
In an ordinary car crash, there may be serious injuries and vehicles may be totaled, but the legalities usually involve the two drivers and a straightforward insurance claim. Truck crashes are different.
Why? A commercial vehicle accident comes with all sorts of legal machinations. The business of transporting of goods and cargo is vital to our daily lives, and it is amazingly efficient and complex. All these parties have legal duties of safety and care to make sure the trucks are safe on the job, as well as protecting all those sharing the roads with them from harm. More than one may be legally liable in the event of a severe truck crash.
Among them are the following: (1) the trucking company (carrier); (2) the truck driver; (3) shippers, freight forwarders, and cargo loaders; (4) companies contracted to inspect, maintain, and repair the tractors; (5) companies contracted to inspect, maintain, and repair the trailers; and (6) manufacturers, designers, and installers of flawed or defective parts or products on the rig.
For more, read Semi Truck Crash Liability: Third Party Liability in Indiana Truck Accidents.
When an accident happens, all these players must be considered for their possible legal culpability in what happened. Who pays for all the damages? How much do they have to pay? Not only will each of these companies and individuals be deflecting their responsibility (“not me!”) but they will have at their side representatives for their liability insurance policies, focused upon shielding their policyholders and the insurance company’s bottom line.
Insurance Companies, Layered Structures, Policy Limits
Large truck crashes are notorious for causing permanent harm or death to the victims of the truck accident. Illinois’ renowned National Safety Council warns that there has been a 30% increase in the last 10 years in fatal large truck crashes in this country.
Accordingly, the insurance carriers have great understanding that their policyholders may be liable for enormous monetary damages to victims for injuries that are lifelong and horrific (think traumatic brain injuries (TBIs); spinal cord damage; internal organ failures; paralysis; amputation; etc.). They want to make a profit, right?
So, the insurance industry selling coverage of these types of accidents calculates the risks in providing coverage to those third parties who may be liable to the truck crash victim. Providing these truck crash policies may come with high premiums, and there will also be structured insurance plans, too.
Insurance coverage after a serious truck crash in Illinois or Indiana may include the following:
- Primary Commercial Liability Insurance: Trucking company or carrier’s policy that covers overall bodily injury and property damage caused to third parties should the carrier or their employee be at fault;
- Excess / Umbrella Insurance: Comes into play if the primary policy limits are insufficient to cover all the victim’s damages (think horrific, catastrophic harm or wrongful death);
- Commercial Driver Insurance: Policy that covers the truck driver personally, separate from the carrier or trucking company. This often involve an owner-operator who is leasing their trucking services to another company;
- Cargo Insurance: Policies may be purchased to cover the cargo that is being transported in the trailer of the rig. The insurance may involve not only covering the value of the goods themselves, but injury claims too if the cargo contributed to the crash injuries (think toxic chemicals, hazardous materials (“Haz Mat”), or improperly secured heavy freight).
- Professional Liability / Vendors’ General Liability Insurance: Policies bought by companies that do things like inspect the rigs or their associated equipment, parts, etc., where injury claims may be covered if it is shown that their employees or contractors failed in a service or job and this contributed to the truck crash (for instance, failing to fix a bad brake or not changing out a bald tire).
- Product Liability Insurance: Big companies that design, manufacture, and distribute parts and products used on the big rigs may be liable for defective products or flawed parts or gizmos which are covered by specific product liability policies.
Federal Law Mandatory Insurance Coverage for Commercial Truck Accidents
It is important for all truck crash victims to understand that these policies are not just business decisions for the trucking company, the trucker, those handling the cargo or the shipping, or overseeing the fleets. Federal legislation is on the books that mandates insurance coverage to protect truck crash victims in the event of a commercial large truck accident.
Found in 49 CFR Part 387 (Subpart A), federal law requires that interstate trucking companies must buy insurance policies that provide at least the following:
- $750,000 for non-hazardous general freight.
- $1,000,000 for transport of oil or certain hazardous wastes.
- $5,000,000 for bulk hazardous materials, explosives, or radioactive substances.
Federal regulations also require the “MCS-90 Endorsement,” where insurers must guarantee in the policy that they will cover an injured third party up to the federal minimum limit, even if the trucking company violated its policy terms, lied on its application, or has an enormous deductible. See, Rogers, Robert. “Supreme Court of Indiana Reaffirms Interstate Requirement for MCS 90 Endorsement.” Transp. Law. 24 (2022): 44.
Big Rig Truck Crash Claims: Multiple Insurance Policies Covering Parties to Blame For Accident
In Indiana and Illinois, the danger of being involved in a serious commercial truck crash is greater than in other states if for no other reason that so many more 18-wheelers, tractor-trailers, and semi-trucks are transporting cargo through our communities. When there is a major big rig truck crash, the injured victims and their loved ones will face the stressful realities of the accident itself, with weeks or months of medical care and treatment, followed by future surgeries, long-term rehab and therapy, chronic pain and suffering, and more.
Unfortunately, these injured victims and their loved ones also have the simultaneous burden of having to deal with pursuing justice under the law. They have the legal right to have their own independent investigation into the causes of the truck crash and the determination of those with legal liability for their damages.
Usually, the victim’s work (with their experts and legal team) begins long after the experienced insurance adjusters and company investigators and defense counsel have already been hard at work, building their defense arguments. Truck accident injury claims frequently have multiple insurance companies with policies that may provide coverage of the harm that has been suffered in the truck crash. There may be two, three, even six different policies that may cover damages, and all of these carriers are anxious to deflect liability or limit their exposure.
Having an experienced truck crash legal advocate and savvy accident reconstruction experts to thwart all these insurance defense team maneuvers is extremely important to a truck crash victim seeking justice after a truck crash in Illinois or Indiana.
For more, read:
- Semi-Truck Crash Evidence: Spoilation Letters and Things Not Covered by FMCSA Retention Deadlines, The Need to Act Fast
- Truck Crash Injury Claim Evidence: ELDs, EDRs, and FMCSA Regulations to Show Liability
- Expanded Semi-Truck Crash Liability: SCOTUS Rules Freight Brokers Are Liable for Negligent Choices in Transporting Goods
- Chicago Truck Crash Injury Claims: Drivers 1099 or W2?
- Indiana Toll Road: Truck Crash Dangers in Northern Indiana.
Large truck crashes are often the cause of permanent bodily harm or wrongful death of the crash victims. Usually, several different insurance policies may cover these claims, but their defense teams will be dedicated to limiting their own policy exposure. Please be careful out there!
