North Carolina Truck Accident Lawyers

Our attorneys and support team

When a tractor-trailer hits a car, the injuries are rarely minor. Neither is the response. Trucking companies and their insurers often have lawyers and experts working the case the same day as the crash.

Harris Legal represents people seriously injured by commercial trucks anywhere in North Carolina. We move just as fast. Preservation demands go out as soon as we're hired. We review the evidence second by second.

Tell us what happened

We'll tell you honestly whether your case is worth pursuing

What counts as a truck or commercial vehicle crash?

Any collision with a vehicle operated for a business may carry commercial insurance and be required to comply with federal safety rules. That includes:

Semis, tractor-trailers, and 18-wheelers
Box trucks and delivery trucks, including Amazon and other package carriers
Tow trucks, flatbeds, and dump trucks
Other work vehicles operated by a company

These cases are handled very differently from an ordinary car wreck. The rest of this page explains how.

The trucking company starts building its defense the day of the crash

Because so much money is at stake, trucking insurers act immediately. They often hire lawyers and send experts to the scene the same day. Those experts photograph and document everything to prepare the defense. Later, insurers may hire top experts for litigation, and sometimes private investigators to watch the injured person.

If the trucking company is working the case from day one, you need someone doing the same.

What we do in the first days

We send preservation demands as soon as we're hired. They go to the driver, the trucking company, and anyone else who may be responsible. They list specific evidence the company must keep, including:

Dashcam footage
The truck's "black box" and telematics data
Electronic driver logs and dispatch messages
The driver's text messages
The driver's cell phone itself. In serious cases, we demand the driver power the phone down and hold it until it can be forensically downloaded. Ordinary use overwrites data, and many standard downloads miss important information.

Once a trucking company has been told to preserve evidence, destroying it can have serious consequences for the company in court.

We protect evidence at the scene when it's at risk. If key evidence like tire marks could be lost to weather or traffic, we bring in an accident reconstructionist early.

We review the evidence ourselves, second by second. We don't skim the dashcam video. We go through the driver's whole day, looking for any detail that explains the crash.

"Won't they have a team of lawyers?"

People often picture a deposition with six or seven trucking lawyers lined up across the table. That's not how it usually works. A company typically has one to three lawyers actively working a case. With the right preparation, it's a fair fight.

What causes serious truck crashes

In our experience, the most dangerous crashes come from fatigue and distraction, often leading to high-speed rear-end collisions. Other common causes:

Unsafe lane changes that push a car into the median or another vehicle
Unsecured cargo falling from a trailer
Maintenance failures, such as a truck or trailer driven with a known defect

North Carolina's interstates and major highways carry heavy truck traffic. The most serious crashes we see happen on I-40, I-85, I-77, and US-52.

Federal safety rules and how drivers get around them

Commercial carriers must follow federal motor carrier safety regulations. When those rules are broken, it often becomes central to the case.

Hours of service. Drivers' logs are inspected by state troopers, so on paper they usually comply. But compliant logs don't prove a driver was rested. If a driver spent his required off-duty time running errands instead of sleeping, he can be legally "in compliance" and still dangerously tired. We look past the logs to what the driver was actually doing.

Maintenance and inspection. We look for problems that were allowed to slide, like a damaged part on the truck or trailer that should have taken it off the road.

Cargo securement. When something falls off a trailer, how it was loaded and secured matters.

Who can be held responsible

The driver and the driver's employer are named in almost every case. Depending on the facts, others may be responsible too:

The motor carrier operating the truck
Whoever owns the truck or trailer, if it was poorly maintained
A repair or maintenance company, if faulty work contributed
The broker, shipper, or loader, in some cases

Naming the right parties matters for two reasons. First, defendants often blame someone who isn't in the courtroom. That's called the "empty chair" defense, and naming every responsible party prevents it. Second, in catastrophic crashes with several victims, one company's coverage can run out. Identifying everyone responsible protects your ability to recover in full.

"The driver wasn't our employee"

Trucking companies often say the driver was an independent contractor. That doesn't end the case. The legal test is whether the company controlled the driver, not what the paperwork calls him. Even if he truly was independent, the company can still be liable for negligently hiring or keeping him. It can also be liable for breaking its own safety obligations, like maintenance and tracking required by federal rules.

Contributory negligence in truck cases

North Carolina's contributory negligence rule can bar recovery if you were even slightly at fault. In truck cases, it often comes up when a car was riding in or beside a truck's blind spot during a lane change. Some jurors believe drivers should pass trucks cleanly and not linger alongside. We evaluate this risk early and tell you honestly where your case stands.

Insurance in trucking cases

Every commercial truck must carry minimum liability insurance. Most established carriers carry far more, often millions of dollars. Larger carriers may stack policies into an "insurance tower" reaching tens of millions.

Many large carriers also have a self-insured retention: an amount the company pays out of its own pocket before its insurance applies. Large carriers also own trucks and bank accounts that can satisfy a judgment. Coverage is more of a concern with small owner-operator carriers, which is one more reason to identify every responsible party.

Trucking companies usually don't have to disclose their exact coverage until a lawsuit is filed. We investigate the coverage picture from the start.

The injuries we see in truck crashes

A crash with a fully loaded truck at highway speed causes severe trauma:

Broken bones
Traumatic brain injuries
Traumatic amputations and loss of limbs or fingers
Injuries requiring months or years of recovery, or lifelong care

These cases carry major medical costs and serious non-economic harm: the loss of work, independence, and the life you had. When an injury requires lifelong care, we work with experts to build a life care plan so future needs are fully accounted for.

If you were hurt while working

If you were on the job when the crash happened, you may have both a workers' compensation claim and a claim against the trucking company. We don't handle workers' comp ourselves. We partner with a workers' comp firm so both claims are coordinated.

When a truck crash is fatal

If your loved one was killed, the claim is brought by the personal representative of their estate: the executor named in a will, or a court-appointed administrator if there was no will. That person hires the lawyer on the estate's behalf.

One thing surprises many families. Wrongful death proceeds don't pass under the person's will. They go directly to the heirs under North Carolina's intestate succession law. Every adult heir must agree to the distribution, or a judge must approve it. A wrongful death claim generally must be filed within two years.

What to do after a truck crash

Get the medical care you need, and follow your doctor's instructions. Don't brush off symptoms, and don't let a doctor brush them off either. Your treatment records are how your injuries get documented.
Call a lawyer quickly. The trucking company's team is already at work, and key evidence can be overwritten or lost within days.
Don't give statements to the trucking company's insurer before you've talked with a lawyer.

What it costs

Our fee is one-third of the recovery, the same whether your case resolves after our first letter or after a jury verdict. This way, the fee never influences our decision, or yours, about whether to take the next step.

Frequently asked questions

How will I pay my bills while I recover? This is the first worry for most people after a serious truck crash, and a recovery can take months or years. Call us and we'll walk through how your medical bills can be handled while your case is pending.

The trucking company is huge. Can a smaller firm take them on? Yes. A trucking company typically has one to three lawyers actively working a case. What decides these cases is how quickly evidence is preserved and how thoroughly it's developed.

How much is my case worth? Truck cases often have higher value than car cases with similar injuries, partly because of the coverage involved. But no honest lawyer can put a number on your case on the first call. We'll give you a real assessment once we've investigated.

How long do I have to file? Generally three years from the crash for injury claims, and two years for wrongful death. Evidence disappears long before those deadlines, so don't wait.

I was hit by an Amazon truck (or another delivery van). Does this apply to me? Often, yes. Delivery vehicles operated for a business can carry commercial coverage, and the company may be responsible for its driver.

Do you handle other kinds of injury cases? Yes. See our pages on car accidents, motorcycle accidents, pedestrian and bicycle accidents, dog bites, medical malpractice, and wrongful death.