Trucking Company Liability Lawyer in Birmingham, AL Hiring, Maintenance and Responsibility

The theories that reach past the cab

A driver's mistake is one claim. A carrier's own conduct is another, and the paperwork it is required to keep is where that conduct shows up. Driver qualification files are supposed to hold the commercial license, the medical certificate, the state driving record, the annual review of that record and the employment application, which is how the agency's Driver Fitness category is defined. Under 396.3, a carrier must keep records for each vehicle it controls for 30 consecutive days and retain them one year, plus six months after the vehicle leaves its control. Section 396.11 requires a written driver inspection report at the end of each day's work on each vehicle, a repair certification before the vehicle runs again, and three months of retention for both.

Reading a carrier before you request anything

Federal data is public and free, and it shapes a records demand. The Safety Measurement System pulls roadside inspections and state-reported crashes from the last two years, updates monthly, and ranks carriers by percentile inside seven Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories. Those categories are Unsafe Driving, Crash Indicator, Hours-of-Service Compliance, Vehicle Maintenance, Controlled Substances and Alcohol, Hazardous Materials Compliance, and Driver Fitness. Two of those, the Crash Indicator and hazardous materials, are visible only to the carrier itself and to enforcement. The SAFER company snapshot is fully public and returns identification, size, commodity information, safety record, any safety rating, an out-of-service summary and crash information for a single carrier.

How much coverage the law required this company to buy

The floors in 49 CFR 387.9 depend on cargo, not on injury. A for-hire interstate carrier hauling nonhazardous property in a vehicle rated 10,001 pounds or more must carry at least $750,000 in public liability coverage. Oil listed in the hazardous materials tables, hazardous waste and most hazardous substances raise the floor to $1,000,000. Bulk hazardous substances, bulk Division 1.1 through 1.3 material, certain Hazard Zone A materials in bulk and highway route controlled quantities of Class 7 radioactive material carry $5,000,000. What the trailer held that day therefore changes which insurer answers, and a minimum is a floor rather than a description of what a carrier actually bought.

Where the wantonness question earns its keep

Corporate records are what make the second theory available. A negligence claim in this state fails if the injured person's own negligence proximately contributed, a rule Golden v. McCurry kept in place, leaving any change to the legislature. Contributory negligence is not a defense to wantonness, however, as the charge affirmed in Bohannon v. Driskell states. Dees v. Gilley adds a further route: initial negligence in getting into a position of peril is no defense to a defendant's subsequent negligence, where evidence shows actual knowledge of the peril in time to avoid the collision. A hiring decision made despite a known record, or equipment run after a defect was reported, is the sort of evidence that argument depends on.

Filing in Jefferson County, with the published costs

The Tenth Judicial Circuit separates civil matters from criminal ones, and the Birmingham Division clerk sits at 716 Richard Arrington Jr. Boulevard North. The clerk's published civil schedule charges $251 for one plaintiff against one defendant up to $50,000 and $351 above that or where the amount is unspecified, with $10 for each additional defendant. A jury demand adds $100. Service by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department costs $10 per document under Act 2003-289, a subpoena costs $12, and a counterclaim, cross claim or third-party complaint costs $297. A traffic citation against the driver is a different proceeding from the civil claim, and neither controls the other.

When the collision killed someone, the statute is unusual

Alabama's death statute does not work like its neighbors'. Section 6-5-410 gives the action to the personal representative, requires it within two years from the death, and provides that the damages recovered are not subject to the decedent's debts but must be distributed according to the statute of distributions. In Tatum v. Schering Corp. the Supreme Court stated that the damages recoverable in a wrongful death action are punitive in nature, and that a plaintiff suing joint tortfeasors gets a single recovery that cannot be apportioned among them. The practical consequence is that the jury is asked to punish rather than to add up losses, and that the money passes by intestacy rather than by will.

What the other side does, and how the fee is measured

Expect a carrier's counsel to work the fault question early, to seek a recorded statement, and to frame the collision before treatment has finished. Keep the correspondence and keep the preservation letters. On fees, Rule 1.5(a) of the Alabama Rules of Professional Conduct prohibits a clearly excessive fee and lists nine factors for testing one. Among them are the amount involved and the results obtained, the fee customarily charged in the locality, and whether a written agreement is signed by the client. Rule 1.5(c) requires the writing itself to state the percentages at settlement, trial and appeal, the expenses deducted from a recovery, and whether they are deducted before or after the calculation.