When a commercial vehicle collides with a passenger car, the results can be devastating. These vehicles can weigh 10, 20, even 80,000 pounds and the occupants of smaller vehicles almost always absorb the worst of the impact.
Whether you were struck by a tractor-trailer, sideswiped by a box truck, or hit by a delivery vehicle in a parking lot, the legal complexities that follow are typically greater than in a typical Virginia car accident case. When a negligent driver causes serious injuries, victims deserve experienced legal representation.
Our Virginia personal injury attorneys are known for meticulous preparation, scientific and medical fluency, and a record of obtaining significant verdicts and settlements for injured Virginians. If you or a loved one has been seriously injured in a Hampton Roads truck accident, consider contacting our attorneys for a free consultation to discuss your situation.
Commercial trucking companies and their insurers have tremendous resources and will move quickly to protect themselves. You deserve someone who will fight just as hard for you.
Commercial vehicle accident cases involve unique federal regulations, multiple potentially liable parties, and sophisticated defense teams funded by large corporations. The Serpe Firm has the experience, resources, and determination to handle that complexity.
What Is Considered a Commercial Vehicle?
Many people associate commercial vehicle accidents with 18-wheelers, but the category is much broader.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) generally defines a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) as a vehicle used in interstate commerce with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,001 pounds or more, a vehicle transporting certain numbers of passengers, or a vehicle carrying hazardous materials requiring placards.
Common examples include:
- Tractor-trailers / 18-wheelers
- Flatbed trucks
- Tanker trucks
- Dump trucks
- Cement mixer trucks
- Garbage and refuse trucks
- Refrigerated (reefer) trucks
- Charter buses / commercial passenger buses
Usually commercial, but can vary:
- Box trucks
- Tow trucks
- Utility/service trucks
In many commercial vehicle cases, federal and state safety regulations apply, multiple parties may share liability, and the stakes are high.
Injuries Victims Face In Commercial Vehicle Accidents
The injuries suffered in commercial vehicle accidents are frequently catastrophic, in large part because of the enormous size and weight disparity between a large commercial vehicle and the passenger car it strikes.
Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are among the most serious and life-altering consequences of these crashes. Ranging from concussions to severe brain damage, TBIs can cause lasting cognitive impairments, personality changes, memory loss, and a permanent inability to return to work.
Neck and back injuries, including herniated discs, whiplash, and soft tissue damage, are extremely common outcomes of commercial vehicle crashes and can cause years of chronic pain and limited mobility even when they do not rise to the level of spinal cord damage.
Bone fractures across the body including arms, legs, hips, ribs, and pelvis frequently require surgery, hardware implantation, and extensive rehabilitation before a victim can resume normal activity.
The blunt force of a commercial vehicle impact can also cause internal organ damage that is not immediately apparent but is potentially life-threatening, including lacerations or bruising to the liver, spleen, kidneys, and lungs.
Victims who are pinned between vehicles or crushed by heavy cargo may suffer amputations or severe crush injuries requiring multiple surgeries and long-term rehabilitation. Tanker truck accidents, fuel spills, and vehicle fires can cause severe burns that require skin grafting, repeated surgical procedures, and extensive psychological recovery in addition to physical healing.
And when a loved one is killed in a commercial vehicle accident, surviving family members may have a wrongful death claim that encompasses compensation for the loss of financial support, loss of companionship, grief and mental anguish, and funeral expenses.
How Our Law Firm Can Help You & Your Family
Commercial vehicle accident cases move quickly, and not in your favor if you are unprepared.
Trucking companies often dispatch accident response teams and investigators to crash scenes within hours of a collision. Evidence disappears, electronic data gets overwritten, and witnesses become harder to locate with every passing day.
We take immediate action to protect your rights. That means conducting an independent investigation of your accident before critical evidence is lost and sending preservation letters to the trucking or commercial carrier demanding that they retain driver logs, electronic logging device (ELD) data, dashcam footage, inspection records, and maintenance histories.
It means identifying all potentially liable parties and determining the true value of your claim, not just the immediate medical bills, but the long-term costs of your injuries, lost earning capacity, pain and suffering, and more.
It means shielding you from the aggressive and misleading tactics that commercial insurers use to minimize claims and negotiating firmly for a fair financial recovery. And it means being fully prepared to file suit and take your case to trial if the insurance company refuses to offer fair compensation.
Our Norfolk-based law firm handles truck accident cases on a contingency basis, meaning you pay no legal fee unless we settle or win your case.
Virginia Statute of Limitations (Legal Deadlines)
In Virginia, most personal injury claims, including those arising from commercial vehicle accidents, must be filed within two years of the date of the accident. In wrongful death cases, the deadline is similarly two years from the date of death.
Certain exceptions may apply in limited circumstances, for example, when a government-owned vehicle is involved or when the victim is a minor, but in some of those situations, special rules may actually shorten the available timeframe rather than extend it. The safest course is always to consult with an attorney as soon as possible after your accident.
This deadline is strict and unforgiving. Once it passes, you permanently lose the right to pursue compensation for your injuries, no matter how serious.
The urgency of acting quickly extends well beyond the legal deadline. The earlier you contact a Virginia commercial vehicle accident lawyer, the better positioned you are to preserve the evidence that will make or break your case.
Certain electronic data, including dashcam and onboard vehicle data, can be overwritten within days or weeks if not preserved. Dashcam footage is erased.
Vehicle damage gets repaired before it can be independently inspected. Witnesses become harder to locate and their memories fade.
Trucking companies and their insurers begin building their defense the moment a crash is reported and you deserve a lawyer who is building yours at the same time.
Hampton Roads Truck Accident Attorneys
At the Law Offices of Richard J. Serpe, PC, we understand the full weight of what you are facing after a serious commercial vehicle accident: the physical pain, the mounting medical bills, the lost income, and the profound uncertainty about what comes next.
We understand the federal regulations that govern the trucking and commercial carrier industry, the tactics commercial insurers use to minimize or deny valid claims, and how to build the kind of thorough and well-documented case that achieves meaningful results for our clients.
If you or a loved one was injured, or if you lost a family member, in an accident involving any type of commercial vehicle anywhere in Virginia, we encourage you to contact us today for a free consultation. We handle commercial vehicle accident cases on a contingency fee basis, meaning there are no legal fees unless we settle or win your case. Call or text us anytime at 757-233-0009.
Commercial Vehicle Accidents in Hampton Roads
Virginia’s extensive highway network and active port operations make it one of the most commercially trafficked states on the East Coast, and that volume creates predictable concentrations of accident risk throughout Hampton Roads.
Interstate 64 spans from the Hampton Roads region through Richmond, and the portion near the Port of Virginia sees especially dense container truck traffic generated by one of the busiest seaports on the East Coast.
U.S. Route 13 is the primary highway through Virginia’s Eastern Shore, carrying significant truck traffic between the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel and Maryland.
U.S. Route 58, an east-west artery connecting Hampton Roads with southwestern Virginia, passes through a mix of urban and rural conditions that create their own distinct hazards for commercial vehicles. Throughout the Hampton Roads (Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, Newport News, Hampton, and Suffolk) Port of Virginia operations generate massive volumes of container truck traffic on local roads.
How Commercial Vehicle Accidents Happen
Driver fatigue is one of the most significant and pervasive causes of serious commercial vehicle crashes. Long-haul truckers, delivery drivers, and commercial operators often face intense schedule pressure from carriers and dispatchers, and when drivers push past their legal driving limits or operate without adequate sleep, reaction times and judgment deteriorate to dangerous levels.
Closely related is distracted driving like cell phone use, in-cab navigation systems, eating, and other distractions draw a commercial driver’s attention away from the road at exactly the moments when their full attention is needed most.
Speeding is particularly dangerous in commercial vehicles because stopping distances increase dramatically with both size and speed. A fully loaded tractor-trailer traveling at highway speeds may require more than 500 feet to come to a complete stop (nearly twice the distance of a passenger car) and even modest speeding dramatically compounds this risk.
Impaired driving also remains a serious problem in commercial trucking. Alcohol, illegal drugs, and certain prescription medications can impair a driver’s coordination and judgment, and federal regulations hold commercial drivers to a .04 BAC limit while on duty, half the standard legal limit for passenger vehicle drivers.
Inadequate driver training is an especially pressing concern as the commercial vehicle industry has grown and diversified. Many box truck operators and delivery drivers are not required to hold a commercial driver’s license, meaning they may receive minimal instruction before operating large, heavy vehicles in congested traffic. These undertrained drivers are more likely to misjudge braking distances, turning radii, and the location of dangerous blind spots.
Improper cargo loading and securement is another significant cause of accidents. An unbalanced or unsecured load can shift during transit, cause a driver to lose control, or shed debris that creates hazards for other vehicles on the road.
Equipment failures resulting from deferred maintenance, including brake failures and tire blowouts, are among the leading mechanical contributors to serious crashes, and carriers that delay scheduled maintenance to meet delivery demands put every other driver at risk.
