Amazon delivery trucks can be seen nearly any day of the year on highways throughout Maryland. These trucks often ship cargo for amazon between fulfillment centers and other shipping hubs, handing packages off to smaller delivery trucks and vans for door-to-door delivery. If you were involved in a crash involving any vehicle delivering cargo for Amazon, you may be entitled to sue for the injuries and damages you suffered in the crash.
Our Maryland Amazon truck accident attorneys explain how to file these kinds of lawsuits and what damages you may be entitled to seek if you were injured in a trucking accident. Rice, Murtha & Psoras ’s injury attorneys offer free legal consultations and may be able to help you with your Amazon truck accident case. Call (410) 694-7291 today to set up your free legal consultation.
Whom to Sue for an Accident with an Amazon Truck in Maryland
Amazon trucks might not be owned and operated by Amazon directly. In many cases, the structure of the company and how the trucks and their drivers are hired can affect your right to sue the company behind the deliveries, but even if you cannot sue Amazon directly for the injuries you faced, there is usually someone to hold responsible for the injuries you faced.
Maryland law typically allows employers to be held liable for their employees’ negligence on the job. This means that if a truck driver was responsible for causing an accident while they were working for Amazon, the victim of the crash might be able to sue Amazon for their injuries. However, Amazon usually does not hire its own drivers and trucks themselves, instead contracting the work out to smaller trucking companies or delivery services. This means that the drivers on the road are likely not amazon drivers, but instead work for another trucking company or work as self-employed contractors.
If the driver who caused the crash worked for another trucking company, you can usually sue that company for the injuries you faced. In most cases of serious injury, the trucking company will have insurance that can cover the injuries or deaths caused by the accident. the same is true for independent contractors, who will need to carry auto insurance and perhaps liability insurance for their commercial trucking activities.
Proving Fault in a Truck Accident Involving Amazon Delivery Trucks
If you were involved in a crash with an Amazon truck, you need to prove who was at fault for the crash to get compensation for your injuries. In cases where the Amazon truck was at fault, you may be able to point to errors on the part of the individual driver as well as the trucking company that employs them.
The driver could be directly liable for the brunt of the crash and the injuries it caused. This fault can be proved by looking to errors they committed behind the wheel, such as failing to yield while merging or failing to check their blind spots when changing lanes. it could also be caused by more serious problems like drunk driving. There are also additional restrictions and regulations that a truck driver must follow that do not apply to other drivers, such as rules limiting how many hours they can be on the road or how much weight their truck can carry.
These limitations and regulations apply to trucking companies as well. Trucking companies have been held responsible in truck accident injury cases for overloading their vehicles, forcing drivers to drive beyond the hours of service limitations, and failing to perform proper maintenance and inspections on their vehicles. These rules are vital because they keep dangerous vehicles and drivers off the road, and a failure to follow these rules might be the key to holding a trucking company at least partly liable for the crash.
The trucking company can also be held liable for their direct errors that caused the crash. If they let a truck go out on the road after performing negligent maintenance or failing to fix broken equipment and tires, the crash could be their fault. Similarly, if they put a driver behind the wheel that they should have known was a risk to others, they could be held liable for negligent hiring or negligent retention. This can occur when they know a driver has a history of serious crashes, drunk driving, vehicular manslaughter, or other red flags that they ignored.
When you sue for injuries, photographs of the accident scene and eyewitness testimony about how the accident occurred are going to be some of the best evidence to prove your case against the trucking company and the truck driver. In addition, you may be able to present expert testimony from a car accident expert who can piece the accident together and testify to the jury about how the accident was caused and what the truck driver had to have done wrong to cause the crash. Proof of the damages you incurred will also be important, such as medical bills, pay stubs showing lost wages, and testimony about the pain and suffering you faced from your injuries.
Call Our Maryland Amazon Truck Accident Injury Attorneys for a Free Consultation
If you were involved in a crash with an Amazon truck in Maryland, or if a loved one was injured or killed in a truck accident with an Amazon delivery vehicle, you may be entitled to sue the trucking company and the truck driver for damages. Call the Maryland Amazon truck accident injury lawyers at Rice, Murtha & Psoras today. Our injury attorneys offer free legal consultations to help you find out more about suing for injuries and what your case might be worth. Call us today at (410) 694-7291 to schedule your free legal consultation.