We take on complex, high-stakes truck cases.
We build your case from the ground up, on the details. The other side’s insurance company will call you almost immediately, and we assume they are already working on their defense. So we move first. We send the preservation letter to secure the evidence your case needs before it disappears. From there we do the background work this page walks through, detail by detail, until we can account for everything the trucking company was required to do.
Truck Accident Lawyers, PA & NJ
The Critical First 48 Hours: Their Strategy vs. Yours
The insurance carrier moves quickly, and it follows a script. It calls within a day to ask for a recorded statement, to check whether you “feel okay,” and to offer a small, fast check.
That check comes with a release attached, and the release is the trap. Soft-tissue injuries often take four to six weeks to show up. Sign early and you have given up the claim for an injury you do not know about yet.
You are under no obligation to give the other driver’s insurance company a recorded statement. Decline politely. Refer them to your lawyer. That one decision protects your case more than anything else you can do in week one.
Semi-Truck Cases: How We Secure the Evidence
The proof in a tractor-trailer case lives inside the truck’s electronic control module and the driver’s logging device.
Our spoliation letter puts every custodian on legal notice: destroy it, and the jury hears about it.
We send that letter to every custodian we can name.
Understanding the Clock: How Long You Have to File
Pennsylvania sets the deadline at two years.1 The two years cover an action to recover damages for injuries to the person, or for the death of an individual, caused by the wrongful act or neglect or unlawful violence or negligence of another.2
So when does the clock start? As a general rule, the time is computed from the time the cause of action accrued.3
Not every injury can reasonably be known the moment it happens. That is the problem Pennsylvania’s discovery rule addresses; its purpose has been to exclude from the running of the statute of limitations that period of time during which a party who has not suffered an immediately ascertainable injury is reasonably unaware he has been injured, so that he has essentially the same rights as those who have suffered such an injury.4 As the rule has developed, the salient point giving rise to its application is the inability of the injured, despite the exercise of reasonable diligence, to know that he is injured and by what cause.4
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania stated the holding that governs when the discovery rule tolls the limitations clock in these words:5
Today, we hold that it is not relevant to the discovery rule’s application whether or not the prescribed period has expired; the discovery rule applies to toll the statute of limitations in any case where a party neither knows nor reasonably should have known of his injury and its cause at the time his right to institute suit arises.
The standard the rule holds you to is reasonable diligence,4 and the court has clarified that in this context, reasonable diligence is not an absolute standard, but is what is expected from a party who has been given reason to inform himself of the facts upon which his right to recovery is premised.4 Be clear, too, about what does not toll the statute: mistake, misunderstanding, or lack of knowledge in themselves do not toll the running of the statute.6
What about a child? If the injured person is an unemancipated minor at the time the cause of action accrues, the period of minority is not counted as part of the time within which the action must be commenced.7 A minor is an individual who has not yet attained 18 years of age.8 After attaining majority, that person has the same time to commence an action as the subchapter allows anyone else.7
Some things do not stretch the deadline. Except as otherwise provided by statute, insanity does not extend the time this subchapter limits for commencing a matter.9 Imprisonment does not extend it either.9
Fine v. Checcio (Pa. 2005) and the Pennsylvania decisions connected to it. What the opinion cites sits to the left; what has cited it since, to the right; rows are courts.
The picture shows connection only. It does not show whether any ruling remains controlling law.
Source: CourtListener, Pennsylvania courts, as of August 17, 2026. 418 decisions, 1,481 citations shown.
Suing a Pennsylvania Government Body After a Crash
This one is Pennsylvania law, and it is not the rule in New Jersey. In Pennsylvania, except as its own subchapter provides, no local agency is liable for damages for an injury caused by any act of the agency or its employees.10
What follows takes three questions in order: when a local agency can be held liable, when notice is due, and what kinds of loss the law allows.
When Is a Local Agency Liable?
A local agency is liable for damages for an injury to a person or property within the limits set forth in that subchapter, and only if both of the following conditions are satisfied and the injury results from an act listed in subsection (b).11 The damages must be recoverable at common law or by statute against a defendant with no immunity defense.12 The injury must come from negligent acts within the scope of the agency's or the employee's duties, and crime, actual fraud, actual malice and willful misconduct are not negligent acts.13
Subsection (b) lists the acts that may impose liability.14 Three of them, not the whole list. The operation of a motor vehicle in the possession or control of the local agency, though the agency is not liable to a plaintiff who was, during the course of the alleged negligence, in flight or fleeing apprehension or resisting arrest by a police officer, or who knowingly aided a group one or more of whose members was doing so.15 A dangerous condition of trees, traffic signs, lights or other traffic controls, street lights or street lighting systems under the care, custody or control of the local agency.16 A dangerous condition of streets owned by the local agency.17 On those two you must also prove the dangerous condition created a reasonably foreseeable risk of the kind of injury incurred, and that the agency had notice in time to protect against it16.17
The Six-Month Notice Rule
Within six months of the injury or the accrual of the claim, anyone about to sue a Pennsylvania government unit for damages must file a signed written statement in that unit's office, plus the Attorney General's office if the defendant is a Commonwealth agency.18
Skip it and a case filed more than six months after the injury shall be dismissed and the claim forever barred, though the court shall excuse the failure on a showing of a reasonable excuse.19 Separate rules then apply to a Pennsylvania government unit other than the Commonwealth government.20 Time the injured person cannot give notice because of incapacity or disability from the injury does not count, up to 90 days of incapacity.21 If the injuries result in death, the notice time starts at the death.22 Failure is not a bar if the unit had actual or constructive notice of the incident or condition giving rise to the claim.23
What Kinds of Loss Are Recoverable?
Clear all of that and there is still a limit on the losses themselves. Pennsylvania makes damages recoverable only for the types of loss the statute recognizes.24 Past and future loss of earnings and earning capacity.25 Medical and dental expenses, including the reasonable value of reasonable and necessary medical and dental services, prosthetic devices and necessary ambulance, hospital, professional nursing and physical therapy expenses accrued and anticipated in the diagnosis, care and recovery of the claimant.26 Loss of consortium, loss of support and property losses.27
Then read the pain and suffering paragraph word by word, because it is narrower than the rest. Pain and suffering is recoverable in two instances only: death, or a permanent loss of a bodily function, permanent disfigurement or permanent dismemberment where the medical and dental expenses referred to in paragraph (3) are in excess of a threshold amount the statute sets.28
One more subtraction. If a claimant receives or is entitled to receive benefits under a policy of insurance other than a life insurance policy, as a result of losses for which damages are recoverable under subsection (c), the amount of those benefits is deducted from the damages that would otherwise be recoverable.29
Being Partly at Fault Is Not the End of Your Case
The statute says it in one sentence. Under,30 contributory negligence does not bar recovery where the plaintiff’s negligence was not greater than the causal negligence of the defendant or defendants against whom recovery is sought, and any damages are diminished in proportion to the negligence attributed to the plaintiff. Partial fault reduces a recovery. It does not erase one.
A trucking case usually has several defendants, so how the liability splits matters. 42 Pa.C.S. § 7102(a.1)(1) makes each defendant liable for the proportion of the total award that matches the ratio of that defendant’s liability to the liability apportioned to all defendants and other persons.31 And except for the actions set out in paragraph (3), 42 Pa.C.S. § 7102(a.1)(2) makes a defendant’s liability several and not joint, with a separate judgment entered against each defendant for its apportioned amount.32
If a defendant settles and leaves the case, its share does not disappear. Under,33 the liability of a person who has entered into a release with the plaintiff and who is not a party is still transmitted to the trier of fact, for purposes of apportioning liability only, on appropriate requests and proofs by any party.
In our cases the carrier’s fault number arrives early and in writing, before anyone has reconstructed the crash. It is an opening position, not a finding. We make them prove it.
We Hold Trucking Companies to Strict Federal Safety Rules
My office builds truck cases on knowing the trucking company's obligations cold. The rules in this section are federal, separate from the Pennsylvania statutes taught elsewhere on this page. Under these federal rules, a person may not drive a commercial motor vehicle unless qualified, and, except as provided in § 391.63, a motor carrier may not require or permit an unqualified person to drive one.34 Except as provided in subpart G of that part, a person is qualified to drive if the rule's requirements are met.35 Among them: the driver can read and speak English well enough to converse with the general public, understand highway traffic signs and signals in English, respond to official inquiries, and make entries on reports and records;36 is physically qualified to drive under subpart E;37 and holds a currently valid commercial motor vehicle operator's license issued by only one state or jurisdiction.38
Federal regulation also prescribes minimum levels of financial responsibility.39 Proof of that financial responsibility must be maintained at the carrier's principal place of business,40 and that proof is considered public information, produced for review upon reasonable request by a member of the public.41 The driving-hours rules have their own section below. When my office takes on a truck case, we examine the carrier's compliance with every rule on this page, and we keep doing the background work until we can account for each one. Clients and referring attorneys get the benefit of that depth, and we put defense counsel on notice of it early.
Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance
Every motor carrier must systematically inspect, repair, and maintain all motor vehicles subject to its control, or cause that to be done.42 Parts and accessories must be in safe and proper operating condition at all times.43 Motor carriers, except a private motor carrier of passengers (nonbusiness), must keep records for each vehicle they control for 30 consecutive days.44 When we build a case, the carrier's maintenance file is one of the first things we demand, and we read it page by page.
Drug and Alcohol Testing After a Crash
After an occurrence involving a commercial motor vehicle operating on a public road in commerce, the employer must, as soon as practicable, test its surviving drivers for alcohol45 and controlled substances46 in listed situations. For alcohol, the situations are a driver performing safety-sensitive functions with respect to the vehicle, if the accident involved the loss of human life,47 and a driver cited within eight hours of the occurrence under state or local law for a moving traffic violation arising from the accident, if the accident involved bodily injury immediately treated away from the scene, or one or more vehicles with disabling damage transported away from the scene.48 For controlled substances, the situations include a driver cited within thirty-two hours of the occurrence under state or local law for a moving traffic violation arising from the accident, in that same kind of accident.49 We know these tests exist, and we ask for the results early.
Shifting and Unsecured Cargo
Cargo must be firmly immobilized or secured on or within the vehicle by structures of adequate strength, dunnage or dunnage bags, shoring bars, tiedowns, or a combination of these.50 Cargo likely to roll must be restrained by chocks, wedges, a cradle, or an equivalent means not capable of becoming unintentionally unfastened or loose in transit.51
Federal Hours of Service Limits and the Driver's Record of Duty Status
Start with the clock. These limits are federal, from part 395 of title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations.52 Except as otherwise provided in § 395.1, no motor carrier shall permit or require any driver used by it to drive a property-carrying commercial motor vehicle, nor shall any such driver drive one, regardless of the number of motor carriers using the driver's services, unless the driver complies with the following requirements.52 Three of those requirements are set out below. They are not all of them. A driver may not drive without first taking 10 consecutive hours off duty.53 A driver may not drive after a period of 14 consecutive hours after coming on duty following 10 consecutive hours off duty.54 During that 14-hour period, a driver may drive a total of 11 hours.55
The Weekly Limits and Restarts
Hours are one clock. Days are another. No motor carrier shall permit or require a driver of a property-carrying commercial motor vehicle to drive, nor shall any driver drive one, regardless of the number of motor carriers using the driver's services, for any period after the following.56 The first is having been on duty 60 hours in any period of 7 consecutive days, if the employing motor carrier does not operate commercial motor vehicles every day of the week.57 The second is having been on duty 70 hours in any period of 8 consecutive days, if the employing motor carrier operates commercial motor vehicles every day of the week.58 Any period of 7 consecutive days may end with the beginning of an off-duty period of 34 or more consecutive hours.59 That provision is paragraph (c)(1), and it speaks to the 7-consecutive-day period.59 Whether any restart applies to the 8-consecutive-day limit is not described here.
The Duty to Record, and the ELD Mandate
A limit nobody writes down is a limit nobody can check. Except for a private motor carrier of passengers (nonbusiness), as defined in § 390.5 of this subchapter, a motor carrier subject to the requirements of this part must require each driver used by the motor carrier to record the driver's duty status for each 24-hour period.60 That recording uses the method prescribed in paragraphs (a)(1)(i) through (iii) of that section, as applicable.60 The third of those methods is not described here. Subject to paragraph (a)(1)(ii) of this section, a motor carrier operating commercial motor vehicles must install and require each of its drivers to use an ELD, an electronic logging device, to record the driver's duty status in accordance with subpart B of this part.61 That had to be done no later than December 18, 2017.61 A motor carrier may require a driver to record the driver's duty status manually in accordance with this section, rather than require the use of an ELD, if the driver is operating a commercial motor vehicle in circumstances the rule then lists.62 Those circumstances are not described here.
What the Record Must Contain, and How It Is Kept
Now look at what the record itself has to show. What follows is some of what the rule requires of that record. It is not all of it. All entries relating to a driver's duty status must be legible and made by the driver.63 Drivers shall keep their records of duty status current to the time shown for the last change of duty status.64 For each change of duty status, such as the place of reporting for work, starting to drive, on-duty not driving and where released from work, the name of the city, town, or village, with State abbreviation, shall be recorded.65 What must be recorded when a change happens somewhere else is not described here.
Identification comes next. For each commercial motor vehicle operated during each 24-hour period, the driver shall show on the record of duty status the number assigned by the motor carrier, or the license number and licensing State.66 The driver of an articulated (combination) commercial motor vehicle shall show that same information for each motor vehicle used in each combination operated during that 24-hour period.66 The name of each motor carrier for which work is performed shall be shown on the form containing the driver's record of duty status.67 When work is performed for more than one motor carrier during the same 24-hour period, the beginning and finishing time worked for each motor carrier, showing a.m. or p.m., shall be shown after each motor carrier's name.67 Drivers of leased commercial motor vehicles shall show the name of the motor carrier performing the transportation.67
Then comes the signature. The driver shall certify to the correctness of all entries by signing the form containing the driver's duty status record with his or her legal name or name of record.68 The driver's signature certifies that all entries required by that section that the driver made are true and correct.68 The driver's duty status record shall be prepared, maintained, and submitted using the time standard in effect at the driver's home terminal, for a 24-hour period beginning with the time specified by the motor carrier for that driver's home terminal.69 Two or more consecutive 24-hour periods off duty may be recorded on one duty status record.70
Falsifying a Log or Tampering With an ELD
Records can be falsified. Devices can be tampered with. No driver or motor carrier may make a false report in connection with a duty status.71 No driver or motor carrier may disable, deactivate, disengage, jam, or otherwise block or degrade a signal transmission or reception, or reengineer, reprogram, or otherwise tamper with an ELD so that the device does not accurately record and retain required data.72 No driver or motor carrier may permit or require another person to do any of those things to an ELD so that the device does not accurately record and retain required data.73
Submitting and Keeping the Records
None of this matters if the record disappears. That record is due to the motor carrier within 13 days of the 24-hour period to which it pertains.74 When the services of a driver are used by more than one motor carrier during any 24-hour period in effect at the driver's home terminal, the driver shall submit a copy of the record of duty status to each motor carrier.75 The rule then states what that record shall include, and those contents are not described here.75 Motor carriers, when using a driver for the first time or intermittently, shall obtain from the driver a signed statement.76 That statement gives the total time on duty during the immediately preceding 7 days and the time at which the driver was last relieved from duty prior to beginning work for the motor carriers.76 A motor carrier shall retain records of duty status and supporting documents required under this part for each of its drivers.77 The retention period is not less than 6 months from the date of receipt.77 The driver shall retain a copy of each record of duty status for the previous 7 consecutive days, which shall be in his or her possession and available for inspection while on duty.78
When Defective Equipment Causes the Crash
Not every wreck starts with the driver. Brakes fail. A tire separates. A coupling gives way at highway speed. When the part is the problem, we investigate the company that put it on the market, not just the carrier.
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has stated what a plaintiff must prove to demonstrate a breach of duty in a strict liability matter, in its own words:79
To demonstrate a breach of duty in a strict liability matter, a plaintiff must prove that a seller (manufacturer or distributor) placed on the market a product in a “defective condition.”
The same court held what that proof takes in Pennsylvania. Two routes, in the alternative:80
As we explain, after reviewing the provenance of the cause of action, the Second Restatement reporter’s choice of words, and the evolution of the cause of action in application, we hold that, in Pennsylvania, the cause of action in strict products liability requires proof, in the alternative, either of the ordinary consumer’s expectations or of the risk-utility of a product.
The court also spoke to the bench and bar about using that test. The alternate theories contour what a defective condition is, in principled terms the court intended as comprehensive guidelines, malleable enough to account for different products, a variety of legal claims, and applications of theory:81
It is essential for the bench and bar to recognize that the test we articulate today is not intended as a rigid formula to be offered to the jury in all situations. The alternate theories of proof contour the notion of “defective condition” in principled terms intended as comprehensive guidelines that are sufficiently malleable to account for product diversity and a variety of legal claims, products, and applications of theory.
The part itself tells the story. We preserve it, we retain the right experts, and we make the proof.
The Standard for Punitive Damages in a Pennsylvania Truck Case
Clients whose crash involved a commercial truck often ask about punitive damages. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has explained that punitive damages are penal in nature and are proper only in cases where the defendant’s actions are so outrageous as to demonstrate willful, wanton or reckless conduct.82 The purpose of punitive damages is to punish a tortfeasor for outrageous conduct and to deter him or others like him from similar conduct.82
In Pennsylvania, two things must be established, and I want you to read them in the court’s own words:83
Thus, in Pennsylvania, a punitive damages claim must be supported by evidence sufficient to establish that (1) a defendant had a subjective appreciation of the risk of harm to which the plaintiff was exposed and that (2) he acted, or failed to act, as the case may be, in conscious disregard of that risk.
In the same opinion, the court said it did not dispute that a showing of ordinary negligence is not enough to warrant punitive damages.83
Nearly every claim we bring after a truck crash sounds in negligence, and the court in Hutchison spoke directly to punitive damages in that setting:83
The penal and deterrent purpose served by an award of punitive damages is furthered when the outrageous conduct occurs in a case sounding in negligence no less than when an intentional tort is at issue.
When my office investigates a truck crash, we do not look only at the driver. We also look at how the company supervised the people it put on the road. In the same case, which did not involve trucking at all, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania disagreed with the Superior Court’s conclusion that punitive damages are never available for claims of negligent supervision.84 The court saw no reason to distinguish between claims sounding under Section 317 of the Restatement (Second) of Torts and other actions sounding in negligence for purposes of punitive damages.85
Part of our work in a truck case is examining the conduct behind the crash and telling you honestly whether it supports a punitive claim. If it does not, I will say so. If it does, we pursue it.
Hutchison v. Luddy (Pa. 2005) and the Pennsylvania decisions connected to it. What the opinion cites sits to the left; what has cited it since, to the right; rows are courts.
The picture shows connection only. It does not show whether any ruling remains controlling law.
Source: CourtListener, Pennsylvania courts, as of August 17, 2026. 252 decisions, 896 citations shown.
Why Choose CM Injury
Every truck and car collision case we accept is built to be tried, and the insurance companies know it. A demand letter on its own rarely moves a carrier to take a claim seriously. What moves them is a firm that has stood in front of juries and won.
We work up every tractor-trailer case as if the trial date is already on the calendar. We dig into the details, we audit the driver’s logs, and we read the maintenance history page by page.
Some of our largest recoveries came from cases other firms turned down. Hard collision cases take work most firms will not do: reading every page of the record, retaining the right experts early, and preparing for trial from the start. If you were told your crash was not worth pursuing, call us before you give up.
Call us about your collision. The consultation is free, and you pay no attorney’s fee unless we win your case.
Preparation and publication by Frank Mangiaracina
How we handle these cases
What happens after you call.
A partner reviews it, not a case manager.
Frank reads the police report and the photos himself.
The preservation letter goes out.
ECM data, driver logs, dispatch records, dashcam footage, put on legal notice before they can disappear.
We name every responsible defendant.
Driver, carrier, shipper, loader, maintenance contractor, broker. Each one is a separate policy.
We negotiate from a trial posture.
Most cases settle. We prepare every one for a jury, and the carriers price their offers accordingly.
A careful review and a straight answer.
Or call a partner now at (267) 936-2233.
Common crash-case questions.
Should I give the other driver’s insurance a recorded statement?
No. You are not required to, and the recording exists to find inconsistencies they will use against you later. Decline politely and refer them to your lawyer.
What if I was partly at fault?
You may still have a claim. Pennsylvania follows modified comparative negligence: as long as you were not more at fault than the other side, you can recover, with your award reduced by your share. If your crash happened in another state, that state’s rule applies and we check it at the consultation. Partial fault is rarely a case-killer.
How long do I have to file?
Two years from the accident in Pennsylvania. Claims involving Pennsylvania government entities, PennDOT or SEPTA, require written notice within six months. If your crash happened in another state, that state’s deadline applies, and we check it at the consultation. Call before assuming a deadline has passed; exceptions exist.
What does it cost?
Nothing up front. The consultation is free and we work on a contingency fee. You will not owe us an attorney’s fee unless we make a recovery for you. In some cases, you may still be responsible for litigation costs (such as filing fees, expert fees, and court costs) regardless of outcome. We discuss costs at the start of every case.
