Can a Trucking Company Be Liable for Truck Driver Mistakes?

Truck driver mistakes are the leading cause of commercial truck accidents. While a small percentage of these accidents result from brake failures and other truck-related issues, the vast majority result from truck drivers’ poor decisions behind the wheel. 

Serious truck accidents can have devastating consequences for victims and their families—and this makes it critical for eligible victims and family members to seek just compensation. In many cases, this involves filing a claim against the trucking company.

Trucking Companies Can Be Held Liable for Their Drivers’ Negligence 

As a general rule, trucking companies can be held liable for their drivers’ negligence behind the wheel. In serious and fatal truck accident cases involving truck driver mistakes, trucking companies can face liability on three main grounds: 

1. Negligent Hiring or Training

Trucking companies can be held liable for hiring inexperienced and unqualified truck drivers who subsequently cause serious or fatal accidents behind the wheel. While all truck drivers should have a valid commercial driver’s license (CDL), simply having a valid CDL does not mean that a truck driver is capable of driving safely.

When hiring drivers, trucking companies must consider each job applicant’s training, experience, employment history, and driving record (among other relevant factors). Trucking companies must provide their drivers with adequate training as well. As a result, if an inexperienced, unqualified, or untrained truck driver makes a mistake and causes an accident, this can provide clear grounds for filing a lawsuit against the trucking company. 

2. Negligent Supervision or Entrustment 

Trucking companies’ legal duties do not end at the hiring phase. They must also adequately supervise their drivers on an ongoing basis, and they must regularly assess whether it is safe to entrust their trucks to their drivers. If a trucking company negligently entrusts one of its trucks to a driver who should not be driving—even if the trucking company was not negligent in hiring the driver initially—this can also provide clear grounds to file a lawsuit under Wisconsin law. 

While trucking companies may not be able to physically supervise their drivers at all times, they can still supervise their drivers through other means. For example, they can check their drivers’ driving logs, and they can monitor their trucks’ GPS and telematics data for evidence of speeding, harsh braking, inaccurate driver logs, and other issues. If a truck driver has been driving unsafely or spending too many hours behind the wheel, the trucking company may have a legal obligation to pull the driver from the road. 

3. Vicarious Liability for Driver Negligence 

While negligent hiring, training, supervision, and entrustment can all provide grounds to sue a trucking company after a serious or fatal accident in Wisconsin, none of these are necessarily required to hold a trucking company liable for a driver’s negligence behind the wheel. In Wisconsin, trucking companies can also be held liable based on the law of “vicarious liability.”

Under Wisconsin’s vicarious liability law, employers are generally liable for their employees’ negligence within the scope of their employment. This means that trucking companies can generally be held liable for truck driver mistakes, such as:

• Braking harshly or braking too late
• Driving while distracted, fatigued, or impaired
• Improperly executing wide turns
• Running red lights and stop signs
• Speeding, tailgating, and other forms of aggressive driving
• Taking turns or curves too fast (resulting in rollovers)
• Turning or merging without checking blind spots

As long as a truck driver is an employee and/or an agent of the trucking company, the trucking company can be held vicariously liable for these mistakes without evidence of any of the other forms of negligence discussed above. Even if a truck driver is classified as an “independent contractor,” the trucking company could still face liability, and the truck driver’s insurance company may be liable as well.

Determining Liability Requires a Comprehensive Investigation 

In all cases, determining liability for a serious or fatal truck accident requires a comprehensive investigation—and it is important to conduct this investigation as soon after the accident as possible. Along with gathering forensic evidence at the accident scene, this may involve obtaining personnel records, driving logs, GPS and telematics data, and various other forms of documentation from the trucking company. Once you know what happened and why, then you can determine what claim (or claims) you need to file in order to seek just compensation. 

Speak with a Wisconsin Truck Accident Lawyer for FREE

You don’t have to bear the burden of truck driver mistakes alone. If you were injured or lost a loved one in a commercial trucking accident, the experienced truck accident attorneys at Studinski Law, LLC can help. Our firm has the knowledge, skill, and resources necessary to handle these difficult and complex cases. We are committed to helping accident victims recover the maximum compensation to which they may be entitled under Wisconsin Law. Simply put, we do more, so you get more. 

Contact Studinski Law, LLC today online or at (715) 343-2850 for a FREE case evaluation. We serve clients in Marshfield, Plover, and all areas of Wisconsin.