Truck Accident Lawyers in Montgomery, Alabama

What to do first after a truck wreck

Get checked out, even if you think you walked away from it. Spine, shoulder and closed-head injuries often show up a day or two later, and a gap in treatment is the first thing an adjuster points at.

Photograph the scene before the truck is moved, if you can. Two (2) things on that truck matter most: the company name and the USDOT number, both required to be displayed on it. Those let a lawyer find the carrier, its insurer, and its federal safety record.

Be careful with recorded statements. Alabama is a contributory negligence state, and one offhand sentence about the seconds before impact can be used to argue you were partly at fault — which here can end the claim.

Call a lawyer early. Not for drama. Some of the records that prove a trucking case sit on federal clocks that run out in six (6) months.

How truck accident cases work in Alabama

Under 49 C.F.R. § 390.5 a commercial motor vehicle is one rated 10,001 pounds or more, or one carrying placarded hazardous material. That is well below an 18-wheeler. Box trucks, dump trucks and work trucks cross it routinely.

The money side shows the difference first. Alabama requires an ordinary driver to carry $25,000 per person under Ala. Code § 32-7-6. A for-hire interstate carrier hauling ordinary freight in a vehicle rated 10,001 pounds or more must carry at least $750,000 under 49 C.F.R. § 387.9. The floor rises to $5,000,000 for hazardous substances hauled in bulk. Those are floors, not policies. The same wreck can be a $25,000 problem or a seven-figure one depending on who the other vehicle was working for.

Federal law also sets how long that driver was allowed to be at the wheel. Under 49 C.F.R. § 395.3 he may drive eleven (11) hours after ten (10) hours off duty, may not drive past a fourteen (14) hour window, must break thirty (30) minutes after eight (8) hours of driving, and is capped at 60 hours in seven (7) days or 70 in eight (8). A log showing a driver blew a limit is not a technicality. It is the case.

Who can be held responsible

The driver is the obvious defendant and often the least important one. A truck case usually has more than one.

The motor carrier answers for its driver acting in the line and scope of employment, and separately for its own hiring, training and entrustment. Alabama follows the minority rule here: in Poplin v. Bestway Express, 286 F. Supp. 2d 1316 (M.D. Ala. 2003), those direct claims may proceed even where the carrier admits the driver was its employee.

The freight broker. This one changed recently. On May 14, 2026, in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, LLC, No. 24-1238, the Supreme Court held unanimously that state negligent-hiring claims against a broker fall inside the safety exception at 49 U.S.C. § 14501(c)(2)(A) and are not preempted. The Eleventh Circuit had gone the other way.

Depending on the facts, the shipper or loader may answer for a load that shifted and the maintenance contractor for brakes, tires or lights. Each usually carries its own insurance, which is much of why finding all of them early matters more here than in a two-car wreck.

Evidence and deadlines: what disappears, and how fast

The federal rules that make a trucking case provable also cap how long the proof has to exist. These are minimums the carrier must keep. Driver logs: six (6) months, 49 C.F.R. § 395.8(k)(1). Back-up electronic logging device records: six (6) months, § 395.22(i). The driver qualification file: employment plus three (3) years, § 391.51. Maintenance records: one (1) year, and six (6) months after the truck leaves the carrier's control, § 396.3(c). The accident register: three (3) years, § 390.15(b).

The black box is the hard one, because no federal rule requires a carrier to preserve it. The federal event data recorder regulation, 49 C.F.R. Part 563, reaches only vehicles rated 8,500 pounds or less, so a heavy truck's engine control module sits outside it. Speed, throttle and braking data from the seconds before impact can live there, and nothing says it still will next month.

That is what a preservation letter, sometimes called a spoliation letter, is for. Alabama recognizes a claim against a third party who negligently destroys evidence, and one element of it is a duty created by "a specific request." Smith v. Atkinson, 771 So. 2d 429 (Ala. 2000). Where a party to the case is the one who lost it, courts weigh the five factors in Story v. RAJ Properties, Inc., 909 So. 2d 797 (Ala. 2005). Nobody sends the letter, the data is gone.

Then the deadline on the claim itself: two (2) years, Ala. Code § 6-2-38(l), and two (2) years from the death for a wrongful death case, Ala. Code § 6-5-410. Two years sounds like plenty. The six-month log clock is the one that decides how fast a truck case has to start.

Alabama's contributory negligence rule

This rule decides more Alabama injury claims than any other, and most people hurt in a wreck here have never heard of it.

Alabama is one of only four states — with Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia, plus the District of Columbia — that still applies pure contributory negligence. A plaintiff who carries even a small share of the fault recovers nothing on a negligence claim. Not a reduced amount. Nothing. The Supreme Court of Alabama had the chance to replace it with comparative fault and declined. Golden v. McCurry, 392 So. 2d 815 (Ala. 1980).

Why does that matter so much in a truck case? Because it is the defense the insurer builds toward from the first phone call. Were you speeding. Were you in the blind spot. Did you brake late. A carrier that cannot win on its driver's conduct can still win by putting one (1) percent of the fault on you.

There is a real limit on it. Contributory negligence is not a defense to wantonness — reckless disregard rather than ordinary carelessness. Bohannon v. Driskell, 519 So. 2d 1314 (Ala. 1988). Hours-of-service violations, or a known defect left unrepaired, may support a wantonness count.

What affects the value of a truck accident case

No lawyer can tell you what a case is worth over the phone, and one who does should worry you. What can be said is which facts move the number: how permanent the injury is; how well the medical records tie the treatment to the wreck; how much coverage is available; and how much contributory negligence risk the facts carry.

Alabama measures death cases differently, and families are rarely told this early. Damages under Ala. Code § 6-5-410 are punitive in nature, not compensatory. Geohagan v. General Motors Corp., 279 So. 2d 436 (Ala. 1973). The jury is not measuring what the family lost. It is measuring how wrongful the defendant's conduct was.

While each of those factors matters, none of them is a prediction. What a case may be worth depends on the facts, the proof and the insurance actually there.

Truck accidents in Montgomery specifically

Montgomery sits where Interstate 65 and Interstate 85 meet, with U.S. 80 running east and west through the county. Add the Hyundai plant on the south side, rated to build up to 399,500 vehicles a year, and our city carries freight volume out of proportion to its size.

The state's own numbers show where it sits. In 2024, ALDOT's Alabama Traffic Crash Facts book, prepared by the Center for Advanced Public Safety at the University of Alabama, recorded 10,183 crashes in Alabama involving a truck, with 2,368 injuries and 131 deaths. Interstates, U.S. routes and state routes together accounted for about 82 percent of those deaths — the road profile of this county almost exactly. That book counts as a "truck" any vehicle heavier than a light truck or SUV, and draws no conclusion about which vehicle caused the wreck.

Venue is worth knowing early. A case filed in state court here goes to the Circuit Court for the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit. Where the parties are citizens of different states and more than $75,000 is at stake, an out-of-state carrier can remove it to the Middle District of Alabama, Northern Division. 28 U.S.C. § 1332.

Frequently asked questions

How long do I have to file a truck accident claim in Alabama?

Generally two (2) years. Ala. Code § 6-2-38(l) governs injury claims, and Ala. Code § 6-5-410 gives the estate's personal representative two (2) years from the death.

How much insurance does a commercial truck have to carry?

A for-hire interstate carrier hauling ordinary freight in a vehicle rated 10,001 pounds or more must carry at least $750,000 under 49 C.F.R. § 387.9, rising to $5,000,000 for hazardous substances in bulk. Alabama's ordinary-vehicle minimum is $25,000 per person.

Can I still recover if the wreck was partly my fault?

In many cases, no. A plaintiff found even slightly at fault recovers nothing on a negligence claim. Golden v. McCurry, 392 So. 2d 815 (Ala. 1980). Contributory negligence is not a defense to wantonness, though, so the facts matter a great deal.

What evidence disappears after a truck wreck, and how fast?

Driver logs have to be kept only six (6) months, 49 C.F.R. § 395.8(k)(1), and the same window covers back-up electronic logging device records. Engine control module data has no federal retention rule for heavy trucks at all.

What is a spoliation letter and why does it matter?

It is a written demand to everyone holding evidence — the black box download, the logs, the driver file, the truck itself — to preserve it. Alabama's third-party spoliation claim turns partly on whether a duty arose from a specific request. Smith v. Atkinson, 771 So. 2d 429 (Ala. 2000).

Can a freight broker be sued after a truck wreck?

As of May 14, 2026, yes, at least as to negligent hiring. Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, LLC, No. 24-1238, held unanimously that such claims fall within the safety exception in 49 U.S.C. § 14501(c)(2)(A).

Will my case be in state court or federal court?

Either. In state court it goes to the Circuit Court for the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit in Montgomery. Where the parties are from different states and more than $75,000 is at stake, an out-of-state carrier will often remove it to the Middle District of Alabama, Northern Division. 28 U.S.C. § 1332.

What does it cost to talk to a lawyer about a truck wreck?

Nothing. We handle these cases on a contingency fee, and there is never a fee for legal services unless we collect for you.

Talk to a Montgomery truck accident lawyer

Barfoot & Schoettker is a small Montgomery firm whose practice focuses on personal injury. We handle truck and commercial vehicle cases across central Alabama.

If you or a family member was hurt in a wreck with a commercial truck, contact us for a free case evaluation at (334) 834-3444. There is never a fee for legal services, unless we collect for you. The sooner the preservation letter goes out, the more of the case is still there.