Arizona · Personal injury · Trial-ready representation
Big Dog Law represents victims of commercial truck crashes — semis, box trucks, delivery vehicles. Federal regulations apply; the right discovery wins these cases.
A collision with a commercial truck is fundamentally different from a passenger-car crash. The vehicles are heavier, the injuries are worse, the insurance policies are larger, and the case is governed by federal regulations that don’t apply to ordinary drivers. Done right, that combination produces real accountability — but only if the evidence is preserved early and the discovery is aggressive from day one.
What truck crash victims should know
In the first 14 days after a serious commercial truck crash, the carrier’s defense team is already on the ground — taking photos, downloading data, securing the truck, and interviewing their own driver. The carrier is required to preserve some evidence, but not forever, and “lost” data is a real problem in trucking cases. Without an early preservation letter, the following can be gone in a matter of days or weeks:
Electronic logging device (ELD) data
Hours of service, driving time, on-duty time — central to driver-fatigue cases.
Engine control module (ECM) downloads
Speed, throttle, brake input, and other data in the seconds before impact.
Dashcam footage
Often kept only days unless flagged.
Driver qualification file
Training, prior violations, drug-test history.
Maintenance and inspection records
Tire failure, brake adjustment, defective trailer pulls.
Dispatch and load records
Pressure to make delivery windows often correlates with violations.
The driver
For their own conduct: speed, fatigue, impairment, distraction, traffic violations.
The motor carrier (employer)
For negligent hiring, training, retention, and supervision; vicarious liability for driver conduct in the course of employment.
The broker or shipper
When unrealistic delivery schedules pressured the violation, or when load-securement was their job.
A maintenance contractor
For failed brake, tire, or trailer maintenance.
A parts manufacturer
Defective tires, brakes, coupling devices — product-liability theories.
A government entity
When a road defect or signage failure contributed — strict 180-day notice rules.
Applies to interstate commercial motor carriers.
For interstate freight carriers; many policies are far higher.
Without a preservation letter — dashcam and dispatch records vanish first.
A “settle small and quietly” outcome is the carrier’s best result. The way past it is disciplined discovery: hours-of-service audits, prior-violation analysis, deposition of the safety director, scrutiny of training and onboarding files, and reconstruction backed by qualified experts. Those steps regularly turn $50,000 offers into seven-figure recoveries, but they only happen when the case is built that way from the beginning.
Rear-end and underride crashes
Truck strikes a stopped or slowing vehicle; passenger car often slides under the trailer.
Lane-departure crashes
Drowsy or distracted driver crosses a lane line.
Wide-turn ("squeeze play") crashes
Truck swings wide for a right turn and crushes a vehicle on the right.
Jackknife and rollover wrecks
Often tied to braking under load, speed, or trailer-securement issues.
Cargo failure
Improperly loaded or unsecured cargo causes loss of control or strikes other vehicles.
Brake and tire failures
Maintenance and product-liability theories.
Our process
Same-week preservation letters
Sent to the driver, motor carrier, broker, and any maintenance contractor — listing every data category.
Independent scene investigation
Reconstruction expert, drone aerials when warranted, sight-line analysis, signage, and roadway condition.
Hours-of-service and driver-file audit
Looking for fatigue, falsified logs, and prior violations the carrier should have caught.
Damages workup
Life-care planning where injuries are catastrophic; vocational and economic experts to project lost-earning capacity.
Pre-suit demand or filing
When the carrier won't engage realistically, we file. We try cases — and the carrier's defense team knows it.
Free consultation
Tell us about your case. We'll review the facts and explain your options at no cost.
