Negligent Hiring and Supervision

Increasingly, the roads in Upstate New York and across the country are filled with commercial trucks making deliveries for businesses and corporations. When there is a collision, the size and weight of these vehicles are likely to lead to catastrophic or fatal injuries for many people with whom the road is shared, including those in smaller vehicles and pedestrians. It is crucial for trucking companies to engage in safe practices when hiring or supervising their truck drivers. If you suspect that your injuries or a loved one’s death was the result of negligent hiring and supervision, you should call the seasoned Syracuse truck accident lawyers of DeFrancisco & Falgiatano Personal Injury Attorneys. Often trucking companies try to evade responsibility for truck accidents, and these efforts may include some unsavory tactics. Your lawsuit should be handled by aggressive and knowledgeable personal injury attorneys with a track record of obtaining the best outcome possible for their clients.

Many people may be injured or killed in a significant commercial truck accident caused by a negligent truck driver. This means that many people are likely making claims against the driver’s insurance policy. Insurance policies often have limits in terms of the amount of coverage per accident and per claimant. An at-fault truck driver’s policy could be quickly exhausted when there is a multi-vehicle accident. However, often multiple parties are at fault for these collisions. It is crucial to look at whether a trucking company, mechanic, or product manufacturer’s conduct contributed to the accident and could be held responsible.

Often, trucking companies bear responsibility for a truck accident due to their negligent hiring or supervision of a truck driver. In order to establish negligent hiring, for instance, our attorneys would need to prove it’s more likely than not: (1) the trucking company owed you a duty to use reasonable care in hiring its truck driver, (2) the trucking company failed to use reasonable care, (3) causation and (4) actual damages.

Moreover, trucking companies that operate in interstate commerce are required to follow certain precautions mandated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The FMCSA has regulations that mandate trucking companies hire only drivers with proper licenses, conduct drug and alcohol screenings, investigate the safety and performance of their drivers, review drivers’ driving records, maintain certain information in files about each driver, and supervising them to, for example, ensure a truck driver doesn’t exceed his or her hours of service as mandated under the rules.

A trucking company’s failure to follow requirements with regard to hiring, supervising, or even training a truck driver can provide grounds to sue the trucking company directly. When, for example, a truck driver has a history of drunk driving accidents and a trucking company failed to conduct a background check, it may be appropriate to sue the driver for negligent hiring.

It is important to work with an experienced Syracuse personal injury attorney who can investigate all contributing causes to a truck accident. In most cases involving catastrophic injuries or fatalities, this requires that we send an accident reconstruction expert out to the scene. The expert will evaluate debris, skid marks, the truck’s black box, and the vehicles involved in the accident to determine causes of the truck accident. From there, we will also look into whether any of those causes were the result of the trucking company’s breach of the duty to hire and supervise its truck drivers.

Negligent hiring and supervision are often the cause of truck accidents. When injured, you need counsel who understands the intricate regulations trucking companies must follow when hiring and supervising truck drivers. To seek the best outcome for a lawsuit arising out of a truck accident involving a negligent driver, you should retain a law firm with a track record of success. The veteran Syracuse personal injury lawyers of DeFrancisco & Falgiatano Personal Injury Attorneys represent people injured in truck accidents in Lowville, Rochester, Auburn, Watertown, Herkimer, Oswego, Wampsville, Canandaigua, Lyons, Ithaca, Cooperstown, Oneida, Utica, Binghamton, Buffalo, Auburn, Elmira, and throughout Upstate New York. For a free consultation, complete our online form or call us at 833-200-2000.