FMCSA rules, ELD evidence, hours-of-service, multiple-defendant theory, and published payout benchmarks for commercial-truck accident research.
Crashes involving large trucks differ from passenger-vehicle collisions because the federal government, through the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), directly regulates the driver, the vehicle, and the carrier's operating procedures. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) appear in Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Parts 350-399. Violations of those regulations are central to many truck accident liability theories. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) publish crash counts, fatality data, and severity statistics that inform settlement discussions. The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) publishes freight-mode-share data that helps explain why interstate truck-crash exposure is so large. This reference compiles those public sources, the major liability rules, the available coverage minimums under 49 CFR § 387.9, and educational planning ranges.
| Public benchmark | Published value or rule | Source | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| FMCSA hours-of-service driving limit (property) | 11 hours of driving after 10 consecutive hours off-duty | FMCSA | 49 CFR § 395.3 |
| FMCSA on-duty window | 14-hour on-duty window after coming on duty | FMCSA | 49 CFR § 395.3 |
| FMCSA weekly on-duty limit | 60 hours in 7 days / 70 hours in 8 days | FMCSA | 49 CFR § 395.3 |
| FMCSA ELD requirement | Most commercial property and passenger carriers must use Electronic Logging Devices to record HOS. | FMCSA | FMCSA ELD program |
| FMCSA minimum financial responsibility (general property, non-hazmat) | $750,000 minimum public liability for interstate motor carriers transporting non-hazardous property in vehicles over 10,000 lb GVWR | FMCSA | 49 CFR § 387.9 |
| FMCSA hazmat / placarded coverage | $1,000,000 or $5,000,000 minimum depending on substance and packaging classification | FMCSA | 49 CFR § 387.9 |
| FMCSA passenger carrier coverage | $5,000,000 for vehicles seating 16+; $1,500,000 for vehicles seating 15 or fewer | FMCSA | 49 CFR § 387.33 |
| Large-truck crash fatalities | FMCSA Large Truck and Bus Crash Facts publishes annual large-truck and bus fatal-crash counts. | FMCSA | Large Truck and Bus Crash Facts |
| IIHS large-truck fatality data | IIHS publishes large-truck occupant and other-vehicle occupant fatality data showing that occupants of other vehicles account for the majority of large-truck-crash deaths. | IIHS | IIHS Large Trucks |
| NHTSA Traffic Safety Facts (large trucks) | NHTSA publishes Traffic Safety Facts: Large Trucks annually with fatal-crash counts, injured-person counts, and crash-circumstance breakdowns. | NHTSA | NHTSA Large Trucks 2022 (released 2024) |
| BTS freight by mode | BTS publishes freight tonnage and value share by mode, with trucks dominating short-haul freight. | BTS | BTS freight by mode |
The following ranges are educational, used to organize calculator output. They are not government averages and do not predict any specific case. The ranges reflect that truck-crash defendants almost always carry FMCSA-mandated coverage well above passenger-auto minimums, so liability evidence and severity often drive value rather than insurance limits.
| Severity tier | Educational range | How to interpret |
|---|---|---|
| Soft tissue / minor injury | $25,000-$75,000 | Limited treatment, no surgery, fast return to work; defense often disputes causation against pre-existing degeneration. |
| Moderate injury (fracture, MRI findings) | $75,000-$250,000 | Imaging-confirmed injury, longer treatment, work loss; FMCSA insurance often exceeds pure auto policies. |
| Serious injury (surgery, hardware, longer disability) | $250,000-$1,000,000 | Surgery, longer disability, future-care exposure; punitive risk where FMCSA violations are documented. |
| Catastrophic (TBI, paralysis, severe burns) | $1,000,000-$5,000,000+ | Future-care plans dominate; multiple defendants and excess coverage often involved. |
| Wrongful death | State-specific; commonly seven figures | State wrongful-death code, beneficiaries, dependents, and earnings dictate. |
| Hazmat / placarded carrier (negligence) | Higher exposure due to $1M-$5M federal minimum | Coverage minimum interacts with severity to expand recoverable funds. |
| Bus / passenger-carrier crash | State-specific; $1.5M-$5M federal minimum applies | Multiple plaintiffs typical; aggregate limits and pro-rata distribution may matter. |
Federal law requires interstate motor carriers to maintain minimum public liability coverage. The minimum depends on what the truck carries. The carrier is also required to file proof of insurance with FMCSA on Form MCS-90 or comparable documentation. Form MCS-90 functions as a federal endorsement that protects the public, even where the carrier or driver is not in compliance with the underlying policy. Plaintiffs, brokers, and insurance defense counsel frequently litigate the scope of MCS-90 obligations after major crashes.
| Cargo / vehicle type | Minimum public liability | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Non-hazardous property in vehicle > 10,000 lb GVWR (interstate) | $750,000 | 49 CFR § 387.9 |
| Hazardous substances and certain explosives | $5,000,000 | 49 CFR § 387.9 |
| Oil moved by motor carrier; hazardous materials in non-bulk packages | $1,000,000 | 49 CFR § 387.9 |
| Passenger carrier, vehicles seating 16+ | $5,000,000 | 49 CFR § 387.33 |
| Passenger carrier, vehicles seating 15 or fewer | $1,500,000 | 49 CFR § 387.33 |
| Household goods movers (non-hazmat) | $300,000 | 49 CFR § 387.301 |
Many carriers maintain coverage well above the federal minimum, often $1,000,000 primary policies layered with excess umbrella coverage. Discovery of the full insurance program (including any captive, fronting, or self-insured retention layers) is a routine early step in litigation.
49 CFR § 395.3 limits property-carrying drivers to 11 hours of driving after 10 consecutive hours off duty, an overall 14-hour on-duty window, mandatory 30-minute breaks after 8 cumulative hours of driving, and weekly limits of 60 hours in 7 days or 70 hours in 8 days. Drivers can use a 34-hour restart to reset the weekly clock under specified conditions. Limited exceptions exist for short-haul drivers and adverse driving conditions.
Hours-of-service violations create some of the most common liability theories in truck-crash litigation because driver fatigue is a documented contributor to severe crashes. ELD records, supporting paper logs, fuel receipts, toll records, dispatch messages, and bills of lading allow plaintiffs to reconstruct on-duty time. Where the carrier's pattern shows systemic non-compliance, plaintiffs may pursue negligent hiring, retention, supervision, or entrustment theories beyond simple negligence.
FMCSA's ELD rule generally requires commercial property and passenger carriers to use a registered ELD that automatically records driving time, engine power status, vehicle motion, miles driven, and duty status. ELD data, combined with engine-control-module (ECM) downloads, dashcam footage, and inward-facing camera footage if available, provides a defensible reconstruction of the seconds before a crash. Federal regulations also require carriers to retain certain records for set retention periods, including driver qualification files, drug-and-alcohol records, post-accident testing results, and vehicle maintenance logs.
A plaintiff's lawyer routinely sends a litigation-hold (preservation) letter immediately after a serious truck crash to prevent spoliation of ELD, ECM, dashcam, and dispatch records. State and federal courts can sanction defendants who destroy data after a hold notice. Spoliation findings can result in adverse inference jury instructions or evidentiary sanctions that materially shift settlement leverage.
A truck accident case often has more than one defendant. The driver may be sued individually for negligent driving, distracted driving, or driving under fatigue. The motor carrier is typically named as the employer under respondeat superior, and may face direct claims for negligent hiring, retention, supervision, training, or entrustment. The broker or shipper may be implicated where a broker selected an unsafe motor carrier or where a shipper coerced unsafe loading or scheduling. The trailer or truck-component manufacturer may face product-defect claims for under-ride guards, brakes, tires, or electronic stability control. A maintenance provider may face negligent inspection or repair claims.
Multiple defendants can produce multiple insurance towers, multiple sets of records, and multiple legal theories. Plaintiffs commonly negotiate with each defendant separately while coordinating discovery. Where state law applies joint and several liability, a single solvent defendant can be required to pay the entire judgment, with contribution claims among defendants. Where state law applies several liability or modified comparative fault, allocation among defendants and any plaintiff fault becomes critical.
| State | PI deadline | State source |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 2 years | Ala. Code § 6-2-38 |
| Alaska | 2 years | AS § 09.10.070 |
| Arizona | 2 years | A.R.S. § 12-542 |
| Arkansas | 3 years | Ark. Code § 16-56-105 |
| California | 2 years | CCP § 335.1 |
| Colorado | 2 years general; 3 years motor-vehicle | C.R.S. § 13-80-101 |
| Connecticut | 2 years | Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-584 |
| Delaware | 2 years | 10 Del. C. § 8119 |
| Florida | 2 years (post-Mar 2023 negligence) | Fla. Stat. § 95.11 |
| Georgia | 2 years | O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33 |
| Hawaii | 2 years | HRS § 657-7 |
| Idaho | 2 years | Idaho Code § 5-219 |
| Illinois | 2 years | 735 ILCS 5/13-202 |
| Indiana | 2 years | Ind. Code § 34-11-2-4 |
| Iowa | 2 years | Iowa Code § 614.1 |
| Kansas | 2 years | K.S.A. § 60-513 |
| Kentucky | 1 year general / 2 years motor-vehicle | KRS § 304.39-230 |
| Louisiana | 2 years for delictual actions accruing on/after July 1, 2024 | La. Civ. Code art. 3493.1 |
| Maine | 6 years | 14 M.R.S. § 752 |
| Maryland | 3 years | Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-101 |
| Massachusetts | 3 years | M.G.L. ch. 260, § 2A |
| Michigan | 3 years | MCL § 600.5805 |
| Minnesota | 6 years | Minn. Stat. § 541.05 |
| Mississippi | 3 years | Miss. Code § 15-1-49 |
| Missouri | 5 years | RSMo § 516.120 |
| Montana | 3 years | MCA § 27-2-204 |
| Nebraska | 4 years | Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-207 |
| Nevada | 2 years | NRS § 11.190 |
| New Hampshire | 3 years | N.H. Rev. Stat. § 508:4 |
| New Jersey | 2 years | N.J.S.A. § 2A:14-2 |
| New Mexico | 3 years | N.M. Stat. § 37-1-8 |
| New York | 3 years | CPLR § 214 |
| North Carolina | 3 years | N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-52 |
| North Dakota | 6 years | N.D. Cent. Code § 28-01-16 |
| Ohio | 2 years | Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.10 |
| Oklahoma | 2 years | Okla. Stat. tit. 12 § 95 |
| Oregon | 2 years | ORS § 12.110 |
| Pennsylvania | 2 years | 42 Pa.C.S. § 5524 |
| Rhode Island | 3 years | R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-1-14 |
| South Carolina | 3 years | S.C. Code § 15-3-530 |
| South Dakota | 3 years | S.D.C.L. § 15-2-14 |
| Tennessee | 1 year | Tenn. Code § 28-3-104 |
| Texas | 2 years | Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003 |
| Utah | 4 years | Utah Code § 78B-2-307 |
| Vermont | 3 years | 12 V.S.A. § 512 |
| Virginia | 2 years | Va. Code § 8.01-243 |
| Washington | 3 years | RCW § 4.16.080 |
| West Virginia | 2 years | W. Va. Code § 55-2-12 |
| Wisconsin | 3 years | Wis. Stat. § 893.54 |
| Wyoming | 4 years | Wyo. Stat. § 1-3-105 |
Several Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations recur in plaintiff complaints. The driver-qualification rules in Part 391 require carriers to verify that drivers are physically and legally qualified, including a current medical examiner's certificate, valid Commercial Driver's License, and an investigation of three-year safety history. The drug-and-alcohol rules in Part 382 require pre-employment, random, post-accident, reasonable-suspicion, return-to-duty, and follow-up testing. Part 383 covers CDL standards. Part 385 covers carrier safety ratings. Part 392 covers driving rules, including the rule that a driver may not operate while ill or fatigued. Part 393 covers vehicle equipment standards. Part 396 covers inspection, repair, and maintenance, including the requirement that a driver perform pre-trip inspections and that the carrier maintain inspection records.
Documenting violations of these rules is the central evidence-gathering work in serious truck-crash cases. Plaintiff's counsel typically sends preservation letters, requests records under FCRA-style protocols where applicable, subpoenas FMCSA's safety measurement system data, examines the carrier's compliance review history, and reconstructs the driver's pattern of life through ELD, dispatch, and ECM data.
The titles below are editorial picks on Amazon. SettlementCalculator does not sell legal services and does not endorse any author as a substitute for a licensed attorney. As an Amazon Associate, the operator may earn from qualifying purchases.
No. FMCSA minimums are the floor. Many carriers maintain primary coverage of $1,000,000 plus excess umbrella coverage. Discovery of the full insurance program (including excess and any self-insured retentions) is a routine early step.
Whether a broker faces liability depends on state law and the facts. Some courts allow negligent-selection theories against brokers; federal preemption arguments under 49 USC § 14501(c) have produced split decisions. Confirm with a licensed attorney familiar with current case law.
Form MCS-90 is a federal endorsement on a motor carrier's policy that provides public-protection coverage even where the underlying policy might otherwise deny coverage. Courts continue to litigate the scope of MCS-90.
State law governs punitive damages. Where FMCSA violations or grossly negligent practices are established, some states allow punitive awards. Punitive damages are typically taxable.
Yes, often. Your own MedPay/PIP, UM/UIM, and health insurance may interact with the truck-defendant's liability coverage. Coordination, subrogation, and lien rights can change net recovery.
State law governs. Pure comparative, modified comparative (50% or 51% bar), and pure contributory states all handle plaintiff fault differently. A licensed attorney in your state can explain.
Leased equipment is common. Federal leasing rules (49 CFR Part 376) require an authorized carrier to identify itself on the equipment and to assume responsibility, regardless of who actually owns the truck. Coverage and liability flow through the placarded carrier in many cases.
Yes. Truck-crash cases involve federal regulations, multi-defendant litigation, large-dollar coverage, and state tort law. Consult a licensed attorney experienced in commercial-truck litigation and a qualified tax professional.
The most defensible cites on this page are the federal regulations (49 CFR Parts 350-399), the FMCSA Large Truck and Bus Crash Facts publication, NHTSA Traffic Safety Facts, the IIHS large-truck fatality dataset, and BTS freight-mode-share data. Where the page provides settlement ranges, those are educational planning ranges used for calculator context. Specific case value depends on liability evidence, coverage layers, venue, comparative fault, lien amounts, future-care exposure, and tax allocation. This page provides a citable starting point and is not a substitute for individualized legal advice.