Alabama & Texas Truck Accident Lawyer
Injured in a Big Truck Wreck in Alabama or Texas?
A fully loaded tractor-trailer can weigh 80,000 pounds — and when one collides with a passenger vehicle, the results are often catastrophic. Victims face long hospital stays, permanent injuries, and a trucking company whose insurers and rapid-response teams start protecting the company within hours of the crash.
At John C. Hubbard, LLC, we move just as fast for truck wreck victims in Birmingham and across Alabama and Texas. We work to preserve critical evidence like driver logs, onboard data, inspection records, and maintenance histories, and we identify every party who may share responsibility — the driver, the carrier, the shipper, even the maintenance contractor. You pay nothing up front: we handle truck wreck cases on a contingency fee, so there’s no attorney’s fee unless we recover for you.
Your consultation is free. Call 205-378-8121 or contact us online today.
Common Causes of Truck Wrecks We Handle
Truck crashes are rarely simple accidents — they usually trace back to choices made by drivers and companies, including:
Driver Fatigue
Federal rules limit how long truckers can drive — but tight deadlines push many drivers and carriers to ignore them.
Speeding & Aggressive Driving
An 80,000-pound rig can need the length of a football field to stop. Speeding turns big trucks into unstoppable forces.
Distracted Driving
Phones, dispatch devices, and in-cab screens take a trucker’s eyes off the road with deadly consequences.
Improper Loading & Cargo Shifts
Overloaded trailers and poorly secured cargo cause rollovers, jackknifes, and lost loads on Alabama and Texas highways.
Poor Maintenance
Worn brakes, bald tires, and skipped inspections keep dangerous trucks on the road. Maintenance records tell the story.
Impaired Driving
Alcohol, drugs, and even some prescription medications have no place behind the wheel of a commercial truck.
Unqualified Drivers
Carriers that cut corners on hiring, training, and licensing put everyone on the road at risk.
Blind Spots & Wide Turns
Big rigs have huge no-zones. Drivers who fail to check them cause devastating lane-change and turning crashes.
What to Do After a Truck Wreck in Alabama or Texas
The hours and days after a truck crash matter. If you are able, take these steps:
- Call 911 and report the wreck — the police report is critical evidence.
- Get medical attention right away, even if you feel “mostly fine.”
- Photograph the vehicles, the truck’s markings and trailer, the scene, and your injuries.
- Collect names and contact information for the driver, their employer, and any witnesses.
- Talk to an Alabama & Texas truck accident lawyer before accepting any settlement offer.
Why Truck Wreck Cases Are Different
Truck cases aren’t just bigger car wreck cases. Commercial carriers are governed by extensive federal and state safety regulations, and proving violations takes experience. Key evidence — electronic logging data, onboard camera footage, driver qualification files — can be lost or overwritten quickly, so early action matters.
Multiple parties may share responsibility, and each will have its own insurer and legal team working to shift blame — including onto you. Alabama’s harsh contributory negligence rule means the defense will look for any way to pin part of the fault on the victim. Don’t take them on alone.
Have more questions? Visit our Frequently Asked Questions page or call us for straight answers about your specific situation.
Reviewed by John C. Hubbard, Attorney.
Last reviewed: June 2026.
Hurt in Texas? John C. Hubbard is licensed in Texas and accepts Texas personal injury cases as well, along with the debt collection and credit reporting problems that often follow an accident. Texas clients can call 832-410-8121.
The first letter in a truck case goes out before anything else
A commercial truck generates evidence a car never does: the electronic logging device that records driving hours, the engine control module that records speed and braking in the seconds before impact, dash cameras facing both ways, the driver qualification file, drug and alcohol test results, and the dispatch and maintenance records. Federal rules let the carrier discard much of it after six months, and some of it, like the ELD data, can be overwritten far sooner. The firm’s first step in every truck case is a written preservation demand to the carrier, its insurer, and the driver, sent within days of being hired. A carrier that destroys evidence after receiving that letter faces a spoliation instruction at trial, which is often worse for it than the evidence would have been.
The federal rules the driver and the carrier had to follow
Interstate trucking is governed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. The ones that matter most after a wreck are the hours of service limits in 49 C.F.R. Part 395 (11 hours of driving after 10 off, a 14 hour on-duty window, and a 30 minute break after 8 hours), the inspection and maintenance rules in Part 396, the driver qualification rules in Part 391, and the drug and alcohol testing rules in Part 382, which require a post-accident test after a fatal crash or one involving a citation and an injury or tow. A violation does not win the case by itself under Alabama law, but it is strong evidence of negligence, and a pattern of violations supports a claim that the carrier itself was negligent in hiring, training or supervising the driver, which is how the case reaches the carrier’s full insurance.
Who can be held responsible
Usually more than the driver. The motor carrier whose name is on the door is responsible for its driver under federal law even if the driver is called an independent contractor. The company that loaded the trailer may be liable for a shifted or overweight load, the shop that serviced the brakes for a failed repair, and a broker or shipper for putting freight with a carrier it knew was unsafe. Federal law requires most carriers to carry at least $750,000 in liability coverage, and many carry far more, which is why these cases are worth working up carefully rather than settling on the police report.
Alabama fault rules in a truck case
Alabama’s contributory negligence rule applies: if the trucking company proves you were partly at fault, you recover nothing. Expect the carrier’s investigator, who is often at the scene before the tow truck leaves, to look for exactly that. Say nothing to the carrier or its insurer until the firm has the file. In Texas you recover as long as you were not more than 50 percent at fault. Both states give you two years to file suit (Ala. Code § 6-2-38; Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003), and a wrongful death claim runs from the date of death.
Where these cases are filed
Wrecks on I-65, I-20, I-59 and I-459 through the Birmingham metro are filed in the Jefferson County Circuit Court; Shelby County wrecks on I-65 south of Hoover in Columbiana. Houston wrecks on I-10, I-45 and the 610 Loop go to the Harris County district courts. When the carrier is based out of state, as most are, it can move the case to federal court, and the firm is admitted in the Alabama and Texas federal districts where that happens.
What to send with your intake
The crash report, the name on the truck and trailer and the USDOT number if you have it, photos, the names of every place you have treated, and any contact you have had from the carrier or its insurer. The firm reviews truck cases at no cost, and there is no attorney’s fee unless money is recovered. Se habla español.
Start your case here
Answer the questions below and John will review your summary, usually the same business day. It takes about three minutes.