# Truck Accident Lawyer - Springfield & Westfield, MA | Dunn & Phillips, P.C. > Springfield truck accident lawyers who move fast on the evidence - driver logs, black-box data, maintenance records - and prepare every case for trial. Free consultation; pay nothing unless we win. [Canonical page](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/truck-accidents/) --- - [All injury cases](/practice/personal-injury/) - [Car Accidents](/practice/personal-injury/car-accidents/) - [Truck Accidents](/practice/personal-injury/truck-accidents/) - [Motorcycle Accidents](/practice/personal-injury/motorcycle-accidents/) - [Slip and Fall](/practice/personal-injury/slip-and-fall/) - [Dog Bites](/practice/personal-injury/dog-bites/) - [Workers' Compensation](/practice/personal-injury/workers-compensation/) - [Medical Malpractice](/practice/personal-injury/medical-malpractice/) - [Wrongful Death](/practice/personal-injury/wrongful-death/) [Practice Areas](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/) [Personal Injury](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/) Truck Accidents # Truck Accident Lawyer in Springfield, MA Hit by a tractor-trailer or commercial vehicle on I-91, the Pike, or a local road? Trucking cases are a different fight, and the evidence starts disappearing the day of the crash. [New injury? Call or text (413) 426-8657](tel:+14134268657) [Request a free consultation](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/contact/?practiceArea=Personal%20Injury) Not sure you have a case? [Try the quick size up](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/consult/). A few quick taps. Have the firm call you Free. A real person calls you back. Phone That phone number looks too short. Please check it so we can call you back. What happened? (one line is fine) Have the firm call me Short version is fine. Save the details for the call. Sending this does not make us your lawyers yet. Something went wrong. Please call or text the 24-hour injury line at [(413) 426-8657](tel:+14134268657) instead. Thanks. We have it. A real person will call you back. If this is urgent, call or text [(413) 426-8657](tel:+14134268657). Tractor-trailers run through Western Massachusetts all day - I-91, the Mass Pike, Routes 5 and 20, and the distribution routes that feed the warehouses around Springfield, Westfield, and Chicopee. When 80,000 pounds meets a passenger car, the physics are one-sided, and so is what happens next: the carrier's insurer often has an investigator working the scene before the injured person is out of the emergency room. We represent people hurt in truck and commercial-vehicle crashes across Western Massachusetts from our offices in [Springfield](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/locations/springfield/) and [Westfield](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/locations/westfield/). A new injury intake reaches a real person 24 hours a day at [(413) 426-8657](tel:+14134268657), and the first conversation is free. ## Why the first weeks decide truck cases A commercial truck generates evidence a car never does: electronic logging device records showing how long the driver had been behind the wheel, engine and event-recorder data from the moments before impact, inspection and maintenance files, the driver's qualification and testing history, dispatch and delivery records. Federal safety rules require carriers to keep much of it - but only for limited periods, some measured in months. That is why the first thing we do in a truck case is send a **preservation letter** putting the carrier and its insurer on legal notice to hold every category of evidence. Once that letter is out, destroying the records has consequences in court. Before it is out, data gets overwritten in the ordinary course of business, and no one has to answer for it. ## The rules trucking companies have to follow Interstate carriers operate under federal safety regulations that cover how many hours a driver may work, how vehicles must be inspected and maintained, how cargo must be secured, and how drivers are screened and tested. A violation - a driver over his hours, a brake defect the last inspection should have caught - is often the proof of what went wrong. Those same rules require interstate carriers to carry insurance far above the Massachusetts minimums, commonly $750,000 or more. That matters because catastrophic injuries produce lifetime costs that a personal auto policy could never cover. The coverage is usually there in a truck case. The fight is over responsibility and value, and the carrier's side prepares for that fight from day one. You should have someone preparing yours. ## Who is actually responsible The driver is only the first name on the list. Depending on the facts, responsibility can extend to the motor carrier that employed or dispatched the driver, the separate owner of the tractor or the trailer, the contractor that maintained the brakes, the facility that loaded the cargo, or the broker that arranged the haul. Each may have its own insurer, and each insurer would prefer the others pay. Untangling that web early determines which claims exist and how much coverage is genuinely available. It is detailed, document-driven work, and it is the core reason a serious truck case should not be handled as if it were a large car crash. ## Massachusetts rules still apply The Massachusetts framework we describe on our [car accident page](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/car-accidents/) - PIP coverage, the tort threshold, the 51 percent comparative-fault rule, and the three-year statute of limitations - applies to truck crashes too. The difference is scale: with injuries this serious, the tort threshold is rarely in question, and the comparative-fault fight is where the carrier's investigators earn their keep. The earlier your side of the record is built, the harder that fight is for them. ## What we do on a truck case We investigate as if the case will be tried: preservation letter out immediately, the police and RMV records pulled, the data secured, witnesses interviewed while memories are fresh, and reconstruction and medical experts brought in where the case warrants them. We front all of those costs. You pay nothing up front, and nothing at all unless we recover for you. And if the honest answer after the first conversation is that your claim can be resolved fairly without a lawyer, we will tell you so - free, before you sign anything. Free worksheet - PDF ## Get the Massachusetts After-an-Accident Worksheet Every step after a crash, fall, or other injury, from the scene to resolving your claim, in one PDF worksheet. From a Western Massachusetts firm that handles the insurers so you can focus on healing. [Download the worksheet (PDF)](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/downloads/dunn-phillips-personal-injury-after-accident-worksheet.pdf) Saves to your device as a fillable PDF you can complete or print. It is free: no email required. Using this does not make us your attorneys. It is general information, not legal advice. [From our Insights What to Do in the First 24 Hours After a Car Accident in Massachusetts The steps you take right after a crash can protect your health and your claim. Here is a clear, plain-language guide for the first day.](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/blog/car-accident-first-steps/) Common questions ## Truck Accidents FAQs How is a truck accident case different from a car accident case? The injuries are usually worse, the insurance policies are far larger, and the defendant is a business with lawyers and investigators who start working the day of the crash. Federal trucking rules also create evidence a car case never has - driver logs, inspection records, electronic data - and that evidence answers questions an ordinary police report cannot. Who can be held responsible after a truck crash? Often more than the driver. The motor carrier, the owner of the tractor or trailer, a maintenance contractor, and in some cases the company that loaded the cargo or brokered the haul can all share responsibility. Sorting out who insured what is a large part of the early work, and it is why truck cases should not be handled like a big car crash. What evidence disappears after a trucking accident? Electronic logging device data, engine and event-recorder data, dashcam footage, and driver logs are kept on retention schedules - some as short as a matter of months - and a wrecked trailer can be repaired or scrapped quickly. One of the first things we do is send a preservation letter that puts the carrier on legal notice not to destroy any of it. The trucking company's insurance adjuster already called me. What should I do? Take their name and number, and do not give a recorded statement. Carriers and their insurers move quickly precisely because early statements and quick settlements are cheap. Talk to a lawyer first; the consultation is free. What does a truck accident lawyer cost? Nothing up front and nothing out of pocket. We work on a contingent fee set in a written agreement before we start, we front the case costs - including experts, which serious truck cases need - and if there is no recovery, you owe no fee and no costs. New Personal Injury Direct A new injury intake reaches a real person 24 hours a day. Call or text, or start with the intake form and we will get back to you. [Call or text (413) 426-8657](tel:+14134268657) [Start the injury intake form](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/practice/personal-injury/#start-your-case) [Try the quick size up](https://www.dunnandphillips.com/consult/) Where we are Springfield, Main Office 185 Belmont Avenue, Springfield, MA 01108 [(413) 787-9955](tel:+14137879955) [Get directions](https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=185%20Belmont%20Avenue%2C%20Springfield%2C%20MA%2001108) Westfield, Personal Injury Law Center 56 Washington Street, Westfield, MA 01085 [(413) 562-8300](tel:+14135628300) [Get directions](https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=56%20Washington%20Street%2C%20Westfield%2C%20MA%2001085) Other injury case types we handle - [Car Accidents](/practice/personal-injury/car-accidents/) - [Motorcycle Accidents](/practice/personal-injury/motorcycle-accidents/) - [Slip and Fall](/practice/personal-injury/slip-and-fall/) - [Dog Bites](/practice/personal-injury/dog-bites/) - [Workers' Compensation](/practice/personal-injury/workers-compensation/) - [Medical Malpractice](/practice/personal-injury/medical-malpractice/) - [Wrongful Death](/practice/personal-injury/wrongful-death/) **“Pay nothing unless we win” applies to personal injury matters only.** If we win, our fee is a percentage of the amount recovered and is paid out of that settlement or verdict, along with case costs; if there is no recovery, you owe no fee or costs. The percentage and terms are set out in a signed written fee agreement. This promise does not apply to our other practice areas, whose fees are charged as described in your fee agreement. This page is general information only, not legal advice for any specific situation, and reading it does not create an attorney–client relationship. Every matter depends on its own facts; for advice on your particular circumstances, talk to a licensed attorney. Published by Dunn & Phillips, P.C., 185 Belmont Avenue, Springfield, MA 01108. Responsible attorney: Cornelius W. Phillips, III. 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