Fort Worth Truck Accident Lawyers
Reviewed by Larry “Jimmy” Peters, Founder · Texas Bar No. 24113438 · Updated August 2026
What this page covers
This page is about crashes involving commercial motor vehicles in Fort Worth and Tarrant County — tractor-trailers and 18-wheelers running I-35W between the AllianceTexas hub and downtown, intermodal container drayage out of the BNSF Alliance facility, FedEx and Amazon linehaul, tankers and aggregate haulers on US-287 and I-20, box trucks and delivery vans on Loop 820 and the Airport Freeway. These cases are governed by a second body of law that ordinary car crashes never touch: the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, 49 C.F.R. Parts 350–399, which Texas has adopted for intrastate carriers through the Department of Public Safety. If a passenger car hit you, our Fort Worth car accident page is the better starting point; the Fort Worth personal injury overview covers the general framework.
Where we are. Southern Injury Attorneys handles Fort Worth truck cases from our Dallas office at 4245 N. Central Expressway, about 30 miles east on I-30. We do not have a Fort Worth office. Consultations are free by phone or video, we travel to Tarrant County for meetings, inspections and hearings, and the case is filed where it belongs — the Tarrant County district courts, or the federal courthouse on W. 10th Street if the carrier removes it. Our Texas truck accident page covers the statewide framework and our Dallas truck accident lawyers page covers the east side of the Metroplex.
Fort Worth truck accident law at a glance
| Deadline to file suit | 2 years — Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003; 6-month written notice if a government vehicle or road is involved — § 101.101 |
|---|---|
| Evidence retention (federal) | ELD records 6 months — 49 C.F.R. § 395.22; supporting documents 6 months — § 395.11 |
| Hours of service | 11 hours driving / 14-hour window / 30-minute break after 8 hours / 60-70 hours per 7-8 days — 49 C.F.R. § 395.3 |
| Carrier minimum insurance | $750,000 for general freight; up to $5,000,000 for certain hazmat — 49 C.F.R. § 387.9 |
| Fault rule | Barred above 50% responsibility — § 33.001; joint and several only for a defendant above 50% — § 33.013; responsible third parties — § 33.004 |
| Spoliation standard | Brookshire Bros. v. Aldridge, 438 S.W.3d 9 (Tex. 2014) — judge decides duty and breach; instruction generally requires intent or irreparable prejudice |
| Exemplary damages | Gross negligence by clear and convincing evidence — § 41.003; capped at greater of $200,000 or 2× economic + non-economic up to $750,000 — § 41.008(b) |
| State court | Tarrant County district courts, Tom Vandergriff Civil Courts Building, 100 N. Calhoun St., Fort Worth 76196 |
| Federal court | N.D. Tex., Fort Worth Division, Eldon B. Mahon U.S. Courthouse, 501 W. 10th St., Fort Worth 76102 |
| Our office | 4245 N Central Expy, Suite 490, Dallas, TX 75205 · (469) 253-2533 |
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Why does Fort Worth see so much heavy truck traffic?
Fort Worth is a freight city. The AllianceTexas development on the north side of the city along I-35W is built around an inland port: the BNSF Alliance intermodal facility, which recorded roughly 1.1 million container lifts in 2024; Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport, which handled about 628.7 million pounds of air cargo the same year; FedEx’s Southwest Regional Sort Hub; and an Amazon Air regional hub — more than 500 companies in all, according to the Texas Comptroller’s 2024 port profile. Every container that comes off a train at Alliance and every package that leaves the FedEx hub moves by truck, and nearly all of it moves on I-35W through Fort Worth or out along SH-170, US-287 and Loop 820.
Add the through traffic — I-35W is the western leg of the I-35 corridor from the Laredo border crossings to Oklahoma, I-20 carries east–west freight between the Permian Basin and the Southeast, I-30 links Fort Worth to Dallas and Texarkana — and the result is TxDOT’s count of 1,716 commercial-vehicle crashes in Tarrant County in 2024, 19 of them fatal, with 19 people killed. Only Harris, Dallas and Bexar counties recorded more. Statewide the 2024 total was 39,393 CMV crashes, 546 fatal, 608 people killed.
How long do I have to file a truck accident claim in Fort Worth?
Two years, with exceptions that shorten it
Texas’s general personal injury limitation is two years from the day the cause of action accrues (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003(a)); wrongful death and survival claims run two years from the date of death (§ 16.003(b)). If the truck belonged to the City of Fort Worth, Tarrant County, TxDOT, a school district or a transit authority, or if a road defect contributed, the Texas Tort Claims Act requires written notice within six months (§ 101.101), with damages capped under § 101.023.
Why the real deadline is six months
The filing deadline is not the deadline that usually decides a truck case. A motor carrier is required to retain a back-up copy of electronic logging device records for only six months (49 C.F.R. § 395.22), and the supporting documents used to verify hours of service for six months (§ 395.11). Dash-camera and forward-facing video are typically overwritten on cycles measured in days or weeks under the carrier’s own retention settings. A Fort Worth crash victim can be comfortably inside the two-year statute and still be a year past the point where the records that would have proved the case were lawfully discarded.
What makes an 18-wheeler case different from a car crash?
Three things. A second rulebook applies: commercial drivers and carriers are judged against the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations — hours of service, driver qualification, vehicle inspection and maintenance, drug and alcohol testing — and the carrier is required to keep documents showing whether each rule was followed. The response is organized: carriers and their insurers frequently send investigators to serious crash scenes the same day; by the time an injured person leaves JPS or Texas Health Fort Worth, the other side may have photographs, measurements, a driver statement and downloaded vehicle data. The injuries are different: a loaded tractor-trailer weighs up to 80,000 pounds against a 4,000-pound car, and underride, override, rollover and jackknife crashes produce traumatic brain injury, spinal cord damage, crush injuries and amputations whose value lies in future care and lost earning capacity rather than past bills.
Who can be held responsible besides the truck driver?
The motor carrier is normally responsible for its driver’s negligence in the course of employment, and is often exposed on its own conduct — hiring, training, supervision, scheduling pressure and maintenance. Freight moving through Alliance frequently involves a broker who arranged the load, a shipper who loaded it, and a separate owner of the tractor or trailer; an improperly secured or overweight load points at whoever loaded it. Maintenance contractors and parts manufacturers come into play in brake, tire and lighting failures. Under Chapter 33, each defendant ordinarily pays only its own percentage — unless its share exceeds 50 percent, in which case it is jointly and severally liable for the whole judgment (§ 33.013). Defendants may also designate absent parties as responsible third parties (§ 33.004), and fault assigned to that empty chair reduces the recovery, which is why identifying and joining every responsible party early is tied directly to what can be collected.
What federal rules govern the truck that hit you?
Hours of service
49 C.F.R. § 395.3 allows a property-carrying driver to drive a maximum of 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty, prohibits driving beyond the 14th consecutive hour after coming on duty, requires a 30-minute break after 8 cumulative hours of driving, and caps on-duty time at 60 hours in 7 days or 70 in 8. Texas applies these rules to intrastate carriers with limited variances, so a regional drayage carrier running containers from Alliance to a warehouse in Haslet is bound by them too. A driver over hours is not merely tired; the driver is in violation of a documented standard, recorded in data the carrier must keep.
Electronic logging devices, insurance and the rest
Hours are recorded electronically rather than in rewritable paper logs — a substantial advantage for injured people if the data is secured before it is discarded. Under 49 C.F.R. § 387.9 a for-hire interstate carrier operating a vehicle over 10,000 pounds must maintain at least $750,000 in financial responsibility for general freight, rising to $5,000,000 for certain hazardous materials; that floor was set in 1980 and never indexed, and many carriers carry layered coverage well above it. Driver qualification sits in Part 391, inspection and maintenance in Part 396, drug and alcohol testing including post-accident testing in Part 382. Each generates records; each record is a place where a violation can be documented rather than argued.
What happens if the trucking company destroys the evidence?
The Texas Supreme Court set the framework in Brookshire Brothers, Ltd. v. Aldridge, 438 S.W.3d 9 (Tex. 2014). The trial judge, not the jury, decides whether a party had a duty to preserve evidence and breached it. A spoliation instruction — telling the jury it may presume the missing evidence would have been unfavorable — is generally reserved for intentional destruction, or for negligent destruction that irreparably deprives the other side of any meaningful ability to present its claim. The duty arises when a party knows or reasonably should know there is a substantial chance a claim will be filed and that evidence in its possession will be material.
That is why a written preservation letter sent within days of a Fort Worth truck crash matters so much. It converts “the footage was overwritten on schedule” into a breach of a known duty. The letter demands the ELD and record-of-duty-status data, supporting documents, engine control module and event data recorder downloads, telematics, in-cab and forward-facing video, the driver qualification file, maintenance and inspection records, dispatch and load records, and the tractor and trailer themselves in post-crash condition.
How does Texas’s 51 percent bar work in a truck case?
Under § 33.001 a claimant whose percentage of responsibility is greater than 50 percent recovers nothing; at 50 percent or below the recovery is reduced by that percentage (§ 33.012). Expect the carrier to argue following distance, speed, lane position, whether you were in the truck’s blind spot on I-35W, whether you passed on the right, and phone use. Because the difference between 50 and 51 percent is the difference between a recovery and nothing, the reconstruction fight is worth having, and the truck’s own data — speed, braking, steering input in the seconds before impact — frequently helps rather than hurts the injured driver.
Which court will hear a Fort Worth truck accident case?
Under § 15.002 venue lies in the county where a substantial part of the events occurred or where the defendant keeps its principal office. For a crash on I-35W, I-20, I-30, Loop 820 or US-287 inside the county, that is the Tarrant County district courts in the Tom Vandergriff Civil Courts Building, 100 N. Calhoun Street. Trucking defendants are very often out-of-state corporations, and where the parties are completely diverse and more than $75,000 is in controversy the carrier may remove the case to federal court — here, the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division, at the Eldon B. Mahon U.S. Courthouse, 501 W. 10th Street, which serves Tarrant, Parker, Hood, Wise, Jack, Palo Pinto, Erath and Comanche counties. Removal changes deadlines, procedure and the jury pool; it is a routine feature of trucking litigation, and the case is built with that possibility in view from the start.
What is a Fort Worth truck accident claim worth?
Economic damages — medical expenses past and future, lost earnings and earning capacity — are not capped, though § 41.0105 limits medical expenses to amounts actually paid or incurred. Non-economic damages for pain, mental anguish, impairment and disfigurement are likewise uncapped in an ordinary truck case. Exemplary damages for gross negligence — a driver dispatched with a known hours violation, a tractor sent out with documented brake defects — require clear and convincing evidence (§ 41.003) and are capped under § 41.008(b) at the greater of $200,000 or twice economic damages plus non-economic damages up to $750,000. Health insurers, ERISA plans, Medicare, Medicaid and hospital lien holders under Property Code Chapter 55 assert reimbursement rights against the settlement; they are negotiated, not simply paid. No honest lawyer can give you a number from a web page; anyone quoting one before reviewing your records is guessing.
Where were you hit? Fort Worth truck crash corridors
I-35W north of downtown carries the Alliance freight: intermodal drayage, FedEx and Amazon linehaul, and through trucks bound for Denton and Oklahoma, merging with commuter traffic at the SH-170, US-287 and Loop 820 interchanges. The Mixmaster where I-30 and I-35W meet south of downtown concentrates weaving heavy traffic. I-20 across the south side of the county and I-30 toward Arlington and Dallas carry long-haul freight. US-287 brings aggregate, agricultural and oilfield traffic in from the northwest and continues southeast toward Mansfield and Waxahachie. SH-121/SH-183, the Airport Freeway, feeds cargo to and from DFW International Airport. Loop 820 distributes all of it around the city. Where the crash happened affects which camera systems exist, which TxDOT and city records to request, and which police agency wrote the CR-3.
What should you do in the first weeks after a Fort Worth truck crash?
- Get medical care and keep going. Gaps in treatment are the most common argument used to devalue a genuine injury.
- Get the crash report. The CR-3 is purchased through TxDOT’s Crash Report Online Purchase System ($6, or $8 certified) and identifies the carrier, its USDOT number and its insurer.
- Photograph everything while it exists. The vehicles, the scene, the trailer markings and placards, your injuries.
- Do not give a recorded statement to the carrier’s insurer before you have advice. Those calls come early and they are not neutral. See our Texas guide to what not to say.
- Get a preservation letter out. This is the step with a clock on it: six months is the federal retention floor for the records that matter most, and video is gone far sooner.
- Keep your own record. Missed work, medications, what you cannot do now that you could do before.
Southern Injury Attorneys
4245 N Central Expy, Suite 490, Dallas, TX 75205 — about 30 miles east of downtown Fort Worth via I-30
(469) 253-2533 · Open 24 hours · Free phone and video consultations for Tarrant County clients
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Related Fort Worth, Dallas and Texas pages
Other Fort Worth pages: car accidents, motorcycle accidents, rear-end collisions, uninsured motorist claims, pedestrian accidents, wrongful death and the Fort Worth personal injury overview. Across the Metroplex: Dallas truck accident lawyers and our Dallas office. Statewide: Texas truck accident lawyers and our national truck accident page on the federal framework.
Frequently asked questions about Fort Worth truck accidents
How long do I have to file a truck accident lawsuit in Fort Worth?
Generally two years from the crash under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003. If a government vehicle or road defect is involved, the Texas Tort Claims Act requires written notice within six months under § 101.101. The carrier may lawfully discard electronic logging records after six months, so the practical deadline is much shorter.
How many truck crashes happen in Tarrant County?
TxDOT counted 1,716 crashes involving a commercial motor vehicle in Tarrant County in 2024, 19 of them fatal, with 19 people killed — the fourth-highest county total in Texas behind Harris, Dallas and Bexar counties.
Can I recover if I was partly at fault for the truck crash?
Yes, as long as your share of responsibility is not greater than 50 percent. Under § 33.001 a claimant above 50 percent recovers nothing; at 50 percent or below the recovery is reduced by that percentage.
How much insurance does an 18-wheeler have to carry?
A for-hire interstate carrier operating a vehicle rated over 10,000 pounds must carry at least $750,000 for non-hazardous freight under 49 C.F.R. § 387.9, rising to $5,000,000 for certain hazardous materials. Texas’s minimum for passenger cars is only 30/60/25.
How long does a trucking company have to keep the driver’s logs?
Six months for electronic logging device back-up records under 49 C.F.R. § 395.22, and six months for supporting documents under § 395.11. Camera footage is governed by the carrier’s own settings and is often overwritten within days or weeks.
What happens if the trucking company destroys the evidence?
Under Brookshire Brothers v. Aldridge, 438 S.W.3d 9 (Tex. 2014), the judge decides whether a duty to preserve was breached and may instruct the jury to presume the missing evidence was unfavorable where the destruction was intentional or left the other side unable to prove its case. A written preservation letter sent early makes that remedy far easier to obtain.
How many hours can a truck driver legally drive?
Under 49 C.F.R. § 395.3, up to 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty, not beyond the 14th consecutive hour after coming on duty, with a 30-minute break after 8 cumulative hours of driving, and no more than 60 hours in 7 days or 70 hours in 8 days.
Who can be sued besides the truck driver?
Depending on the facts: the motor carrier, the owner of the tractor or trailer, a freight broker, a shipper or the party that loaded the trailer, a maintenance contractor, and a component manufacturer. Because Texas allocates fault by percentage and lets defendants point at absent parties, identifying every responsible party early affects what can be recovered.
Will my Fort Worth truck case go to federal court?
It may. An out-of-state carrier can remove the case to the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division, at the Eldon B. Mahon U.S. Courthouse when the parties are completely diverse and more than $75,000 is in controversy. Removal changes procedure and the jury pool but not the Texas law that applies.
Where would a Fort Worth truck accident lawsuit be filed in state court?
In the Tarrant County district courts at the Tom Vandergriff Civil Courts Building, 100 N. Calhoun Street, Fort Worth, under the venue rules of § 15.002.
Does Southern Injury Attorneys have a Fort Worth office?
No. Fort Worth truck cases are handled from our Dallas office at 4245 N. Central Expressway, Suite 490, about 30 miles east. Consultations are free by phone or video, and we travel to Tarrant County for meetings, vehicle inspections and court.
What does it cost to hire a Fort Worth truck accident lawyer?
We handle these cases on a contingency fee: no attorney fee unless there is a recovery. Consultations are free and available 24/7 at (469) 253-2533. The fee agreement is provided in writing and explained before you sign anything.
Start your free case review
Tell us what happened and we will call you back — usually within minutes during business hours. Free consultation, no fee unless we win. Phone and video consultations are available for Fort Worth and Tarrant County clients; we also meet clients at our Dallas office on N. Central Expressway.
Texas Bar No. 24113438. Jimmy leads a personal injury firm with attorneys licensed in Texas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Kentucky and Georgia. Fort Worth and Tarrant County cases are handled from the firm’s Dallas office on N. Central Expressway.
This page is legal information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Statutes, regulations and case law change; every case turns on its own facts. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Reviewed by Larry “Jimmy” Peters, Founder, Southern Injury Attorneys, Texas Bar No. 24113438. Fort Worth matters are handled from the firm’s Dallas office at 4245 N. Central Expressway, Suite 490, Dallas, Texas 75205, about 30 miles east of downtown Fort Worth. Southern Injury Attorneys does not maintain an office in Fort Worth.
