Truck accident law in Orlando

Each kind of road brings rules and public bodies of its own. On I-4, vehicles with three or more axles are not allowed in the I-4 Express lanes (opens in a new tab) unless they are designated emergency vehicles, so a truck with three or more axles stays in the general use lanes. In a work zone where construction personnel are present, Florida prohibits holding a phone while driving (opens in a new tab).

On the toll roads, who runs the stretch where the crash happened matters if a claim is made against that body. State Roads 408, 417 and 528 are each split between the Central Florida Expressway Authority, which the statute that created it calls an agency of the state (opens in a new tab), and Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise, part of the Florida Department of Transportation (opens in a new tab).

Most of the region’s freight is on trucks. MetroPlan Orlando, the regional planning agency, says about 80 percent of the region’s goods move by truck (opens in a new tab), and a delivery or warehouse truck can have several companies behind it.

Start with the name on the door. Federal rules require a commercial truck in interstate commerce to display the name of the motor carrier operating it and its USDOT number (opens in a new tab) on both sides. That marking names the trucking company (motor carrier) that was operating the truck. It does not settle who is legally answerable.

Florida also looks to the owner. Under its dangerous instrumentality doctrine, an owner who entrusts a motor vehicle to someone else is liable for that person’s negligent driving (opens in a new tab). A company in the business of renting or leasing vehicles is an exception, because federal law shields it when it was not negligent itself (opens in a new tab).

Fault can be shared among them. A defendant may ask that part of the fault be assigned to someone who was never sued, if it pleads and proves that person’s fault (opens in a new tab), which is one reason to identify every company that had a part in the crash.

Some of them, for far less time than you have to file. Under federal rules a carrier has to keep driver logs and their supporting documents for not less than 6 months (opens in a new tab), and driver vehicle inspection reports for three months from the date each report was prepared (opens in a new tab).

Not every Florida truck has a logbook. In in-state commerce, a driver does not have to keep the federal record of duty status (opens in a new tab) when three things are true: the driver stays within 150 air miles of base, the truck is not hauling hazardous materials in amounts that require placards, and the carrier keeps time records instead.

That is why we ask the trucking company in writing, early in a case, to keep the logs, the inspection and maintenance files and any video. A request does not ensure that every record survives. It does tell the company, with a date on it, what the case will need.

The same ones as anywhere in the state. Florida gives a claim founded on negligence two years (opens in a new tab), running from the time the cause of action accrues (opens in a new tab). The period was four years until 2023, and the two-year period applies to causes of action accruing after March 24, 2023 (opens in a new tab).

Your own share of the fault reduces your damages, and a person found greater than 50 percent at fault for his or her own harm (opens in a new tab) recovers nothing.

Your own auto policy pays first. Florida’s personal injury protection pays 80 percent of reasonable medical expenses and 60 percent of lost income (opens in a new tab) within its limits, whoever caused the crash, and its medical benefits are available only if you receive initial care within 14 days after the crash (opens in a new tab). That is a condition on your own coverage. It is not a deadline for a claim against the trucking company.

The full guide covers the rest of Florida’s rules, including when pain and suffering can be claimed, the insurance a truck must carry, claims against government and wrongful death.

Orlando is in Orange County, which with Osceola County makes up Florida’s Ninth Judicial Circuit (opens in a new tab). Claims above $50,000 go to the circuit court, and county courts hear cases up to that amount (opens in a new tab).

The county of the crash is one place to file, and there can be others: a case is generally brought in the county where the defendant resides or where the cause of action accrued (opens in a new tab). When every defendant is from another state and more than $75,000 is in dispute (opens in a new tab), the defendants can ask to move the case to federal court (opens in a new tab).

Our Orange County courts guide gives the courthouse and the clerk’s office, and the rules for a claim against a public body such as LYNX.