New York Commercial Vehicle Accident Lawyers

A commercial vehicle is any truck, car, bus, van, or other motor vehicle owned and operated by a business or municipality. Accidents involving these vehicles often involve complex legal issues and specific regulations, which makes it crucial to hire an experienced attorney.

The trial lawyers at Block O’Toole & Murphy have the skill and resources to take on large organizations on behalf of injured clients. Our commitment to our clients has resulted in major recoveries, including a $14,000,000 settlement for a motorcyclist who was hit by a truck and a $13,500,000 settlement for a pedestrian hit by a company-owned car on Long Island.

Need to Know:

• Because commercial vehicles can be much larger than a typical car, they usually carry larger insurance policies, and the employees who drive them are held to higher standards.
• Early investigation is key in commercial vehicle accidents. It’s important to contact an attorney quickly so they can begin gathering evidence as soon as possible.
• If the defendant in your accident was working as an employee of the City or State of New York, you must file a Notice of Claim within 90 days.

In This Article:

• Types of Commercial Vehicle Accident Cases We Handle
• Unique Aspects of Commercial Vehicle Accidents
• How Our Attorneys Uncovered an FMCSA Violation That Led to a $5,000,000 Settlement
• Why Experience Matters in Commercial Vehicle Accident Cases
• Early Inspection Helps Secure $7 Million Settlement for 10-Year-Old Girl Struck by Mack Truck
• Why Block O’Toole & Murphy for Your Commercial Vehicle Accident Case?
• Top Verdicts and Settlements in New York Commercial Vehicle Accident Cases

Types of Commercial Vehicle Accident Cases We Handle

A commercial vehicle is any vehicle that is not privately owned. Block O’Toole & Murphy has extensive experience in trying cases involving many kinds of commercial vehicles, such as:

• Taxis and limousines
• Moving vans and trucks
• Vans, including Access-A-Ride vans
• City-owned vehicles
• Garbage trucks
• Buses, including public transportation and school buses
• Tractor-trailers and other large trucks
• Utility maintenance vehicles
• UPS, FedEx, USPS, and other mail delivery vehicles
• Delivery trucks, including food delivery and Amazon
• Construction vehicles (cement-mixing trucks, excavators, etc.)
• Other company vehicles

If you have been hit by a commercial vehicle, do not be intimidated by the fact that a large organization may be on the other side of the lawsuit. If you were injured due to their negligence, you have a right to make a claim.

Unique Aspects of Commercial Vehicle Accidents

Unfortunately, because commercial vehicles are often much larger and heavier than other cars on the road, they usually cause more damage in the event of a collision. This is why commercial vehicles and their drivers are held to especially high standards.

• More regulations. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) applies to all vehicles that either weigh more than 26,001 pounds (including towed weight); transport more than 16 people; or transport certain hazardous materials. The FMCSA determines standards for commercial driver’s licenses, vehicle safety, and drug and alcohol testing. The FMCSA also sets hours of service regulations, which is a legal limit on the maximum number of hours a driver can consecutively operate a vehicle.
• Stricter laws. In New York State, commercial vehicles are subject to more stringent vehicle maintenance laws, and cannot drive on parkways. In New York City, the NYCDOT has various rules regarding where commercial vehicles can park and stand, and also requires trucks to have cross-over mirrors, which eliminate their front blind spot. This enables city drivers to check for pedestrians crossing.
• Better records. Because of the various laws and regulations, commercial vehicles usually have far more records associated with them than private vehicles. Drivers are often required to fill out paperwork for pre-trip inspections and maintenance checks, and commercial vehicles are also often equipped with dashcams and electronic logging devices, which can tell us how long the driver was behind the wheel. Your attorney needs to carefully comb through all of these records, as they may include information that will help decide your case.
• More insurance coverage. While New York State only requires vehicles to have $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident in bodily injury liability coverage, commercial policies tend to be much higher and there may even be multiple carrier policies for a single vehicle.

How Our Attorneys Uncovered an FMCSA Violation That Led to a $5,000,000 Settlement

A violation of FMCSA regulations is powerful evidence of negligence. If your lawyer can find proof that an FMCSA violation was a contributing factor in your accident, you will have an extremely strong case against the defendant.

In a tragic wrongful death case handled by Partners Daniel O’Toole and Frederick Aranki, a woman and her boyfriend were both killed when the driver of a privately owned sanitation truck had a seizure, causing him to veer onto the sidewalk.

The driver immediately admitted to police that he had not been taking his seizure medication. His employer denied responsibility for the accident, stating they didn’t have prior knowledge of his condition.

However, O’Toole and Aranki knew that §391.21(b)(11) of the Code of Federal Regulations requires commercial motor vehicle drivers to include 10 years of employment history on their job applications. When our attorneys deposed the driver, they asked if he had supplied his employer with this information. He did not.

If the employer had required and checked the driver’s employment history, they would have seen why he was let go from his previous job and been aware of his seizure disorder, a critical factor in why the accident occurred. This clear violation of FMCSA regulations proved the employer’s liability, or fault, in the accident.

Recognizing that they would likely be found 100% liable in court, the defense agreed to settle the case for $5,000,000.

Why Experience Matters in Commercial Vehicle Accident Cases

Certain situations tend to arise more frequently in commercial vehicle accident cases. Hiring an experienced lawyer ensures you have an attorney on your side who is prepared for any scenario.

Handling Out of State Defendants

If your accident involved a commercial vehicle owned by a national corporation, there’s a good chance the vehicle and driver are registered and licensed in a different state. In these cases, the defendant may exercise diversity jurisdiction, which allows them to have the case tried in federal court. The defendant is likely to do this if your lawsuit could otherwise be tried in a plaintiff-friendly county, like Brooklyn.

If your case goes to federal court, the Erie Doctrine states it will be tried according to the law of the state where the accident occurred. However, your attorney will still need to be familiar with the procedural rules of federal court.

Obtaining Excess Policies

Commercial vehicles often carry much more insurance than personal vehicles, and many even have multiple insurance policies, with the higher layers of insurance only becoming available if the primary policy is fully tendered.

According to New York Law CPLR § 3101 F, defendants are supposed to disclose all available insurance limits. However, defendants do not always immediately comply with this law.

Naturally, our attorneys do not want to begin negotiations with defendants until we’re aware of all available insurance.

To ensure we have all the information we need, our attorneys may request a signed affidavit from the defendant stating that all available coverage has been disclosed. Very often, this step will reveal additional policies which had previously gone unmentioned.

It’s critical that your lawyer take such steps early on in a case: if the defense does not give timely notice of the case to their insurance carrier, the carrier may be able to deny coverage.

Preserving and Inspecting Vehicles

A veteran attorney knows the value of preserving evidence in a commercial vehicle case. This allows us to:

• Inspect the vehicle exactly as it was in the moments after the accident. This allows us to check whether safety devices such as mirrors were in the correct position and examine any damage sustained to the vehicle.
• Collect black box data. If the accident caused a vehicle to suddenly stop or decelerate, the vehicle’s black box should have recorded crucial information about the moments before and after the accident.
• Utilize experts. Our attorneys prefer to have an accident reconstruction expert present at the inspection. This allows us to ask questions and get their initial thoughts on the accident in real time.

For example, in one case we handled, Partner Frederick Aranki was inspecting a tractor trailer which had been involved in an accident with a small sports car. The cars collided at an intersection, but the tractor trailer driver did not even realize what happened and continued to drive. In fact, the defendant driver only finally saw the sports car after it had flipped on its side.

During the inspection, Aranki brought along an accident reconstruction expert. While examining the tractor trailer, Aranki noticed the front mirror was pointed in the wrong direction. He confirmed his observation with the expert and took photos of the mirror’s position.

Later, during the defendant driver’s deposition, Aranki showed these photos to the driver and asked if the mirror was positioned that way during the accident. The driver confirmed he had noticed the mirror’s issue during his pre-trip inspection but did not correct it, which clinched the case and led to a settlement of $675,000.

Early Inspection Helps Secure $7 Million Settlement for 10-Year-Old Girl Struck by Mack Truck

In another devastating case handled by Block O’Toole & Murphy, our attorneys’ careful attention to detail and strong negotiation skills settled a very difficult case for a young girl whose family was from El Salvador.

Our client, who was only 10 years old at the time of the accident, was walking with her younger brother to school when she was hit by a tractor trailer while crossing the street. The tractor trailer had been stopped at a red light, which turned green while the children were still in the crosswalk. Our client realized the tractor trailer had begun to move and pushed her brother to safety, but she could not get herself out of the way in time.

After the accident, she spent over 30 days in the hospital and had multiple surgeries to treat her hips and left leg. The accident also left severe lasting damage: on top of being traumatized, our client was no longer able to walk without assistance.

Unclear Liability

The circumstances were heartbreaking, and one of the key challenges in the case was determining whether our client had lawfully entered the crosswalk. According to the defendant driver, he was waiting at a red light and did not begin moving forward until it turned green. A driver who was in the lane next to him confirmed this — however, she could not see if the children had entered the crosswalk before the light turned green. Without more evidence, it was very difficult to determine whether the truck driver was legally at fault.

The Discovery Process

Immediately after signing the case, Partners Frederick Aranki and Scott Occhiogrosso visited the accident scene, where they measured the length of the driving lanes and how far our client was from the curb when she was struck.

Later, at the investigation of the 18-wheeler, Aranki observed that one of the truck’s front mirrors was taped to its holder and in the wrong position: from the driver’s seat the mirror only showed the hood of the truck instead of its front blind spot. Aranki and Partner Daniel O’Toole conferred with a liability expert to find out whether this type of mirror was common on trucks, how much it would have cost to replace, and what it would have shown if properly installed. Our expert confirmed the mirror was common, retailed for just $45, and would have shown anything taller than 4 feet in the front blind spot — at the time of the accident, our client was 5 feet, 2 inches tall.

When Aranki deposed the defendant driver, the driver confirmed the mirror was in the same position during his pre-trip inspection. He also admitted that though he knew there was a blind spot on the front of his truck, he only checked his side mirrors before entering the crosswalk.

Negotiation and Settlement

After finding the evidence of the broken mirror and taking the driver’s deposition, our attorneys were in a much stronger position to negotiate a fair settlement with the defense. Still, the process wasn’t simple: there were multiple excess insurance carriers involved, which meant added difficulty in coordinating schedules and expectations. However, our experience with such situations ultimately led to a settlement of $7 million. Our attorneys then consulted financial planners and counseled our client’s family to structure the settlement on their daughter’s behalf. Their daughter’s settlement now has an expected payout of $18,374,324.38.

Why Block O’Toole & Murphy for Your Commercial Vehicle Accident Case?

Our attorneys treat every case as if it’s going to trial — we won’t rest until our clients receive the compensation they deserve.

Decades of Experience

There is simply no substitute for experience. Our attorneys are familiar with the intricacies of commercial vehicle lawsuits, including accidents involving trucks, buses, mail delivery vehicles, city owned vehicles, and more.

We’ve even handled cases involving multiple commercial vehicles. For instance, in a case we tried to verdict, Partners Frederick Aranki and Scott Occhiogrosso represented a woman who was riding an NYCTA bus when it rear-ended a tanker truck, resulting in injuries that required cervical spine fusion surgery.

During the trial, Occhiogrosso came up with a creative way to show the jury the impact of the collision. Together with Aranki, he stretched a measuring tape across the courtroom. Their demonstration allowed the jury to understand just how much momentum the bus had built up before the accident: the bus had driven for twice the distance of the fully extended tape measure before rear-ending the tanker truck—without ever braking.

Though the defense objected to this tactic, the judge allowed it, as it properly showed how the accident happened. The jury understood the impact as well and awarded our client $2,270,000.

Early Investigation

Any experienced attorney will tell you that early investigation is key to building the best case possible. At Block O’Toole & Murphy, we’re extremely proactive in identifying where there may be evidence, and then going out to get it.

For example, in a case handled by Partner Stephen J. Murphy and Associate Aaron Fishkin, our client was T-boned by a sprinter van that ran a stop sign. Our client, who had been on his way to meet his daughter for dinner, was left with multiple severe injuries. He eventually needed left shoulder surgery, lumbar and cervical fusion, and had tears in his left knee.

Though the sprinter van did not have a dash camera, our attorneys investigated the surrounding area and found a neighbor whose Ring camera captured the accident. The video showed the accident was entirely the fault of the defendant driver. Additionally, the video included audio, and the sound of the crash was shocking — during settlement negotiations, the defense admitted that this moved the value of the case. Thanks to our firm’s dedication in finding the video, we settled the case for $3.5 million.

Communication With Clients

At Block O’Toole & Murphy, we purposefully keep a small caseload compared to many other law firms. This allows us to give each case the attention it deserves, which includes keeping our clients informed about their cases.

Our attorneys communicate with our clients however they prefer, including over the phone, by text or email, or through in-person meetings. We’re happy to address any and all client concerns. Whether our clients are unsure about something they received in the mail, have questions about their case, or want to give us an update on their injury treatment, we’re here to help.

Talented Negotiators

Our firm’s reputation and negotiation skills are part of the reason we have more case results exceeding $1 million than any other personal injury practice in New York State.

For example, we represented a client who was rear ended by a commercial vehicle, resulting in him eventually needing spine and shoulder surgeries. His case was referred to us shortly before it was scheduled to go to trial. The discovery phase of the lawsuit had already concluded, and though the trial date was nearing, the highest settlement offer from the defense was just $100,000 — far less than the case was worth.

When Partner Stephen J. Murphy and Associate Aaron Fishkin took over, they wrote a letter introducing themselves to the defense and explaining their point of view on the case. They also suggested that a jury may award our client far more than he was willing to settle for. Once the defense understood that going to trial against our attorneys was an extremely risky proposition, they became open to serious negotiations, and we were able to settle the case for $3.4 million.

Top Verdicts and Settlements in New York Commercial Vehicle Accident Cases

The attorneys at Block O’Toole & Murphy have extensive experience fighting for clients who have been injured in crashes involving commercial vehicles.

Our record speaks for itself. We have had numerous successful results, including:

• $14,000,000 verdict for a motorcyclist who had to have over 10 surgeries and had his leg amputated below the knee after he was hit by a left-turning truck
• $13,500,000 settlement for a pedestrian hit by a company-owned car in Long Island while she was walking home
• $13,000,000 settlement in a tragic case after a mother and son were killed in a rear-end truck collision
• $9,950,000 settlement for a 28-year-old social worker whose left leg had to be amputated after a commercial van careened into the parking lot where she was loading groceries into her car and hit her
• $9,750,000 settlement for a tow truck operator who was rear ended by a speeding car on the Long Island Expressway
• $9,500,000 settlement for a pedestrian struck by a NYCTA bus in Brooklyn
• $9,263,326 jury verdict in Brooklyn case for a taxicab passenger who was harmed when the taxi was involved in a three-car collision
• $8,800,000 settlement for a 53-year-old pedestrian who suffered a traumatic brain injury when she was struck by a van that jumped up on the sidewalk as she was walking to pick up her grandchildren from school
• $8,000,000 settlement for a pedestrian who suffered a leg amputation after being hit by a Transit Authority Bus
• $7,525,000 settlement in a wrongful death case for the family of a mother and her son who were tragically killed in a crash involving a commercial van
• $6,000,000 settlement for a city bus passenger who required multiple surgeries after the bus he was riding on collided with a flatbed truck at a Brooklyn intersection
• $5,500,000 settlement for a 43 y/o driver who was sideswiped by a dump tractor trailer on New Hyde Park Road, bounced off median and back into truck
• $5,000,000 settlement in a wrongful death case for a mother of four who was struck while walking on the sidewalk by a commercial garbage truck
• $4,750,000 settlement for pedestrian who was hit by an NYC sanitation vehicle
• $3,500,000 settlement for a 47-year-old bus driver who suffered multiple injuries when the bus he was driving was rear-ended by a NYC sanitation truck
• $3,450,000 settlement for a Queens man who was struck and dragged by an Access-A-Ride bus while crossing in a crosswalk
• $3,400,000 settlement for a man struck by utility cart driven by NYC Parks Department employee in Central Park
• $3.4 million settlement for a driver rear-ended by a commercial vehicle
• $3,375,000 settlement for a delivery truck driver who suffered neck and lower back pain when he was rear-ended by the driver of a company-owned poultry truck
• $3,258,000 jury verdict for a delivery man struck by a supermarket forklift while delivering beverages in upper Manhattan
• $3,000,000 settlement for a truck driver who was rear-ended by a NYC snow plow
• $3,000,000 settlement for a 48-year-old man who suffered multiple serious injuries when his vehicle was struck by an MTA bus
• $3,000,000 settlement for a 78-year-old woman who was hit by a garbage truck that was illegally operating in a bicycle lane
• $3,000,000 settlement for a client who injured his knees, neck, and back after being rear-ended by an Access-A-Ride bus
• $2,760,000 settlement for a passenger who was injured when a UPS truck rear-ended the vehicle he was in
• $2,700,000 settlement for a 23-year-old construction worker who sustained serious leg injuries when his vehicle was struck by a commercial truck
• $2,625,000 settlement for the adult children of a couple who was tragically killed in a violent collision with a tractor trailer
• $2,600,000 settlement for the wrongful death of a cyclist who was hit by a box truck.
• $2,500,000 settlement for a woman who required multiple surgeries after she was rear-ended by a tractor trailer
• $2,500,000 settlement for a client who injured his neck, back, and knee after his vehicle was rear-ended by a tour bus while stopped at a red light
• $2,500,000 settlement for a woman who suffered herniated discs, among other injuries, after a T-bone collision with a cement mixing truck
• $2,500,000 settlement for a bike mechanic who injured his hip, knee, and back when he was doored by an Access-A-Ride van while biking to work
• $2,500,000 settlement for a woman who suffered serious injuries after a vehicle owned by the City of New York struck the car behind her, causing it to hit the back of her car
• $2,400,000 recovery in Queens case for a client who was suddenly rear-ended by a commercial truck owned by a meat and cheese company
• $2,250,000 settlement for a 55-year-old woman who was crossing the street with the signal in her favor when she was hit by a school bus
• $2,250,000 settlement in a wrongful death case for the daughter of a 68-year-old woman who was struck by a bus that failed to yield the right of way
• $2,225,000 settlement for woman who suffered lower back injuries as a passenger in an Access-A-Ride vehicle accident
• $2,225,000 settlement at mediation for a woman whose vehicle was side swiped by a tractor trailer late at night
• $2,200,000 settlement for a 60-year-old woman who had to undergo spinal fusion surgery after she was hit by a bus while crossing the street in Brooklyn
• $2,100,000 settlement for a 23-year-old cyclist who suffered multiple fractures and a herniated disc when he was struck by a garbage truck
• $2,056,656 jury verdict for a Brooklyn high school teacher who was struck by a New York City Transit Authority bus
• $2,000,000 settlement for a 28-year-old woman who suffered back injuries after the car she was a passenger in was hit by a sanitation truck
• $2,000,000 settlement for a Local 1 plumber who collided with a dump truck while bicycling to work
• $1,975,000 settlement for a passenger hurt when a moving truck, owned by a moving and storage company, struck the passenger side of the car in East New York, Brooklyn
• $1,875,000 settlement for a Bronx truck operator who suffered severe spinal injuries after he was rear-ended by a Mack truck that weighed 10,000 pounds
• $1,850,000 settlement for victim of a delivery truck collision in Bronx, New York
• $1,850,000 settlement for a client whose vehicle was struck by a merging tractor-trailer
• $1,850,000 settlement for a woman sideswiped by an 18-wheeler on the Throgs Neck Expressway
• $1,800,000 settlement for a NYPD sergeant who sustained a head injury after she was struck by a Freightliner truck
• $1,750,000 settlement for a 41-year-old mother of three who was injured when the doors of an MTA bus were closed on her on the way home from work
• $1,750,000 settlement for a passenger in a dump truck accident
• $1,750,000 settlement for a man who had to undergo shoulder and back surgery after he was rear-ended by a commercial vehicle
• $1,750,000 settlement for a couple who suffered neck injuries after they were rear-ended by a garbage truck at a red light in Manhattan
• $1,750,000 settlement for a driver sideswiped by a commercial vehicle
• $1,675,000 settlement for a mother who had to undergo spinal surgery when she was involved in a collision with a delivery truck
• $1,650,000 settlement for a 51-year-old passenger of a vehicle that was sideswiped by a tractor trailer
• $1,640,000 settlement for a woman who was riding in a taxi when it was struck by a tractor trailer
• $1,600,000 settlement for Brooklyn bus passenger injured in rear-end collision
• $1,600,000 settlement for a woman who was in a car sideswiped by a commercial truck
• $1,500,000 settlement for a man hit by a delivery truck in Morningside Heights, Manhattan
• $1,500,000 settlement for a 59-year-old pedestrian who had to undergo multiple surgeries after she was struck by a city-owned vehicle
• $1,500,000 settlement for a man who was sitting in a legally parked car when it was hit by a public bus
• $1,500,000 settlement for a pedestrian who was struck by a mini school bus while crossing the street with the walk sign in his favor
• $1,500,000 settlement for a motorcyclist who was hit by a commercial van attempting to make a left-hand turn
• $1,500,000 settlement for a woman injured as a passenger of a Department of Corrections vehicle
• $1,400,000 settlement for a bus passenger who suffered neck and back injuries after the bus she was riding in collided with a truck
• $1,350,000 settlement for a pedestrian who sustained multiple fractures and a herniated disc after she was hit by a school bus while crossing the street
• $1,300,000 settlement for a cyclist who was struck and knocked to the ground by a van
• $1,250,000 settlement for rear-end accident victim hurt in a crash with a commercial box truck owned by an electronics company in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn
• $1,250,000 settlement for a driver rear-ended by a NYC snow plow
• $1,200,000 settlement for a union longshoreman who suffered neck and back injuries after being rear-ended by a box truck
•  $1,000,000 settlement for a pedestrian struck by commercial vehicle operator
• $825,000 settlement for a long-haul truck driver who was injured in a collision with another tractor-trailer
• $750,000 settlement for a 60-year-old client who was struck by an ambulance while crossing the street in Brooklyn

For a free legal consultation, please call  212-736-5300 or fill out our contact form. 

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