Truck Accident Lawyer.
A crash with a commercial truck is not a bigger car crash. It is a federal-and-state case with its own rulebook, with evidence that disappears if nobody moves, and with a trucking company that reached the scene before the tow truck did.
If you searched for a Houston truck accident lawyer, something serious happened. An eighteen-wheeler at highway speed is a physics problem that a passenger’s body cannot solve. The case that follows does not look like a fender bender. It looks like an investigation into a company that had lawyers on its side from the moment of impact.
I am Orlando Rodriguez. I take serious commercial truck cases in Houston, along the South Texas corridor, and in East Texas. I work with the FMCSA’s federal rules, with the ELD (electronic logging device) data, with the truck’s black box, and with the company’s hiring and maintenance files. I take them to trial when that is what it takes. And I talk to you directly, not through a screener.
Call (713) 239-2300 or tell me what happened. No fees unless we win.
What makes a truck case different
A loaded eighteen-wheeler weighs up to twenty times what a passenger car weighs. When it hits, the physics does not forgive: the energy grows with the square of the speed, and the body in the smaller vehicle absorbs almost all of it. That is why the injuries are so often catastrophic: brain injury, spinal cord damage, burns when the fuel ignites, and death.
And the truck runs under a manual a private car never has: the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. Those rules say how many hours a driver may drive, when he has to rest, what maintenance the truck must get, what history the company must check before hiring him, what drug and alcohol testing he faces, and what cargo he may carry. Every rule is a place where the company may have failed. Every failure is evidence.
The evidence that disappears if nobody asks
The trucking company does not wait to be sued before it starts moving. A rapid response team often reaches the scene within hours to photograph it, measure it, and talk to witnesses before anyone on your side has been retained. At the same time, the data that matters most has a short shelf life.
The electronic logging device can be overwritten. The black box data can be lost on a power cycle. Dash camera footage, if there is any, is gone once the unit goes back into service. The driver’s hiring and drug-testing file can be purged on the company’s own retention schedule. A preservation letter sent on the first day is what keeps that material alive. A lawyer who knows what to ask for is what makes the letter work. The black box and ELD page on this site explains what each record holds.
The truck cases I take
A truck pulled across the highway from a stop and its trailer blocked the lane. The law requires the one entering to yield to the one already coming, and there is still no federal side-guard rule.
A truck needs far more distance to stop. The driver who left too little room, or looked at a screen, answers for the impact. The rear guard on the trailer is part of the case too.
A load never tied down, a tank half full and sloshing, a truck badly maintained. The rule and the defect are both in the case.
Hours of service violated, a logbook edited, an ELD manipulated. The FMCSA measures it and the ELD proves it.
Cases with fire or chemical exposure. The rules in 49 CFR Part 397 on hazardous materials come into the case.
Beyond the driver, the company answers for negligent hiring, thin training, and failed supervision. Its records are the proof.
Why hire me
I am a bilingual trial lawyer. I write my own letters and my own motions. I talk to you at the working meeting and I talk to you in the courtroom. I do not hand your case to an associate you never met. Truck cases in Houston are the center of this practice because this is where I live, this is where I try cases, and this is the forum where the FMCSA rules get applied every day.
The trucking company is going to say its driver had the right of way, its equipment was in order, the hours of service were respected, and the fault was yours or the weather’s. The answer to that is not argument. It is the electronic evidence and the federal records the company is required to keep. That is the work I do.
Recent truck cases and the law behind them:
Tell me what happened.
Free consultation. No fees unless we win. Speak with me directly, not a screener.
Contact Orlando Rodriguez