Why Trucking Company Hiring Practices Can Help Prove Liability
When a truck accident happens, the results are often devastating. Tractor-trailers and other commercial vehicles weigh many times more than passenger cars, and that sheer size difference is why victims frequently suffer catastrophic injuries or lose their lives. In the aftermath, victims and their families deserve answers and accountability. One of the most important ways lawyers secure justice in these cases is by carefully investigating how the trucking company hired and kept the driver who caused the crash.
Hiring practices go to the heart of a trucking company’s responsibility to the public. Trucking companies are trusted to put safe, qualified drivers on the road. When they fail by hiring or keeping drivers with dangerous driving histories, poor training, or disqualifying records, they put everyone at risk. This is why experienced trucking accident attorneys look closely at hiring, training, and supervision in nearly every case.
At Fried Goldberg LLC, our team has built a national reputation on holding trucking companies accountable for reckless decisions. We have helped countless victims by uncovering failures in hiring and retention that contributed to tragic crashes. If you or someone you love was hurt in a collision involving a commercial vehicle, our truck accident lawyers are ready to dig deep and find out exactly what went wrong.
What the Law Requires of Trucking Companies
Federal regulations under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) set minimum standards for hiring truck drivers. These rules are designed to protect the public by ensuring only competent, qualified drivers get behind the wheel of large commercial vehicles. Trucking companies are required to:
- Obtain and review a driver’s safety performance history
- Check driving records through state agencies
- Verify that the driver has a valid commercial driver’s license
- Ensure the driver meets physical qualification standards
- Review results from any drug and alcohol testing programs
Beyond these basics, many companies have internal policies regarding the number of past violations or accidents that are acceptable. When a company ignores these standards or bends its own rules to hire someone with a troubling driving history, it exposes itself to liability. A failure to comply with FMCSA regulations alone can be grounds for negligent hiring claims if it leads to a crash.
How Lawyers Investigate Hiring and Retention After a Crash
A skilled truck accident attorney knows that proving negligence often means looking well beyond what happened on the day of the crash. It involves digging into whether the trucking company failed to protect the public long before the truck ever hit the road.
Here are some of the ways lawyers build a case by scrutinizing hiring practices:
1. Obtaining driver qualification files
Federal law requires trucking companies to keep a detailed driver qualification file. This includes the application, driving record checks, road test results, and annual reviews. By securing this file through legal discovery, a lawyer can see whether the company overlooked or ignored red flags.
2. Reviewing safety performance history
FMCSA’s Pre-Employment Screening Program (PSP) provides carriers with five years of crash data and three years of inspection history for commercial drivers. An attorney can request this information to find out if the company hired a driver with a concerning record of violations, accidents, or out-of-service orders.
3. Examining company hiring policies
Sometimes, trucking companies create hiring rules stricter than the federal minimums. For example, they may require no more than one moving violation in the past year. If they hired a driver who clearly broke these internal rules, that strengthens a negligent hiring claim.
4. Investigating retention and supervision
Even if the driver was properly qualified at hiring, companies have a duty to monitor drivers. If a driver racks up multiple tickets, accidents, or fails random drug tests and the company does nothing, that is a clear failure of supervision. Lawyers can uncover this by examining disciplinary records, safety meeting documentation, and logs showing the driver’s performance.
5. Looking for imputed knowledge
Trucking companies are expected to know what they should have discovered with reasonable diligence. If a company failed to run required background checks, the law assumes they still “knew” whatever those checks would have revealed. This prevents companies from escaping responsibility by simply avoiding their duties.
Proving Negligent Hiring or Retention Helps Victims Recover More in Compensation
Why does all this matter for victims? Because proving negligent hiring, entrustment, or retention often allows injured people to recover more in compensation. If a company negligently hired or kept a dangerous driver on the road, a jury may award higher damages. In some cases, it can also justify punitive damages designed to punish the trucking company and deter similar misconduct.
These claims also help hold the trucking industry to higher standards. By shining a light on unsafe hiring practices, victims and their lawyers play a part in making roads safer for everyone.
How Fried Goldberg LLC Helps in These Complex Cases
The truck accident lawyers at Fried Goldberg LLC in Georgia are widely recognized nationwide for their expertise in handling these specific cases. More than 95 percent of our work focuses on trucking and commercial vehicle accidents. We wrote Understanding Motor Carrier Claims, a leading legal treatise on these issues, which attorneys nationwide use to prepare their own cases.
When we take on a case, we look beyond the crash report. We investigate the trucking company’s entire approach to hiring, training, and supervision. We collaborate with leading safety experts and forensic investigators to demonstrate precisely how a company’s failures put our clients at risk. Our goal is always to get full and fair compensation that reflects the seriousness of what happened, while also helping make sure unsafe carriers change their practices.
Talk to an Experienced Truck Accident Lawyer Today
If you were injured or lost a loved one in a truck crash, do not assume it was just the driver’s mistake. Often, these tragedies start long before the accident, with a trucking company cutting corners on hiring or keeping a driver they knew was unsafe.
Contact Fried Goldberg LLC today for a free consultation. We will listen to your story, investigate thoroughly, and fight to hold every responsible party accountable. With us, you get more than lawyers — you get a dedicated team committed to protecting victims and making roads safer for everyone. Call us or fill out our online form to get started.
"From the first call, I knew I was in good hands. All my concerns were addressed quickly. All my calls, texts, and e-mails were returned right away. Their professionalism, honest concern for my well-being was always at the forefront." — Judy S., ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐