Trucking Accidents Caused By Improperly Secured Truck Cargo

Any motor vehicle accident has the potential to change your life permanently, but when a commercial truck is involved, that potential grows. Large trucks often weigh tens of thousands of pounds more than your car, pickup truck, or sport utility vehicle and are physically larger, making the damage they can cause possibly catastrophic. When trucking accidents are caused by improperly secured truck cargo, you may be particularly frustrated because you know the accident could have been prevented with just a few extra minutes spent ensuring the cargo was secured. If you or someone you love has been injured in a trucking accident caused by cargo that was not properly secured, Louisiana Law Lady may be able to assist you. Call (504) 470-3511 to schedule a consultation where Lauren Pilie can review your case and explore your legal options. 

Types of Trucking Accidents Caused By Improperly Secured Truck Cargo

Improperly secured truck cargo can cause several different types of trucking accidents. In a best-case scenario, these accidents would occur when the truck is not around any other vehicles and even the truck’s driver would walk away unscathed. Unfortunately, these accidents typically occur when the truck is near traffic and the truck’s driver and others face serious injuries. 

Some of the accidents truck cargo can cause include: 

• Jackknife: The truck’s trailer and cab slide together, forming the classic V or L shape that gives the jackknife its name. 
• Rollover: The truck tips over onto its side. 
• Tipping: The truck tips while turning, but may or may not tip completely onto its side. This may still cause accidents as other drivers take evasive actions to avoid the truck and potentially collide with other vehicles or roadside fixtures such as signs or utility poles. 
• Sideswipe: The truck tilts and veers into another lane. Like tipping, even if the truck does not connect with another vehicle itself, other drivers may panic and collide with other vehicles or fixtures. 
• Rear-End Collision: The truck takes longer to stop due to an overweight or unsecured load and hits one or more stopped vehicles in front of them.
• Cargo Spill: The unsecured or improperly secured truck cargo falls onto the road and creates a hazard for other vehicles.

How Does Truck Cargo Cause Trucking Accidents? 

At first glance, it can be a bit confusing to think that truck cargo can cause trucking accidents. However, while it seems like a trucking accident would be all about the driver not maintaining control over their truck or the truck having maintenance or repair issues, a truck’s cargo can play a significant role in a trucking accident, particularly when that cargo is not secured or improperly secured. If the cargo is overweight, this can not only be part of the reason the cargo is not secured properly but can also be another contributing factor. 

Truck cargo can cause trucking accidents through the following actions: 

• Cargo Shifts: Unsecured or improperly secured cargo moves around during transit and throws off the truck’s balance, making it more difficult for the driver to maintain control. 
• Falling Cargo: Cargo falls off the truck, creates a road hazard or hits other vehicles. If the truck driver is not paying attention, and cargo falls off over a long enough period, this has the potential to cause multiple accidents.
  • Louisiana Law Lady just wrapped up a case in which cinder blocks fell off the back of a flatbed trailer and struck her client’s vehicle.  The truck was held liable for failing to secure it’s cargo properly.  Cinder blocks should NEVER fall off a truck (without some outside event causing it).  
• Weight Shifts: When the cargo shifts, changing the truck’s center of gravity, and makes the truck harder to control. This can be particularly dangerous if the truck’s cargo is also overweight. 
• Cargo Spills, Leaks, etc.: Liquid cargo may spill or leak onto the road or onto the windshields of the vehicles behind the truck. Depending on the type of liquid, this can cause vehicles to lose control or drivers to be unable to see, both of which can cause accidents. Additionally, lightweight cargo that is not properly secured may be blown from the truck and hit other vehicles. 
• Cargo Removes Truck Equipment: Cargo can throw or knock off unsecured truck equipment such as spare tires or tarps. These can create road hazards or hit other vehicles. 

Who Can Be Held Liable For These Trucking Accidents?

In a typical motor vehicle accident between two private passenger vehicles, even if a vehicle is being used for business purposes (such as driving for a rideshare application), the fault generally lies with one or both drivers. There are occasions when there is a vehicle malfunction or maintenance issue, but in most cases, a driver is responsible for the accident. 

In trucking accidents, there are many more parties involved and the driver is not always responsible. In some cases, the driver may bear no responsibility at all and in others, they may share responsibility with someone else. Sometimes a driver will pick up what is called a “sealed load”, and the driver is not allowed to inspect the way the load was loaded.  In cases like that, liability would be with the shipper or whoever loaded the cargo.  In addition to the driver, the cargo’s owner, the truck’s owner, and the trucking company may all be potentially liable for the accident. There are many factors that determine liability in a trucking accident. The Louisiana Law Lady may be able to review the facts of your case and assist you in determining the potential liable parties so you can file your claim against the appropriate parties and get the compensation you deserve. She is one of less than 100 attorneys in the United States to become board-certified in trucking law and the first in the state of Louisiana. 

Potential Injuries From Trucking Accidents

While any motor vehicle accident can result in severe injuries or even death, trucking accidents have a much bigger potential for severe injuries or death due to the size and weight of the trucks. While the truck cargo may be lighter in weight and smaller in size, if it falls or blows off the truck, its speed may be high enough to still cause significant injuries or property damage to a vehicle.

Whiplash and Soft Tissue Injuries

Whiplash associated disorder, known by its shortened name as whiplash, and soft tissue injuries are common in trucking accidents. Whiplash is caused by a sudden extension and distortion of the neck muscles, such as when an individual’s head is thrown forward in a rear-end collision. Whiplash typically does not result in bruising, lacerations or other visible signs of injury and is often diagnosed by a medical examination that checks the individual’s range of motion, reflexes, tenderness, and muscle strength in the neck. 

Soft tissue injuries occur when the bones and joints stretch and the ligaments and tendons holding them together stretch and tear. Soft tissue injuries may be strains, sprains, contusions, or torn tendons, ligaments, or muscles. Physical exams such as palpation and range of motion, combined with imaging tests, can diagnose these injuries. Though both whiplash and soft tissue injuries may sound like minor injuries, they can take weeks or months to heal, be very painful, and heavily restrict the injured person’s movements and activities. 

Lacerations

Lacerations, more commonly known as cuts, can result from broken glass, or contact with sharp metal or plastic parts of the vehicle, objects in the vehicle, or truck cargo. Lacerations may be small and similar to paper cuts, or they may be significant and require stitches. Some lacerations can be so deep and long that they require surgery to repair. 

Lacerations can cause weakness from blood loss and leave large scars. Some people develop very pronounced, noticeable scars, called keloids, which can grow bigger than the original wound and cause discomfort and embarrassment to the individual. 

A frequent injury from falling cargo cases is glass in eyes.  The object will strike the windshield, causing it to break.  While windshields no longer shatter into shards, they do produce small pieces of glass that frequently get into people’s eyes.

Neck and Back Injuries

Whiplash is the most common neck injury, but there are others that can be more severe, such as dislocated discs. Back injuries may include spinal cord injuries, but there are many muscles and bones in the back that can be injured. Neck and back injuries can restrict an individual’s range of motion and prevent them from engaging in their usual activities. These types of injuries may also result in lingering pain even after the initial injury has been declared healed. 

Abdominal Injuries

The chest and abdomen are dangerous areas to be injured. While the rib cage protects the body’s vital organs, in a trucking accident, the ribs can be broken, putting the vital organs at risk of being punctured by a broken rib, crushed, or otherwise damaged. Because the body’s vital organs are located in the chest and abdomen, these injuries can be some of the most severe and life-threatening. 

Bone Fractures

Broken bones are extremely common in trucking accidents. Broken bones can be as simple as a partial break in the bone to as complex as the bone piercing the skin and protruding, or shattering into many small shards that are much more difficult to repair and heal. The sheer force involved in trucking accidents puts individuals at risk of having more broken bones than in a typical car accident. 

Airbag Injuries

Airbags and seatbelts provide significant protection against being thrown from the vehicle in an accident. They can also reduce the severity of any injuries sustained. However, airbags and seatbelts can also cause injuries of their own. The force with which airbags deploy and the suddenness with which a seatbelt stops the body can lead to bruising, lacerations, and broken bones (such as broken noses). Airbags can cause concussions and seatbelts can result in broken ribs. These injuries can happen even when airbags deploy properly and seatbelts are used correctly. If an airbag malfunctions or a seatbelt is used incorrectly, there is a higher chance of injury. 

Internal Injuries 

Truck accidents tend to result in blunt force trauma to the individuals involved. This blunt force trauma can result in internal injuries such as internal bleeding, punctured lungs, and organ damage such as lacerations or bruising. These internal injuries typically do not have many, if any, externally visible signs. This can make these kinds of injuries extremely dangerous, as even the most minor of these injuries can cause significant problems if left untreated. This is why it is crucial that individuals seek medical treatment after a truck accident, even if they are fortunate enough to appear uninjured. 

Spinal Cord Injuries

Spinal cord injuries can include damage to the spinal cord, vertebrae, discs, or nerves. These injuries can cause partial or complete paralysis that can be temporary or permanent. The severity of these injuries often depends on where the injury occurs on the spinal cord. 

Medical care for spinal cord injuries is a substantial expense for these individuals. Depending on the location and severity of the injury, the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation estimate a spinal cord injury’s medical care can cost approximately $300,000 to $1,000,000 in the first year, and $40,000 to $185,000 for each subsequent year. An individual’s age at the time of injury also impacts these costs. These costs do not include lost income, fringe benefits, reduced productivity, or home and vehicle modifications required to accommodate the injury. 

Burns 

If truck cargo includes flammable or hazardous materials when a trucking accident occurs, individuals may suffer chemical burns or burns from a fire if the materials ignite. Burns can range in severity from mild and requiring only minor treatment to more severe and requiring grafts or permanently disfiguring the individual. Beyond the immediate pain and tissue damage burns can cause, individuals with burn injuries are also at a higher risk of infection, fluid loss, and organ dysfunction. Additionally, severe burns can scarring and contractures. Contractures are a tightening of the skin and tissues which restricts the range of motion and movement in the affected areas. 

Head Injuries and Traumatic Brain Injuries

Trucking accidents can result in head injuries and traumatic brain injuries (TBI). Individuals involved in an accident with a truck may suffer these injuries from airbag deployment, or from their head bouncing off any of the surfaces in the vehicle, including headrests, windows, steering wheels, and even other passengers in the vehicle. Unsecured or improperly secured cargo may cause penetrating head injuries, depending on the type of cargo. 

What to Do if You Are in a Trucking Accident Due to Improperly Secured Truck Cargo

Trucking accidents can be more severe than the average car accident due to physical size and weight of the truck plus the additional weight of the truck cargo. Because of the number of potentially liable parties and how quickly evidence can disappear after an accident, there are some things individuals should do after being involved in a trucking accident due to improperly secured truck cargo. 

Call 911

In many car accidents, it is often recommended to seek medical treatment and to call 911 if there are severe injuries. Due to the potential for severe injuries in a trucking accident, it is strongly recommended to call 911 and wait for authorities to arrive and examine everyone involved for injuries. 

Report the Accident 

LA RS §32:398 requires individuals involved in a crash resulting in injury or death or property damage in excess of $500 to immediately notify the local police if the crash occurred in an incorporated city or town, and the nearest sheriff’s office or state police station if the crash occurred outside an incorporated city or town. The law does allow individuals to report the accident up to 72 hours after it occurred if it occurred in a geographical area under a declared state of emergency or order of evacuation. 

Take Photos and Collect Other Evidence 

Because accidents occur on roads where people need to drive, accident scenes tend to be cleaned up as quickly as possible, even if serious injuries or a death occurs. Therefore, individuals should attempt to take photos of the accident scene, and especially of any truck cargo that caused the accident, as soon as possible. If the individual is injured and must be taken to the emergency room, they may want to ask a friend or relative to take photos for them if possible. 

In addition to photos, individuals should collect any other evidence they can find. Videos from dashboard cameras or nearby doorbell or security cameras, debris and tire marks, black box data from the truck, and the driver’s logbook and electronic logging devices are all good sources of evidence. 

Get Names and Contact Information of Involved Parties and Witnesses

The same statute that requires immediate reporting of the accident also requires the involved parties to provide their name, address, registration number, and driver’s license to all other involved parties as well as police. In addition, individuals should attempt to get the names and contact information from any witnesses to the accident. 

If the individual opts to hire an attorney, they may want to pass witness contact information to their attorney as quickly as possible. This will allow the attorney to get the witness statements in writing before their memories begin to fade and blur and details become less certain. 

Keep Records of Your Damages

When filing a claim for compensation, there are many types of damages that the individual may be able to ask for. Medical expenses, lost wages, lost earning potential, property damage, mental anguish, pain and suffering, loss of consortium and loss of enjoyment of life are some of the damages that an individual may be eligible for. Punitive damages may also be an option if the other party acted with gross negligence or malice. 

To collect many of these damages, the individual must have proof that they incurred the loss. This proof may include medical bills and receipts, paystubs, vehicle repair estimates, invoices, receipts, and other documentation. While it may feel like too much, individuals involved in trucking accidents should consider holding on to any document related to the accident, even if it is a note from a doctor regarding a treatment. The more documentation the individual has available, the better. 

Speak With a Trucking Accident Attorney 

There are no state or federal laws that require individuals to hire a Louisiana trucking accident attorney when they have been involved in a trucking accident. However, if the individual decides to hire an attorney, there can be many benefits. An attorney may be able to assist the individual in navigating the legal system and filing a claim against the appropriate party, collect evidence and investigate the accident, or negotiate for a fair settlement. An attorney can also handle many matters related to the accident while the individual focuses on their recovery. 

An attorney can also assist with ensuring that your claim is filed within the statute of limitations. Per LA Civ. Code Art. 3493.11, as of July 1, 2024, individuals now have two years from the date of the accident to file their claim, increased from the one year they were previously given. 

How a Louisiana Trucking Accident Attorney May Assist You

Trucking accidents caused by unsecured or improperly secured truck cargo can be a nightmare for the innocent drivers who are impacted. From potentially life-changing injuries to property damage, these accidents can negatively affect every aspect of your and your family’s lives. The Louisiana Law Lady is the first board-certified attorney in trucking law in Louisiana and also has been trained in truck driving. She may use her skill and inside knowledge of truck driving to find the right evidence to prove liability in your accident, negotiate an appropriate settlement, and if necessary, fight to protect your rights in court. Call (504) 470-3511 to schedule your consultation and gain a better understanding of your rights and legal options.