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Ohio Truck
Accident Lawyers
Hit by a semi or commercial truck? Our family has stood up to trucking companies and their insurers for injured Ohioans since 1953.
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Since 1953
Family-Owned Firm
Millions Won
For Our Clients
3 Generations
of Knisley Attorneys
No Fees
Unless We Win
Who Pays After a Truck Accident in Ohio?
The trucking company usually answers for its driver, and other companies in the chain may share liability. Ohio's at-fault rules apply, and you may still recover compensation as long as you were not more than 50 percent at fault.
Most people feel like they are fighting one driver. In Ohio, the trucking company usually answers for a driver who was working for it, and the company's insurer controls the defense from day one. Ohio personal injury law has a comparative negligence rule: your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault, and over 50 percent of fault bars recovery (R.C. 2315.33). With that much insurance in play, the carrier's attorneys grind that fault math, which is why the evidence preserved in the first days is so important.
Who may be on the hook
The truck driver
The trucking company
The broker or shipper who hired the load
The company that loaded the cargo
The shop that maintained the truck
The truck or parts maker
How fault limits recovery
Your award is reduced by your percentage
of fault
More than 50 percent at fault means no recovery
The carrier's version of fault is not the final word. Evidence is.
Why truck cases involve far more insurance than car cases
Trucking companies have to carry far more liability insurance than the average driver, typically 750,000 dollars or more
(49 CFR Part 387). Ohio minimums for cars are 25/50/25, which means, up to 25,000 dollars for one injured person, 50,000 dollars total per crash, and 25,000 dollars for property damage. Ttuck's have the extra coverage because truck crashes are more likely to cause catastrophic damage. The extra coverage is also why their insurance carriers fight every claim so hard. If the at-fault truck driver was a smaller local operator with minimal coverage, you may still have recourse through your own UM/UIM policy.
What to Do After a
Truck Accident in Ohio
Call 911 and get medical care, document the truck and the scene, get the official crash report, and be careful with any insurance representative who calls. The key evidence sits in the trucking company's hands.
Call 911 And Get Medical Care
Get checked right away, even if you feel able to walk away from the crash.
Document The Truck And The Scene
Photograph the truck's company name, its DOT number, and the scene, and get witness names.
Get The Official Crash Report
Request the crash report from the investigating agency as soon as it is available.
Be Careful With The Insurance Companies
Do not give the trucking company's insurer a recorded statement or sign anything they send.
Talk To An Attorney Quickly
Ohio allows two years to file suit (R.C. 2305.10), but truck evidence disappears much faster than that.
Compensation You Can Recover After an Ohio Truck Accident
An Ohio truck accident claim can pay your medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and the out-of-pocket costs that pile up while you recover. Because truck crash injuries are often severe, future care and lost earning ability carry real weight.
Medical bills
Every crash-related cost, from emergency care and surgery to the rehabilitation and long-term care serious injuries often require.
Lost Wages
The paychecks you missed, and the earning power you lose if your injuries keep you from your old work.
Pain and suffering
Compensation for what the crash took from your daily life, which no insurer volunteers to pay.
What is your truck accident claim worth?
There is no set price, and truck cases deserve careful valuation because the stakes are usually higher. The value of the accident relies on how severe and permanent your injuries are, the future care your doctors expect, how fault divides across the chain, the coverage available, and what the crash took from your work and life. We cannot promise a number, but we can show you how it is really decided.
If the truck driver was intoxicated, or if a company consciously disregarded safety to keep a truck on the road, Ohio law may allow punitive damages in addition to your other damages.
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Dealing With the
Insurance Company
A trucking company's insurer does not wait. Investigators can be working the crash scene within hours, while you are still in the hospital. Everything they collect is aimed at paying you less.
Even before your family leaves the hospital, the carrier's team may already be photographing the scene, interviewing witnesses, and taking custody of the truck. That head start is not neutral. The adjuster who phones you may sound concerned, but the recorded statement they ask for and the broad medical release they send are tools for diminishing your claim. So is the early settlement offer that arrives before anyone even knows whether there will be another surgery. Once you sign a release, the claim is over for good, no matter what the injuries turn out to be. You do not have to talk to them at all. Refer every call to us, and the pressure stops.
Why the first offer is almost never the real number
The first offer typically comes while treatment is still underway, priced to close the file before the full cost of the injuries is known. Once a lawyer properly values the entire claim and hits back with proof, the number changes.
Truck Accidents and Injuries We Handle
We represent Ohioans hurt by semis and 18-wheelers, tractor-trailers, delivery and box trucks,
dump trucks, garbage trucks, and other commercial vehicles, in crashes from jackknifes to
blind-spot collisions.
Semi and 18-wheeler crashes
The heaviest vehicles on Ohio highways, and the crashes most likely to cause catastrophic injuries.
Garbage truck crashes
Garbage trucks stop constantly and turn wide on neighborhood streets. The driver cannot always see someone right behind the truck.
Underride and override crashes
Delivery and box-truck crashes
Ohio neighborhoods are clogged with box trucks on tight delivery schedules. Rushed drivers miss pedestrians, cyclists, and parked cars.
Dump truck and construction vehicle crashes
Heavy site vehicles are involved in severe
crashes in and around Ohio work zones. Overloaded beds and loose debris make them even more dangerous.
Commercial vehicle and
work-van crashes
Company vans and service vehicles are commercial claims, with commercial coverage behind them.
Tractor-trailer and
jackknife crashes
A trailer that swings or folds can sweep across several lanes in seconds.
Blind-spot and wide-turn crashes
Trucks have huge blind spots, and drivers who fail to check them hit real people.
How Our Ohio Truck Accident Attorneys Help
Our family takes on the trucking company's team, from the first phone call to the courtroom.
Preserving the Evidence Before
It Disappears
We send a preservation letter early so the black box data, driver logs, and camera footage cannot quietly vanish.
Calculating Your Full Damages
We work with your doctors to value the future care and lost earning power the crash will cost you, in addition to the bills that have already arrived.
Identifying Every Liable Party
We trace the chain from the driver to the carrier,
broker, shipper, and loader, because each one brings its own coverage.
Negotiating Your Settlement
We push back on early lowball offers with proof, and you never sign a release until the number is fair.
Dealing With the Insurance Company
​All of the carrier's calls, letters, and requests go
through us, so nothing you say can be used to minimize your claim.
Filing Suit and Trial
If the carrier won't pay fairly, we file suit within the two-year deadline and take your case to a jury.
The black box and electronic logs on a commercial truck record what it was doing before the crash, and carriers are only required to keep a lot of records for limited periods. Camera footage can be written over within days. A preservation letter, sent early, obligates the trucking company to keep all of it. The sooner it goes out, the more of your case survives.
Three generations of our attorneys have done this work, and it costs nothing up front: we charge no fee unless we win your case.
Hurt by a Truck While Driving for Work?
If a truck hit you while you were driving for your job, you may have two claims: an Ohio Workers' Comp claim and this personal injury claim against the truck's side. We handle both under one roof.
Your Workers' Comp Claim
No-fault, runs through the BWC
Covers your medical care and part of your lost wages, no matter who caused the crash.
Your Personal Injury Claim
Against the truck's side
Adds the pain and suffering and the rest of the lost wages that Workers' Comp does not pay.
These two claims are connected. The BWC is entitled to be reimbursed from your recovery for a portion of what it paid out on your claim, and we negotiate that down so that you retain a larger share. When the same firm represents you on both claims, the two carriers cannot use one against the other, and we coordinate the timing of each settlement so that one check does not reduce what you keep from the other.
Related Personal Injury Cases We Handle
Our family also handles these related personal injury cases for injured Ohioans.
Frequently Asked Questions
About Truck Accidents in Ohio
