By Tiffany Slowinski
Garden State Circle is supported by the businesses that partner with us, and RAM Law, Somerville is an authority partner. We interviewed Tyler Hall, who is a partner at the firm, about the truck-crash liability questions injured people and families here actually ask. The partnership pays for the reporting; it does not decide the answers. Most of the answers below are not published anywhere else.
A tractor trailer crash can look, at first, like a much larger version of a car crash. Tyler Hall, a partner at RAM Law in Somerville, says that is the wrong frame. “There are rules and laws that apply to trucks that don’t apply to cars. If the trucking laws that are in place are followed, truck crashes should never happen.”
Partner, RAM Law, Somerville
Hall says commercial trucks are governed by the commercial driver’s license manual and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, including rules around how companies hire, train and supervise drivers. He also says the driver shortage does not excuse unsafe practices because many companies still operate safely, turn a profit and avoid hurting people. This is information, not legal advice.
The driver may be only one part of the case
In a car crash, people tend to focus immediately on the driver who caused it. Hall says a truck crash can involve several other parties because the driver may not own the truck, may work for someone other than the truck owner and may be hauling freight for another company. Hall says the driver’s employer is “always one of the main targets.” The owner of the truck can be different from the employer, and the motor carrier hired to move the freight may also have responsibility. If that carrier hands the load to another driver or truck, Hall says federal law can still make it responsible for the entire load.
A broker can also matter when it acts like an employer. Hall points to situations where the broker controls the route, the drivers, the trucks and the hours, and requires the driver to report back. A shipper can also become part of the analysis if, in Hall’s words, it knowingly hires a bad trucking company.
The hiring file matters
The federal rules Hall says win most often is “section 390 and section 391.” He describes it as the rules requiring trucking companies to hire safely qualified drivers. Before a driver goes on the road, Hall says the company is supposed to run the driver’s motor vehicle record, take a written application and call prior employers. Those steps are not background details in his view. They are part of determining whether the company did what it was supposed to do before putting the driver behind the wheel.
Hall says the strongest verdicts and settlements he has seen come when the company skips that process entirely. He describes a person coming in off the street, applying for a job and then being behind the wheel of an 80,000-pound tractor trailer within hours or by the next day. “That seems to really resonate with jurors,” he says.
The freight relationship can change who matters
Hall’s list shows why the commercial relationship has to be mapped out instead of assumed. The person driving may work for one company, the truck may belong to another, and the freight may have been assigned by a motor carrier or broker somewhere else in the chain. He says the motor carrier that accepted the freight can remain responsible for the load even if it hands the job to another driver or truck. He also says a broker can move from simply arranging transportation into a more employer-like role when it controls the route, drivers, trucks and hours and requires the driver to report back.
The shipper is another possible layer. Hall says a shipper can be responsible if it knowingly hires a bad trucking company. His point is not that every shipper or broker belongs in every case. It is that the commercial relationships have to be examined before anyone assumes the driver is the only person or company that matters.
Hiring is one of the first places Hall looks
Hall keeps coming back to the hiring process because the federal rules he cites require concrete steps before a driver goes on the road. He says the company should run the driver’s motor vehicle record, take a written application and contact prior employers. When those steps are skipped, Hall says the story can look very different to a jury. The issue is no longer only what happened in the few seconds before impact. It can also become what the company knew, or should have learned, before putting the driver behind the wheel.
That is why he treats the driver qualification material as part of the case rather than background paperwork. The crash happens at the end of the story. The hiring decisions may have started it much earlier.
Why the first question is not “What is my case worth?”
Hall’s threshold question is much simpler. “If a tractor trailer caused the crash and you’re injured, you have a case.” He then says the next three to six months are spent figuring out what that case actually is. That includes determining who may be responsible and developing the facts around the driver, the company, the truck and the freight relationship.
That is very different from assigning a value the day after a crash. Hall specifically does not give a number or range here, and he does not say every truck case has the same value.
“We do not treat these cases like car crash cases”
That is the broad distinction Hall wants readers to understand. “We do not treat these cases like car crash cases.” The reason, in his telling, is not simply that the truck is larger. The employment relationships are different. The federal rules are different. The hiring and supervision records matter. The company moving the freight may not be the company that employs the driver.
For someone trying to understand what happened, the useful questions go beyond who was behind the wheel. For readers comparing local legal resources, see our guide to Personal Injury Lawyers in Somerset County, NJ.
Three questions to ask about responsibility
Start with the driver’s employer. Who actually employed the person driving the truck, and what did that company do before putting the driver on the road? Then ask who owned the truck and who was responsible for moving the freight. Those may be different companies.
Finally, ask whether anyone else controlled the driver, route, truck or hours. Hall says those relationships can matter because responsibility in a commercial-truck case can reach beyond the person who was physically driving.
About This Article
This article is produced by Garden State Circle and is part of our local guides to personal injury lawyers in Somerset County, Middlesex County and Monmouth County.
Written by Tiffany Slowinski, Co-Owner, Garden State Circle. Insights were provided by RAM Law, Somerville and reflect this market in October 2026.
This article is maintained. If anything here is wrong or has changed — a name, an address, hours, or whether a business has closed — tell us and we will check it. Businesses named here are welcome to write in directly. admin@gardenstatecircle.com