Minnesota Truck Accident Lawyer

Which trucks cause serious crashes on Minnesota roads?

Long-haul semis on the interstates get the most attention, but Minnesota's rural economy puts many other heavy trucks on two-lane roads. Each type brings its own risks.

• Grain trucks and farm equipment move between fields, elevators and river terminals during harvest, often at slow speeds on high-speed highways.
• Ore and aggregate trucks serve mines and processing plants in the north.
• Logging trucks travel forest roads and state highways with heavy, sometimes poorly secured loads.
• Tankers and freight carriers move through the Twin Cities on I-94, I-35W, I-35E and the I-494 and I-694 loop, and toward Duluth's port.

Weather multiplies every risk. Whiteouts on open stretches of I-90 and US-52, black ice on bridges and early darkness in winter make following distance and speed critical.

Who can be held responsible for a Minnesota truck crash?

The driver, the motor carrier, a freight broker, the shipper or loader, a maintenance shop and a parts maker may all share responsibility. Minnesota's fault rules make identifying each party especially important.

Minnesota compares your fault with each defendant separately rather than with all of them combined. In practice, that means you can recover from a defendant whose fault is at least as great as yours, but not from one whose share is smaller than yours.

Here is a worked example. A jury values your damages at $600,000 and assigns fault as follows: you 20 percent, the carrier 55 percent, the shipper that overloaded the trailer 15 percent and the repair shop 10 percent. Your damages are reduced to $480,000. You can recover from the carrier, whose fault exceeds yours. Because the carrier is more than 50 percent at fault, it can be required to pay the full $480,000 even if the others cannot. The shipper and repair shop, each less at fault than you, are not liable to you at all.

That structure makes the carrier's share decisive, and our truck accident practice builds the case around it.

What evidence should be preserved after a truck collision?

Electronic records come first, because carriers can lawfully overwrite some data in the ordinary course of business unless they are put on notice.

1. Electronic logging device data showing driving and on-duty hours under federal hours-of-service rules.
2. Engine control module data on speed, braking and throttle in the seconds before impact.
3. Forward and cab-facing camera video.
4. Driver qualification files, drug and alcohol testing and training records.
5. Maintenance, inspection and out-of-service records.
6. Bills of lading, weight tickets and route plans.

We send preservation letters quickly. When a carrier destroys evidence after notice, courts can impose consequences that help the injured person.

Do Minnesota seasonal weight limits matter in a truck case?

They can. Minnesota imposes spring load restrictions on many roads during the thaw, when road beds are soft. A truck running heavy on a restricted road may be violating those limits, and an overloaded truck needs more distance to stop.

Weight evidence also matters at other times of year. Harvest loads, ore and timber are often loaded in the field or at remote sites without scales nearby. Weight tickets, elevator records and permits can show whether the truck was within legal limits and whether the carrier pushed its equipment. Trucks that operate only within Minnesota are subject to state safety rules, and many interstate carriers follow federal rules that the state also enforces.

How do no-fault benefits fit into a truck claim?

Your own Minnesota PIP coverage still pays your basic medical and income losses first. The claim against the trucking company then covers losses beyond PIP and, once a threshold is met, pain and suffering.

Truck crashes often cause fractures, spinal injuries and brain injuries that clearly meet the permanent-injury or 60-day disability thresholds. Future medical care, home modifications and lost earning capacity can make these claims large, so it is important to identify every layer of the carrier's coverage. If you were driving for work, workers' compensation may also pay, and our workplace injury page explains how that interacts with a truck claim.

What deadlines apply to a Minnesota truck accident claim?

Most injury claims have 6 years, but a fatal truck crash gives the family 3 years, and a crash involving a city or county truck generally requires notice within 180 days. Those shorter rules catch many families off guard.

A county plow, a city garbage truck or a municipal dump truck can all trigger the 180-day notice rule. For a fatal crash, see our Minnesota wrongful death page, and for other state rules see our Minnesota injury overview. We offer a free case review, and you pay no fee unless we win.