Determining who is to blame is necessary to get compensation in any vehicle crash. Unlike some states, Texas only allows you to claim against the other party if you were no more than 50% at fault.
Hence, small details matter more than ever when it appears as though you and the truck driver share equal responsibility. If the truck driver can push an extra amount of responsibility onto you, to take you to 51%, you will have to claim against your own insurance.
Sometimes you claim against the trucking company
If a truck driver is an employee instead of an independent contractor, you may need to file against the trucking company that hired them rather than directly against the driver. It’s the same in many fields of work. The employer bears a certain responsibility for their worker’s on-the-job actions.
Even when you can file a claim against the driver, you may also need to claim against the freight company. For example, if part of the reason the driver lost control was a mechanical error. If the trucking company provided the driver with an unsafe vehicle, they might bear partial responsibility for the collision.
Others you might need to claim against are a local garage the company used to do the maintenance. Or, if the crash resulted from poor loading, those who loaded it unsafely.
Understanding the full range of factors contributing to the truck crash will be crucial to understanding who played a part in it. The more fingers you can point, the more likely you can reduce your fault below 50% and get the total amount of compensation you need.