7 Steps to Take After a Trucking Accident in Los Angeles

Before anyone leaves the scene, photograph everything the police might miss. Get the truck's license plate, the tractor and trailer numbers, the driver's commercial license. Photograph the cargo — what was it carrying? Is it still contained or did it spill? Document road conditions, weather, sight lines, and traffic signal timing. If dashcam footage exists from nearby vehicles, knock on doors immediately and get names and numbers. The California Highway Patrol will file a report, but their photos won't capture the specific cargo or the debris field the way yours will. If you can safely do so, note the time the crash occurred — this matters for cross-referencing the driver's hours-of-service logs. Get the truck's GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating) from the placard on the door — this tells you if the truck was overloaded, which changes liability and damages calculations.

Don't wait to see if you feel okay. Neck and spinal injuries often don't show symptoms for hours or days. Go to the emergency department at LAC+USC Medical Center or Cedars-Sinai to establish a medical record dated the day of the crash. This matters because insurance companies will argue any later claims are pre-existing conditions. Request your records and imaging (X-rays, CT scans) on a disc — you'll need them for your attorney and for discovery. Tell the physician that a commercial truck hit you, not a car. Truck collisions create different injury patterns because of the weight differential and the height of the impact point. Describe exactly how you were hit and what you struck (steering wheel, dashboard, side window). This clinical detail helps your doctor assess internal injuries that might not be immediately visible.

Call 911 if injuries are present. The California Highway Patrol or Los Angeles Police Department will respond and file a crash report. Ask the officer for the report number and the station where it's filed. In Los Angeles County, traffic crash reports are typically filed with CHP if the crash occurred on a state highway or freeway (I-10, I-405, I-5). Local LAPD handles surface streets. Get the officer's name and badge number. Ask if there's an investigation into the driver's qualifications or the carrier's compliance history. Request a copy of the report from the police station — you'll need it immediately for the preservation letter. The police report establishes fault liability and validates the crash happened, which insurance companies sometimes dispute if you delay reporting.

This is your single most important legal step in the first 72 hours. A preservation letter tells the motor carrier they cannot legally delete the driver's ELD data, HOS logs, dispatch records, maintenance files, driver qualification files, and post-crash drug-test results. Without this letter, the carrier can destroy data after 15 days. With it, they're liable for spoliation — and that liability damages your case significantly. Your attorney should send the letter via email and certified mail to the carrier's registered agent. Include the truck's number, the crash date and time, and the names of any injured parties. The letter must demand preservation of: (1) electronic logging device records for 30 days before and after the crash, (2) the driver's qualification file and DOT medical certificates, (3) maintenance and inspection records for the last 90 days, (4) dispatch communications and assignment records, and (5) any video from the truck's cab or exterior cameras. A motor carrier who receives this letter and destroys data anyway faces sanctions, punitive damages, and often an adverse inference that the data would have proven fault.

The motor carrier's insurance company will contact you within days. They will sound friendly. They will offer a quick settlement. Do not take the call without an attorney. Do not give a recorded statement. Do not sign anything. Insurance adjusters are trained to get you on record saying things that minimize the claim: 'I wasn't injured badly,' 'the truck driver seemed fine,' 'I wasn't paying attention.' One phrase can cost you tens of thousands in settlement value. The adjuster will also try to pressure you into a quick settlement while you're still injured and before you understand the full scope of your damages. California is a pure comparative negligence state — meaning even 1% at-fault on your part reduces your recovery by 1%. The insurance company will weaponize any statement you make. Let your attorney handle all communication with the other side. This isn't rudeness; it's protection.

A driver's qualification file (DQF) contains his commercial driver's license status, medical certification, safety record, and any prior violations. You can request this through discovery, but your attorney should demand it immediately in the preservation letter. Check the motor carrier's CSA (Compliance Safety Accountability) score — this is public data available from the [FMCSA website](https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/). A CSA score above the intervention threshold in the 'Unsafe Driving' category means the carrier itself is liable for negligence, separate from the driver's personal negligence. If the driver was operating beyond the 11-hour federal hours-of-service limit, that's a per se violation and strengthens your claim enormously. If the driver failed a recent DOT physical or had a medical waiver, that changes liability. These records aren't damages — they're liability multipliers that shift the case from 'was the driver negligent?' to 'was the carrier negligent in hiring, training, or supervising this driver?'

California follows pure comparative negligence. If you're found 50% at fault, you recover 50% of your damages. This means the insurance company will argue you caused part of the crash — you were speeding, you changed lanes unsafely, you were distracted. Your job is to build a case that the truck driver or carrier caused the crash. A statute of limitations gives you two years from the injury date to file a lawsuit for personal injury, or three years for wrongful death. If a family member was killed, the wrongful death claim runs three years from the date of death. Missing the deadline means losing the claim entirely — no exceptions. Once you hire an attorney licensed with the [California State Bar](https://www.calbar.ca.gov/), she'll file a complaint with the Los Angeles County Superior Court naming the driver, the motor carrier, the truck owner, the cargo loader, the broker, and any other defendant with potential liability.