Truck Accident Attorney Warns: 7 Mistakes That Could Cost You Millions After a Semi-Truck Crash

A spike in highway fatalities and a wave of new federal safety initiatives have pushed “truck accident attorney” to the top of legal-services searches nationwide. Injury firms say call volume has climbed in step with two bills now before Congress that would raise carriers’ minimum liability coverage for the first time in four decades, from $750,000 to $2 million, and require real-time disclosure of insurance limits to crash victims’ lawyers—changes expected to enlarge settlement values once enacted. Regulators are also sharpening their focus on root causes. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) confirmed it will begin a new Truck Crash Causation Study in early 2026, examining more than 2,000 fatal collisions to pinpoint patterns in fatigue, distraction and equipment failure. Plaintiff lawyers expect the data to provide fresh ammunition for proving negligence in big-rig injury suits. Even before the study goes live, FMCSA rule changes taking effect this year tighten hours-of-service logging, expand electronic-logging-device audits and make it easier to suspend carriers that skirt maintenance mandates—reforms that can strengthen a victim’s liability case when violations surface in discovery. States are piling on. California’s new 30/60 bodily-injury minimums, which took effect in January 2025, are already rippling through insurance pricing and boosting the available policy stack after a crash, a trend personal-injury firms say is spreading to other large jurisdictions. What this means for crash victims • Faster access to counsel: Because insurance disclosures will become mandatory, attorneys can evaluate a claim’s full value sooner and move quickly to preserve black-box data, dash-cam footage and driver drug-test records. • Larger settlement windows: Higher federal and state minimums raise the ceiling for medical bills, lost wages and pain-and-suffering awards, incentivizing insurers to resolve cases before trial. • More defendants in the net: New broker-carrier liability proposals and expanded maintenance rules widen the field of potential at-fault parties, from the trucking company to freight brokers and repair contractors. How to choose the right truck accident lawyer 1. Verify FMCSA fluency. Truck crashes hinge on federal regulations that differ sharply from ordinary auto cases. Ask for past verdicts that cite logbook or equipment violations. 2. Demand rapid scene preservation. Your attorney should dispatch investigators within hours to download electronic control-module data and photograph skid marks before weather erases them. 3. Check war-chest capacity. Multi-million-dollar cases require accident-reconstruction experts, vocational economists and life-care planners; confirm the firm can advance those costs. 4. Look for reputation among insurers. Carriers track which lawyers try cases and which ones settle cheap. A trial-tested firm commands higher offers. Bottom line With Washington rewriting safety rules and coverage limits rising, the value of serious truck-injury claims is climbing. Victims who retain a specialized truck accident attorney early—ideally within days of the collision—are best positioned to secure full compensation before critical evidence disappears and before insurers set their reserves.