Kansas City Truck Accident Lawyer

Truck accidents tend to cause more substantial injuries than car accidents, primarily as a result of the size of the large commercial vehicles involved. They also tend to be more complicated. If you’re an insured driver who has been hit by a commercial vehicle, you need to work with a Kansas City truck accident lawyer who has experience in negotiating with insurance companies and litigating truck accident cases.

Trust Kopit Law Firm

You can trust the Kopit Law Firm to tackle even the most challenging truck accident claims. Founding attorney Michael Kopit has been practicing personal injury law for years, representing people–not corporations. He got his start representing the interests of businesses and insurance companies facing personal injury claims, and now, he’s putting his skill and knowledge to good use, helping injured clients hold at-fault drivers accountable with aggressive representation.

Reasons to Hire a Truck Accident Lawyer

In 2022, there were 1,057 people killed in traffic crashes in Missouri. Jackson County saw the most traffic fatalities, with 111 deaths. Of all the traffic fatalities in the Show-Me State, 162 involved commercial vehicles. In 2024, that number was down to 159, but that’s still far too many fatal accidents, and these statistics capture only the most severe crashes. In 2025, a total of 5,630 vehicles were involved in fatal and non-fatal truck accidents.

If you were injured or lost a loved one in a commercial vehicle crash, you can hire a truck accident lawyer to help you file a claim. Your Kansas City truck accident attorney can help you with all aspects of your claim, from the initial filing through negotiating with insurance companies or taking it to court to seek a fair resolution. Working with an experienced attorney can take some of the stress off you during this difficult time, allowing you to focus on healing.

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The Legal Complexities of Truck Accidents

Truck accident claims are different from regular car accident cases in several ways. First, trucking companies must follow Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) rules, which can impact negligence claims. Second, there tend to be multiple liable parties involved in truck accidents. Finally, trucking companies carry insurance policies with higher benefit caps than those associated with ordinary passenger vehicles because trucks cause greater damage.

Key FMCSA Regulations Impacting Your Case

Truckers have to do more than just follow the basic rules of the road, and trucking companies can be held liable for not just truckers’ failures, via vicarious liability, but also their own. All commercial trucking operations are subject to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations under 49 CFR Parts 300-399. These regulations include additional legal standards that don’t apply to ordinary drivers. They include:

• Maximum hours of drive time. The FMCSRs allow truckers to drive for a maximum of 11 hours within a 14-hour duty window if they are carrying property, or a maximum of 10 hours if they are carrying passengers. This 14-hour duty window must be followed by a 10-hour off-duty window.
• Elevated vehicle maintenance standards. Trucking companies are required to establish set maintenance and inspection programs and to follow them. They must keep detailed records of their inspections, repairs, and overall vehicle conditions to prove that their trucks are safe to drive.
• Driver qualification requirements. Commercial driver’s license (CDL) holders must pass a more rigorous exam than that administered to regular drivers. They’re also subject to higher qualification standards. In addition to passing special training and a road test, commercial drivers must also pass medical exams. The government monitors these qualifications constantly.
• Drug and alcohol testing protocols. Freight-hauling companies are required to implement comprehensive drug and alcohol testing protocols for their drivers. They must test drivers prior to offering them employment, conduct random testing, and test post-accident or after any suspicious event.

If a trucker or a trucking company violates the FMCSRs, it can establish negligence per se.  A negligence per se claim can simplify the plaintiff’s burden of proving a breach of duty by substituting a statutory standard for the common law standard of care. Thus, in a negligence per se claim, you may only have to prove causation and damages.

Determining Liability in Truck Accident Cases

Truckers sometimes act on behalf of trucking or shipping companies, which means that their employers may also be held liable for their actions. In fact, many different parties can hold partial liability for truck accidents, including:

• Truckers. The drivers themselves often hold partial responsibility for the crashes they cause. It’s often the case that truck accidents are caused by driver negligence or drowsiness arising from a failure to follow the FMCSA’s maximum drive time requirements or some other act or omission.
• Trucking companies. You may also be able to hold the trucking company that employed the driver liable under the doctrine of respondeat superior. This may apply even if the driver was classified as an independent contractor, as long as they were operating under the trucking company’s authority.
• Cargo loaders. In some cases, third-party loading companies are partially responsible for causing accidents. This would be the case if they failed to secure cargo properly or overloaded the truck. Shifting contents can cause truckers to lose control of their vehicles, and cargo can escape the trailer, creating serious road hazards.
• Maintenance companies. The fleet management companies and mechanics responsible for truck maintenance can be held liable for mechanical failures. If, for example, a botched brake job stopped the truck from being able to brake fast enough to avoid hitting your vehicle, the mechanic who installed the brakes could be responsible.
• Truck manufacturers. Vehicle manufacturers may be held liable if the accidents were caused by a truck’s design or manufacturing flaws. This would be the case if the manufacturer did not include adequate safety features, for example.
• Leasing companies. Leased trucks typically lead to multiple entities sharing responsibility for crashes, including the leasing company itself. Your lawyer can find more information about who is liable for accidents in the trucker’s contract with the leasing company.

Because they involve multiple parties, truck accident cases require extensive investigation. Kopit Law Firm can help you identify all the possible defendants or responsible parties in your case and the full extent of your damages.

Understanding Trucking Insurance Coverage

Trucking companies must carry higher insurance coverage than owners of personal vehicles. Large commercial vehicles not carrying hazardous substances must carry at least $750,000 of liability coverage, with requirements reaching as high as $5 million for trucks transporting hazardous materials. What this means for you is that your truck accident claim may be worth more than a standard car accident case.

Essential Evidence in Truck Accident Cases

The types of evidence required to prove a truck accident case also extend beyond those expected in a regular car accident claim. For one thing, trucks are outfitted with electronic logging devices that act like airplane black boxes, recording crucial data about the truck’s operation in the minutes leading up to the crash. This data can help insurance adjusters, lawyers, and courts determine the cause of the accident.

Electronic logging device data is typically combined with other evidence to prove liability. That evidence could include:

• Vehicle damage
• Photographs of the accident scene
• Eyewitness accounts
• Surveillance footage
• Medical records
• Expert witness testimony

Some of this evidence may be collected by your lawyer via subpoenas. Some of it, such as your medical record and, ideally, photos of the accident scene following the crash, you can supply yourself.

Steps to Take Immediately After a Truck Accident

The steps you take right after a truck accident can impact your eventual legal claim. Your top priority should always be your health and safety. However, if you are able to move about safely after the accident without risking further injury, you should:

1. Check on everyone involved. Find out whether anyone involved in the accident requires immediate medical assistance and help them get to a safe place away from the flow of traffic, if possible and can be done safely.
2. Call the police. Call 911 to report the accident and request EMS, if necessary.
3. Take photographs. Photograph the scene. Get pictures of all the vehicles involved in the crash, tire marks on the pavement, nearby street signs, weather conditions, and other relevant factors.
4. Talk to the drivers. Get contact information for everyone involved, not just the truck driver who caused the crash.
5. Get eyewitness information. If any witnesses to the crash were present, you can collect contact information for them so they can be interviewed by your lawyer at a later date.
6. Seek medical care immediately. Even if you’re not sure whether you were seriously injured, you should head to a local hospital like Saint Luke’s or HCA Midwest Health to get a full medical evaluation. Some serious injuries don’t show symptoms right away. Catching them early is the key to not just minimizing the impact of your injuries but also making sure they are properly documented for your claim.
7. Seek legal help. You should hire a truck accident attorney or speak with a lawyer as soon as possible. While you generally have five years to file your claim in Missouri, and two years to file your claim in Kansas you shouldn’t wait until the statute of limitations is about to run out. Contact a lawyer immediately while your memories are still fresh. Additionally, a lawyer can help you navigate reporting the wreck to the insurance companies. Do not speak with the other driver’s insurance company without a lawyer present.

Hiring a truck accident lawyer is the most effective way to improve your chances of receiving fair compensation for the damages you’ve incurred as a result of your accident. You should never accept a settlement or make an official statement to the liable party’s insurance company without consulting an attorney first.

Proving Negligence in a Truck Accident

To prove negligence, you have to establish the following elements:

1. Duty. All motor vehicle operators, including truckers, owe a duty of care to others on the road. In Missouri, the law imposes the “highest degree of care” on all motor vehicle operators. In Kansas, the standard of care is a “reasonably prudent driver” standard, which requires drivers to operate their vehicles as a prudent person would under similar circumstances.
2. Breach. If a driver was engaging in unsafe behaviors behind the wheel, such as drinking and driving or distracted driving, they breached their duty to you.
3. Causation. Causation is broken down into two categories – Causation in Fact and Proximate Cause. Both Kansas and Missouri generally use a “but for” test to establish Causation in Fact meaning a plaintiff must show the injury would not have occurred but for the defendant’s conduct. Proximate cause is established in Kansas and Missouri by establishing that the harm or risk of harm was a foreseeable consequence of the wrongful conduct.
4. Damages. You’ll also need to provide detailed proof of your injuries, including both economic and non-economic damages.

Your lawyer can use the evidence described above to show that the truck driver was negligent, sometimes relying on black box data or other evidence to reconstruct the accident.

Common Causes of Truck Accidents

All traffic accidents are unique, but some types of truck crashes occur more frequently than others. Commercial trucks are large, which can lead to issues like jackknifing accidents or wide right turn crashes that would not come up with cars. In other cases, more mundane forms of truck driver error are to blame, such as:

• Inexperience
• Fatigue
• Distracted driving
• Speeding
• Drunk driving

In any wreck, fault must be apportioned between the parties involved.  Kansas courts allow litigants to use the “empty chair” defendant meaning that fault can be apportioned to non-parties in the case.  Missouri requires that fault be apportioned only to the named parties. Kansas follows a modified comparative fault system that provides that a plaintiff may recover damages in a negligence action only if their fault is less than the combined fault of the defendants.  Specifically, if the Plaintiff’s negligence is 50% or greater, recovery is barred.  If the Plaintiff’s negligence is less than 50% the damages awarded are reduced in proportion to the percentage of fault attributed to the Plaintiff, if any. 

Missouri employed a “pure” comparative fault system.  Under this system, a plaintiff’s contributory fault does not bar recovery, regardless of the percentage of fault to the plaintiff.  Instead, the plaintiff’s damages are reduced in proportion to their percentage of fault.  Moreover, with some exception, if a defendant is found to bear 51% or more of fault, they are jointly and severally liable for the entire judgment.  However, if a defendant’s fault is less than 51%, they are only severally liable for their proportionate share of the damages. 

Common Injuries Caused by Truck Accidents

Passenger vehicle occupants typically suffer the majority of injuries in truck accident cases due to the size and weight disparities between their vehicles and the average 18-wheeler. These injuries range in severity depending on the specifics of the crash. They can include but are limited to:

• Traumatic brain injuries
• Spinal cord injuries
• Internal bleeding and organ damage
• Back and neck injuries
• Broken bones
• Burn injuries
• Facial disfigurement
• Death

Unfortunately, people often suffer catastrophic injuries in truck accidents due to the force involved in these collisions when they happen at high speeds.

FAQs

Q: What is the value of my case?

A: We understand that no amount of money compensation can truly make up for the injuries a person sustains in a crash.  However, the value of the case often depends on the severity of injuries.  For example, whether an injury is catastrophic or results in permanent disability may affect the value of a case.  Additionally, in a wrongful death case, facts such as the decedent’s earning capacity, life expectancy, and emotions/psychological relationship with survivors are considered.  Moreover, the actions of the defendant play a role because they may trigger punitive damages.

Q: Is It Worth Hiring an Attorney After a Truck Accident?

A: It is worth hiring an attorney after a truck accident. Truck accidents can be incredibly complex, often involving multiple parties.  After a trucking crash, the trucking company likely has teams of people, including adjusters, insurance companies, and attorneys all working against you.  Kopit Law Firm levels the playing field.  We do not let them take away your voice and we stand up to big trucking companies. We can help you identify 100% of your damages and determine who to file a claim against, helping to make sure that you receive the full extent of the compensation to which you are entitled.  Moreover, your focus after a crash should be to recover physically and emotionally, not fighting with insurers or negligent companies.

Q: How Long Does a Truck Accident Claim Typically Take?

A: How long a truck accident claim typically takes depends on how complex your claim is and whether it needs to go to court for a resolution. Some claims take less time to resolve, and coming to a settlement agreement in negotiations generally takes less time than going to trial. .

Q: How Much Are Most Truck Accident Settlements?

A: The amount for most truck accident settlements varies on a case-by-case basis. Claims that involve catastrophic injuries and multiple liable parties are typically worth more than those that involve minor injuries that can be resolved with minimal medical intervention. If you are assigned partial fault for the accident, that can decrease your final settlement recovery amount.

Your Kansas City Truck Accident Lawyer

If you’re looking for an experienced Kansas City truck accident lawyer, look no further than Kopit Law Firm. Michael Kopit makes it his mission to hold negligent people and companies accountable for the harm they cause to others. He works hard to level the playing field against insurance companies who represent large trucking companies, making sure that his clients’ rights are a priority and that they do not minimize your voice.

He has an extensive knowledge of truck accident laws and can leverage it to assist you with your case. Contact Kopit Law Firm to schedule an initial consultation today.