Hurt in a Truck Crash? Your Claim May Reach the Company Too.

Can You Sue a Trucking Company for Negligent Hiring in Georgia?

Yes. That claim is separate from holding the company responsible for what its driver did on the job.

A tractor-trailer or box truck hit them, and they wonder whether the company that employed the driver can be named too.

The answer is not always simple. The two routes below explain how each one works. Each route needs different proof, so it helps to know which one fits your facts.

Two Separate Routes Against a Trucking Company

A trucking company can be held responsible in two different ways. One route covers the driver’s work. The other covers the company’s own decisions.

The first route is called vicarious liability (responsibility for another person’s acts). Georgia law says a person is liable for torts committed by “his servant by his command or in the prosecution and within the scope of his business.” That is the text of O.C.G.A. § 51-2-2. In plain terms, a company can answer for a driver’s negligence when the driver was doing the company’s work.

The second route is direct negligence.

The vicarious route asks what the driver did and whether it was on the job.

What Makes a Trucking Company Negligent in Hiring or Keeping a Driver

Georgia defines ordinary diligence as “that degree of care which is exercised by ordinarily prudent persons under the same or similar circumstances,” in O.C.G.A. § 51-1-2. A carrier that skips basic checks may fall short of that standard.

Common warning signs in a driver’s history include:

• Serious prior moving violations, such as speeding or reckless driving
• A suspended or revoked license
• Prior at-fault crashes
• Drug or alcohol violations
• Repeated hours-of-service or inspection problems

Federal rules set a floor for what a carrier must check. A carrier must investigate a driver’s safety performance history with DOT-regulated employers over the preceding three years, under 49 C.F.R. § 391.23. It must also consider the driver’s accident record and must give great weight to violations, such as speeding, reckless driving, and operating while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, that indicate that the driver has exhibited a disregard for the safety of the public, under 49 C.F.R. § 391.25. These rules show what a careful company was required to look at.

What a Negligent Hiring Claim Has to Prove

A negligence claim generally asks whether the defendant owed a duty, failed in that duty, caused the harm, and left the injured person with real losses. Each step needs its own proof.

For the company, the duty is to use reasonable care in hiring and keeping drivers. The breach is a failure to check, or to act on, a known risk. The causation link asks whether that failure is the reason the crash and the injuries happened.

Causation is often where these claims are contested. A bad driving record matters most when it connects to the way the crash happened. For example, a driver with a history of speeding who causes a speeding-related crash presents a clearer link than an unrelated past ticket.

Damages cover the injuries and losses that followed the crash. Medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering are common examples. The facts of each wreck decide how strong each element is.

Evidence That Often Matters in a Trucking Company Case

The strongest proof usually sits in the company’s own files and in the truck’s records. Acting early gives our team more time to review the evidence in your case.

The driver qualification file is a key record. A motor carrier must keep one for each driver it employs. It must include, among other records, the driver’s employment application, motor vehicle records from each licensing authority, the road test certificate or its equivalent, the annual driving record review note, and the medical examiner’s certificate, under 49 C.F.R. § 391.51. The file must be kept while the driver works for the carrier and for three years after, except that certain records listed in paragraph (d) may be removed three years after the date of execution.

Drivers must also keep records of their duty status. Under 49 C.F.R. § 395.8, a motor carrier must require each driver to record duty status for each 24-hour period. Those logs can show whether a driver was tired or working longer than allowed.

Other useful proof includes:

• Police reports and photographs of the scene and the truck
• Witness names and statements
• Drug and alcohol testing records
• The timing of key events on the day of the crash

How Georgia Divides Fault Between the Driver and the Company

Each liable party generally pays only its own share.

Under O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33, the fact finder first sets the injured person’s percentage of fault, and any award is reduced in proportion to it. Under the same section, the trier of fact apportions the award of damages among the persons who are liable according to each person’s percentage of fault, and those apportioned damages are the liability of each person against whom they are awarded, are not a joint liability among the persons liable, and are not subject to any right of contribution. Those shares are not joint liability, so one party does not pay another party’s portion.

The fact finder also considers the fault of everyone who contributed to the harm. The statute says a plaintiff who is “50 percent or more responsible for the injury or damages claimed” “shall not be entitled to receive any damages” (O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33).

This is why the company’s share of fault matters. How fault is allocated depends on the facts of each crash and the evidence available. Records of what a company knew are one kind of evidence that may bear on how fault is assessed.

Deadlines and First Steps After a Truck Crash in Georgia

Under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33, except as otherwise provided in this article, an action for injuries to the person must be brought within two years after the right of action accrues. Loss of consortium claims have a four-year period under the same statute. Waiting can narrow your options, so contact T. Madden & Associates, P.C. early for a free, confidential first consultation with no obligation to continue.

Some practical first steps help protect your case:

• Get medical care and follow the treatment plan.
• Keep records of bills, mileage, and lost wages.
• Be careful with recorded statements to the trucking company’s insurer. Think before you give one.
• Write down the names of everyone involved, including the driver and the company.

Georgia also limits when an insurer can be added to the same lawsuit. Under O.C.G.A. § 40-1-112, a person with a cause of action arising under this part may join the motor carrier and the insurance carrier in the same action when one or more motor carriers related to the cause of action are insolvent or bankrupt, or when personal service cannot after reasonable diligence be effected against the driver or motor carrier. The statute also provides that failure to file any form required by the department does not diminish any person’s right to pursue an action directly against a motor carrier’s insurer.

Quick Answers

Talk With Terance Madden About Your Truck Crash

Whether a trucking company is responsible often turns on its own files and choices. Those records are hard to see from the roadside, and a driver’s history may be unknown to you until someone looks.

T. Madden & Associates, P.C. offers a free first consultation. It is confidential and comes with no obligation to continue. You can start a free case evaluation through our contact page.

The firm works on a no-fee-unless-we-win basis, but you may still be responsible for court costs and case expenses.

The firm has been in practice since 1999 and handles car and truck accident cases, along with other injury matters. It has offices in Jonesboro (Clayton County), Atlanta, Decatur, Macon and Augusta.

This page is published by T. Madden & Associates, P.C. Terance Madden is the responsible lawyer. Contact the firm at tmaddenlaw.com/contact. Every case turns on its own facts, so no outcome is predicted here.