A commercial truck slams into your car. Your life changes instantly. You’re hurt, the medical bills start piling up, and you’re facing months of recovery. Then you find out the driver who hit you wasn’t technically an employee of the trucking company. He was an independent contractor.
Does that mean you can’t sue the company? Not at all. At Mishkind Kulwicki Law Co., L.P.A., we’ve seen trucking companies try this defense countless times. They’ll point to a contract and say they’re not responsible. But that’s rarely the end of the story.
Why So Many Trucking Companies Use Independent Contractors
There’s a financial reason trucking operations love classifying drivers as independent contractors instead of employees. It saves them money and limits their legal exposure in several ways:
- They don’t have to pay workers’ compensation
- No payroll taxes or health benefits
- They avoid direct liability when drivers cause accidents
- Certain federal regulations become easier to sidestep
It’s a smart business move for them. Unfortunately, it leaves injured people wondering who’s going to pay for their medical care and lost wages.
The Label Doesn’t Always Match Reality
You can call someone an independent contractor all you want. That doesn’t make it true in the eyes of the law. Ohio courts have recognized this for years. If a trucking company controls how a driver does their job, that driver might actually be an employee, no matter what the paperwork says. A Cleveland Truck Accident Lawyer will dig into the actual working relationship to figure out what’s really going on.
We look at whether the company:
- Told the driver which routes to take and when to deliver
- Made them drive trucks with the company’s name plastered on the side
- Required specific training or safety programs
- Set the rates and control customer contact
- Tracked every move through GPS or electronic logs
When a company controls these things, it’s treating someone like an employee. We can use that to hold them accountable.
Other Ways You Can Sue the Company
Let’s say the driver really was an independent contractor in every sense. You might still have a case against the trucking company itself.
They Hired Someone Dangerous
Companies can’t just hand the keys to anyone who shows up. They’ve got to check backgrounds, verify licenses, and review driving records. If they skipped these steps or ignored red flags about a driver’s history, that’s negligent hiring. You can sue them for that.
They Gave A Truck To The Wrong Person
There’s a legal concept called negligent entrustment. It means you gave something dangerous to someone you knew couldn’t handle it safely. If a company lets someone drive their 80,000-pound truck knowing that person has a terrible driving record, they’re liable. Doesn’t matter if the driver was an employee or a contractor.
The Company Did Something Wrong Directly
Sometimes the trucking company’s own actions caused or contributed to your crash. Maybe they didn’t maintain the brakes properly. Maybe they set impossible delivery deadlines that forced drivers to speed. Maybe their safety training was a joke. These are forms of direct negligence, and they make the company liable regardless of how they classified the driver.
Federal Rules Can Work In Your Favor
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration doesn’t care much about employment labels when it comes to safety. According to FMCSA regulations, companies operating as motor carriers have specific duties. If they hold operating authority and control freight movement, they’ve got responsibilities that can’t be contracted away.
We use these regulations to build stronger cases.
Proving What Really Happened
Going after a trucking company when they’re hiding behind independent contractor agreements takes work. Real investigative work. A Cleveland Truck Accident Lawyer knows how to get the evidence you need:
- The actual contracts between the driver and the company
- Dispatch logs and text messages
- Maintenance records and inspection reports
- Driver qualification files that the company kept
- Electronic data from the truck itself
This documentation tells the real story. Not the story the company wants to tell, but what actually happened.
Truck accidents rarely involve just one defendant. We identify everyone who played a role in causing your injuries. That’s how you get full compensation, not just whatever one party’s insurance will cover. Don’t let a trucking company dodge responsibility because of how they structured their business relationships. These cases get complicated fast, but that’s exactly why you need someone who’s handled them before. Contact us today so we can review what happened and figure out your best path forward.
