
The driver gets the ticket. The company made the crash possible. Behind most serious truck crashes is a chain of corporate decisions: who was hired, how they were trained, what schedule they were given, and whether the truck was maintained. Illinois law lets injury victims pursue that whole chain, and at Collins Law Group, building the case against the company is where we start, not where we end up.
Vicarious liability. A motor carrier is generally responsible for its driver's negligence on the job. That is the familiar theory, and carriers often concede it quickly, precisely because they would rather the jury never hear about anything else.
Direct negligence. The company can also be liable for its own conduct: negligent hiring, training, supervision, entrustment, and maintenance. For years, defendants argued that once a company admitted responsibility for its driver, the direct claims had to be dismissed, keeping the company's conduct out of the courtroom. The Illinois Supreme Court rejected that rule in McQueen v. Green, 2022 IL 126666, holding that an employer's admission of vicarious liability does not bar a plaintiff's direct negligence claim against the employer. In plain terms: the company's own choices stay in the case.
Three reasons. First, the company holds the insurance: federal law requires interstate carriers to maintain liability coverage far above what any passenger vehicle carries, and catastrophic injuries require it. Second, the company holds the records, and federal regulations required it to create them: qualification files, hours-of-service data, inspection reports, and its own safety audits. Third, juries decide cases on the full story. A case about one driver's mistake is small. A case about a company that hired carelessly, scheduled recklessly, and skipped maintenance is the truth, and it is worth more because it is the truth.
We send a preservation letter in the first days, demanding the carrier retain electronic logging data, dispatch records, the driver's qualification and testing files, maintenance histories, and onboard camera footage. We compare what the records show against what the federal rules require. And we prepare every case for trial, because carriers and their insurers price settlements based on which firms actually try cases.
Yes. The company is generally responsible for its driver's on-the-job negligence, and Illinois law also allows direct negligence claims against the company itself, even when it admits responsibility for its driver.
Negligent hiring, training, and supervision; schedules that pressure drivers into hours-of-service violations; skipped inspections and maintenance; and entrusting a truck to a driver the company knew was unfit.
The company holds the insurance, the records, and the safety responsibility. The company case is usually the difference between a policy-limits settlement and full compensation.
Driver qualification files, drug and alcohol testing records, dispatch and hours-of-service data, maintenance records, and the company's own audits. They must be preserved fast.
If a truck crash injured you or someone you love, the company's records will tell the real story, but only if they are preserved now. Call Collins Law Group at (630) 527-1595 or use our contact form. The consultation is free, and there is no fee unless we win.
Every truck crash is different. If your case falls outside the situations described above, our Illinois truck accident lawyers handle the full range of commercial truck and tractor-trailer claims across Illinois. Related case types we handle include:
