New York Personal Injury Lawyers / Brooklyn Truck Accident Attorney

Brooklyn Truck Accident Attorney

Brooklyn is one of the most commercially active boroughs in New York City, and the sheer volume of freight, delivery, and service traffic its streets absorb every day reflects that reality. Tractor-trailers move goods to warehouses in Sunset Park and Red Hook. Delivery trucks serve businesses and residences across Williamsburg, Bay Ridge, and Flatbush. Dump trucks haul materials to Brooklyn’s many active construction sites. Garbage trucks run routes through every neighborhood. The Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and the Gowanus Expressway carry constant commercial traffic toward the bridges and tunnels.

When one of those vehicles, often weighing 20 or more times as much as an average passenger car, collides with a smaller vehicle, cyclist, or pedestrian, the results are rarely minor. Brooklyn truck accidents kill and seriously injure people every month, and the occupants of smaller vehicles bear the overwhelming share of those consequences.

If you or a loved one was injured in a truck accident in Brooklyn, the attorneys at Jacoby & Meyers, LLP are ready to fight for the compensation you deserve. We have two convenient Brooklyn office locations and nearly 50 years of experience serving injured New Yorkers. We take every case on a strict contingency fee basis with no upfront costs and no fees unless we win.

Why Truck Accidents in Brooklyn Are So Devastating

The physics of a truck accident are unforgiving. A fully loaded tractor-trailer weighs up to 80,000 pounds. The average passenger car weighs roughly 3,000 to 4,000 pounds. When these vehicles collide, the occupants of the smaller vehicle have virtually no protection that can meaningfully offset that disparity. Steel reinforcements, airbags, and seatbelts do not function as designed when a vehicle is struck by something 20 times its weight.

The stopping distance problem compounds the danger. A truck traveling at 65 miles per hour needs approximately 600 feet to stop, twice the distance of a typical passenger car under the same conditions. On Brooklyn’s congested expressways and commercial corridors, that physics gap regularly produces rear-end collisions that crush the vehicles ahead.

According to the NHTSA, roughly 75 percent of people killed in large truck crashes are occupants of other vehicles, not the truck. In one recent month in Brooklyn alone, more than 200 truck accidents were reported. The majority of New York City truck accident fatalities occur in Brooklyn and Manhattan.

Common Causes of Brooklyn Truck Accidents

Brooklyn truck accidents arise from many of the same failures seen across all truck accident cases, amplified by the borough’s unique combination of heavy commercial traffic, dense pedestrian activity, and constrained road infrastructure:

• Driver fatigue and Hours of Service violations. Brooklyn’s delivery schedules create pressure to cut rest time.
• Distracted driving, including texting, CB radio, and GPS navigation, while operating a large vehicle
• Speeding on the BQE, Gowanus Expressway, and surface arterials
• Following too closely, especially in stop-and-go traffic
• Unsafe lane changes, particularly on multi-lane expressways
• Wide-turn accidents on Brooklyn’s narrower residential and commercial blocks
• Jack knife accidents from improper braking or excessive speed on curves
• Rollover accidents from overloading or sharp turns
• Improperly secured or overloaded cargo, creating shifts or spillage
• Defective brakes, tires, or steering components
• Negligent vehicle maintenance by trucking companies cutting costs
• Negligent hiring or failure to verify CDL credentials
• Driving under the influence of alcohol or controlled substances

Human error is a causal factor in the vast majority of commercial truck accidents. Most Brooklyn truck crashes are preventable, which means someone is responsible, and that someone can be held accountable.

Where Truck Accidents Happen in Brooklyn

Commercial vehicle crashes occur throughout the borough, but certain roads and corridors see disproportionate volumes. Whether your accident happened in Bay Ridge, Crown Heights, Bushwick, Greenpoint, or anywhere else in the borough, our Brooklyn truck accident attorneys handle cases throughout all of Brooklyn’s neighborhoods.

Schedule A Free Consultation

Types of Truck Accidents We Handle

Our attorneys represent victims in all types of commercial vehicle crashes, including:

• Rear-end collisions, which are among the most common and deadly in Brooklyn traffic
• Head-on collisions from fatigued or impaired drivers crossing the center line
• T-bone and intersection accidents
• Jackknife accidents, where the trailer swings perpendicular to the cab
• Rollover accidents, particularly among top-heavy dump trucks and garbage trucks
• Underride accidents, where a passenger vehicle slides beneath a trailer
• Wide-turn crashes on Brooklyn’s busy surface streets
• Pedestrian and cyclist truck accidents
• Lost-load crashes where unsecured cargo strikes other vehicles or people
• Delivery truck accidents in residential and commercial areas

Common Truck Accident Injuries Our Brooklyn Truck Accident Attorneys Handle

The injuries produced by commercial truck crashes are among the most severe in all of personal injury law. Our team regularly handles cases involving:

• Traumatic brain injuries (TBI)
• Spinal cord injuries and paralysis
• Fractures, crush injuries, and shattered bones
• Traumatic amputation
• Severe burns from fire or fuel exposure
• Internal organ damage and internal bleeding
• Serious soft tissue injuries requiring long-term treatment
• Lacerations, scarring, and disfigurement
• Wrongful death

Many victims face months or years of treatment, permanent disability, loss of career, and financial disruption that extends through the rest of their lives. Our attorneys account for the full present and future scope of those losses in every claim we pursue.

Who Can Be Held Liable for a Brooklyn Truck Accident?

Truck accident cases are significantly more complex than car accident claims. Multiple parties often share responsibility for the same crash, and identifying every liable party is essential to recovering the full compensation you deserve.

• The truck driver is the most visible responsible party, but liability extends far beyond the driver in most serious cases.
• The trucking company may be vicariously liable for its driver’s actions and directly liable for its own failures, such as negligent hiring of unqualified drivers, failure to verify CDL credentials, inadequate training and supervision, maintenance neglect, pressure on drivers to violate Hours of Service regulations, or failure to install required Electronic Logging Devices.
• The cargo shipper or loading contractor may be liable when improperly secured or overloaded cargo shifts during transit, destabilizing the truck or creating road hazards when it spills.
• Equipment manufacturers may face product liability claims when a mechanical defect, like failed brakes, a blowout-prone tire, a defective coupling, or a steering component, caused or contributed to the crash.
• Maintenance contractors are liable when negligent service, like missed brake wear, undetected tire damage, or improperly executed repairs, allows a dangerous vehicle onto the road.
• Government entities bear responsibility when a government-owned garbage truck, city service vehicle, or poor road design contributed to the crash. These claims require specific procedures, including filing in the New York Court of Claims within strict deadlines.

Our attorneys investigate every dimension of your case, such as reviewing driver logs, electronic logging data, maintenance records, black box data, FMCSA compliance records, cargo manifests, police reports, and witness statements, to pursue every available source of compensation.

New York’s No-Fault System and Brooklyn Truck Accidents

New York is a no-fault insurance state. After a truck accident, your own Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage pays initial medical expenses and a portion of lost wages regardless of who caused the crash. However, PIP has significant limits; it does not cover pain and suffering, and it regularly falls short of adequately compensating serious injuries, extended lost wages, or the permanent life impact of a catastrophic accident.

When your injuries meet the serious injury threshold under New York law, including significant disfigurement, fracture, permanent limitation of a body organ or member, significant limitation of a body function or system, or a medically determined injury preventing substantially all daily activities for 90 days, you have the right to step outside the no-fault system and pursue a full personal injury claim against the at-fault parties.

Given the severity of most Brooklyn truck accident injuries, this threshold is almost always met. An experienced Brooklyn truck accident attorney can evaluate your specific situation and advise you on the full scope of your rights.

What Damages Can You Recover?

Recoverable compensation in a Brooklyn truck accident case may include:

• All medical expenses, including emergency care, surgery, hospitalization, and ongoing treatment
• Future medical costs for permanent or long-term conditions
• Physical, occupational, and cognitive rehabilitation
• Mobility devices, assistive equipment, and home modifications
• Lost wages from time missed at work
• Loss of future earning capacity if injuries prevent a return to your prior work
• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress and mental anguish
• Loss of enjoyment of life and loss of consortium
• Property damage to your vehicle
• Wrongful death damages, including lost future income, funeral costs, and loss of companionship
• Punitive damages in cases involving particularly egregious or willful misconduct

Wrongful Death Truck Accident Claims in Brooklyn

When a truck accident takes the life of a family member, New York law allows the surviving spouse, children, or estate representative to pursue a wrongful death claim against the at-fault parties. Recoverable damages include the deceased’s projected future earnings, final medical expenses, funeral and burial costs, and compensation for the loss of companionship, guidance, and support.

Wrongful death claims must be filed within two years of the date of death. Our Brooklyn truck accident lawyers handle these cases with the seriousness, sensitivity, and urgency they require. Among our notable results is a $5.7 million wrongful death verdict after a runaway school bus struck and fatally injured a child in Brooklyn.

How Insurance Companies Fight Brooklyn Truck Accident Claims

Trucking companies and their insurers move aggressively after serious crashes. Their goals are to limit exposure, protect their reserves, and pay as little as possible. Common tactics include deploying investigators immediately to preserve evidence favorable to their defense, pressuring victims into recorded statements, making early settlement offers to close claims before the full scope of injuries is known, and disputing fault by claiming the injured party contributed to the crash.

At Jacoby & Meyers, we know these tactics because we have fought them for decades. We do not let our clients settle until they receive what their case is genuinely worth. Among our results: a $5 million truck accident settlement during trial involving multiple severe injuries in a multi-vehicle highway crash, and a $2.5 million settlement in a tractor-trailer accident that required spinal cord stimulator surgery.

Filing Deadlines You Cannot Afford to Miss

New York’s statute of limitations gives most truck accident victims three years from the date of the accident to file a personal injury lawsuit. For wrongful death claims, the window is two years. If any government entity is involved, such as a city vehicle, a city agency, or a government contractor, you may have as few as 90 days to file a Notice of Claim.

Beyond legal deadlines, critical evidence disappears quickly. Electronic logging data can be overwritten within days. Surveillance and dashcam footage are routinely deleted within weeks. 

Trucking companies have been known to begin document destruction soon after crashes. Acting quickly gives your attorneys the best chance of preserving the evidence needed to build the strongest possible case.

Steps to Take After a Brooklyn Truck Accident

The decisions you make in the hours and days after a truck accident can significantly affect your legal claim:

1. Call 911 and seek medical attention immediately, even if you believe your injuries are minor.
2. Stay at the scene until police arrive, and a crash report is filed.
3. Photograph the vehicles, the accident scene, visible injuries, road conditions, and any skid marks or debris.
4. Collect the truck driver’s name, license, DOT number, and the trucking company’s name and insurance information.
5. Get contact information for all witnesses.
6. Do not give a recorded statement to any insurance company before speaking with an attorney.
7. Stay off social media. Posts about the accident can be used against you by defense lawyers and insurers.
8. Contact Jacoby & Meyers, LLP for a free case evaluation.

Why a Brooklyn Truck Accident Lawyer at Jacoby & Meyers Is Right for Your Case

Jacoby & Meyers, LLP has been fighting for injured New Yorkers for nearly 50 years. Our Brooklyn truck accident attorneys are recognized by the National Trial Lawyers Top 100 and the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum, and we have recovered millions of dollars for truck accident victims throughout Brooklyn and across New York City.

We have two dedicated Brooklyn office locations, on 3rd Avenue in Bay Ridge and on Kings Highway, making it easy to connect with experienced legal representation no matter where in the borough you are. If your injuries prevent you from coming to us, we come to you at your home, a hospital, or by video conference. We work exclusively on contingency: no upfront fees, and no attorney’s costs unless we win your case.

Contact an Experienced Truck Accident Attorney for Help Determining Liability in Your Truck Accident Case

If a truck accident has left you injured, out of work, and overwhelmed by medical bills and uncertainty, you deserve a legal team that will fight as hard for you as the trucking company and its insurers will fight against you.

Call us or reach out online to schedule your free, no-obligation case evaluation. There is never a fee unless we win.

Client Testimonials

Review: 5/5
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
“The team and Jocoby & Meyers are excellent. They make sure the client is well taken care of. They are great with communication and they take their time to make sure the client is satisfied. Will definitely recommend.”
Review by: Danielle H.

Check out some of our other reviews.