Michigan Legal Discovery — The Truck

Important areas for Michigan truck accident personal injury lawyers to obtain legal discovery in truck accident cases include:

Truck driver log books: Truck driver log books are compilations that contain the date, total miles driven in a day, the semi-truck name and the name of the motor carrier. But most importantly, the log book contains information about the 24-hour period before the truck accident, such as driver’s starting time, remarks, names of additional drivers, shipping document numbers and duty status. Log books can often be used to prove service violations, speeding and other violations critical to establishing liability in a truck accident case. Because log books are often tampered with, altered or contain obviously misleading entries, we suggest you have an expert in Michigan truck accident fatality and injury cases closely inspect the log books.

Truck electronic on-board recorders: Truck electronic on-board recorders are capable of capturing many forms of operational data through a truck’s electronic network. They may be used instead of or in addition to the truck driver log books. When a truck is involved in a serious accident in Michigan, or when the truck driver or his lawyers refuse to admit fault in causing a truck accident, the recorders can confirm such facts as whether the driver was speeding immediately before the accident occurred. Unfortunately, truck companies are not required to maintain these recorders, and they can be erased or lost if a personal injury attorney does not take immediate efforts to secure them after a truck accident.

Truck black boxes, also known as electronic log systems: Usually equipped with global positioning systems, truck black boxes show where the truck was before the accident. They contain e-mail exchanges between the truck driver and the trucking company, which in many of our truck crash cases, have led to astounding discoveries of mechanical problems, driver fatigue and admissions by the truck driver immediately after he was involved in the accident.

Truck accident reports: Commercial truck companies must keep truck accident reports for one year. But attorneys in Michigan who are unfamiliar with truck accident cases often let these important reports get lost or destroyed. In turn, they lose the ability to document admissions of fault, negligent entrustment and negligent supervision of truck drivers who cause preventable truck accidents.

Commercial bills of lading: Commercial truck bills of lading show when and where a load was dropped off or picked up. They can serve as valuable evidence of impairment, speeding and violations of state and federal law. If they are not secured by a Michigan personal injury lawyer soon after a truck accident, they can also be destroyed.

Truck driver gas and meal receipts: When truck drivers are committing hours of service violations that lead to serious truck accidents, their gas and meal receipts can be used to uncover the truth. Again, the receipts can be destroyed if not secured by a Michigan attorney soon after any truck accident that causes personal injury or wrongful death.

Cell phone records: Cell phone records of the truck driver who caused a serious truck accident are always important for a lawyer to have as evidence that the truck driver was not paying attention. Although it’s not illegal in Michigan to drive using a cell phone, scientific evidence is clear that cell phones lead to distraction and cause accidents. In truck accident injury cases, cell phone records can also be used to expose the time of a call and thus that the truck driver was not where he said he was or was speeding. Our truck accident lawyers have used cell phone records to show speed limit violations and other unsafe behavior by truck drivers in many accident cases.

With a strong foundation of legal discovery in truck accident cases, the lawyers of Michigan Auto Law have helped enforce important truck safety regulations to make our roads safer. No other law firm in Michigan has received more jury verdicts or consistently higher settlements for truck accident cases. In fact, the vast majority of our wrongful death and personal injury cases from truck accidents are referred to us by local attorneys, based upon our record of experience and success.

To request a free, no obligation case evaluation with one of our Michigan truck accident attorneys, please fill out our contact form and we will respond to your inquiry within one business day. Or to speak to an attorney immediately, please call (800) 777-0028.