Truck Accident Lawyer in Massachusetts

Massachusetts's three-year personal injury statute of limitations under G.L. c. 260, § 2A governs truck accident claims. But evidence destruction happens in days, not years: the truck's ECM/EDR data may be overwritten during the carrier's first inspection after the crash, ELD logs under 49 CFR § 395.15 must be preserved for only six months by the carrier absent a litigation hold, and surveillance footage on the Massachusetts Turnpike and I-93 corridor is typically overwritten within 14 to 30 days. Massachusetts is a modified comparative negligence state under G.L. c. 231, § 85: recovery is reduced by the plaintiff's share of fault and barred only if the plaintiff's negligence is greater than the defendants' combined negligence (a 51% bar). Defense reconstruction teams are deployed before the plaintiff is discharged from Massachusetts General Hospital or Brigham and Women's. An attorney retained within 48 hours issues preservation letters to the carrier, the Turnpike Authority, and any commercial fleet safety system provider.

Massachusetts imposes specific vehicle weight limits under M.G.L. c. 90, § 19A that interact with — and in some cases are more restrictive than — the federal 80,000 lb gross vehicle weight cap under 49 CFR § 385.3. Two-axle loaded vehicles are limited to 46,000 lbs gross. Three-or-more-axle vehicles, trailers, and semitrailer units have a standard 80,000 lb gross cap with axle spacing rules that differ from the federal bridge formula. Carriers running New England routes must account for both the federal cap and the Massachusetts-specific axle schedule, or risk overweight violations at RMV roadside scales and weigh-in-motion equipment on I-90 and I-93. An overweight violation in the crash data — or in the carrier's DOT inspection history — is direct evidence of a safety regulation violation that supports the negligence claim.

Massachusetts does not have a no-fault auto insurance system that applies to tort claims against negligent third parties — truck accident victims pursue their claim directly in tort once the injury meets the G.L. c. 231, § 6D verbal threshold. For truck crashes, the verbal threshold is almost always met — fractured vertebrae, traumatic brain injuries, amputations, and significant soft tissue damage all qualify. After the at-fault carrier's federal minimum policy ($750,000 under 49 CFR § 387.9) is on the table, a Massachusetts truck accident attorney examines broker liability (where the broker selected an unfit carrier), shipper liability (where the cargo load contributed to the accident), and the carrier's own equipment maintenance program under 49 CFR Part 396 for evidence of a systematic safety failure that opens punitive exposure.

For government road-defect claims arising from crashes on MassDOT-maintained highways — improperly marked construction zones on I-90, defective merge transitions at I-93 and I-95 interchanges, inadequate crash barriers at high-incident locations — a claim against the Commonwealth requires written presentment to the attorney general or agency head within two years of the injury under G.L. c. 258, § 4. The Commonwealth's liability is generally capped at $100,000 per claimant under G.L. c. 258, § 2 for public employee negligence. Separately, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Act (G.L. c. 161A) governs MBTA bus and trolley accidents with its own notice and cap provisions. An attorney identifies the government defendant track within the first days after the crash and issues preservation demands to MassDOT for crash barrier maintenance records, traffic control orders, and any prior incidents at the location.